Mitigating Healthcare Liability with Proactive Risk Management

Shep Tapasak is an expert insurance executive with extensive experience in underwriting and operations. He leads organizational processes, including appropriate underwriting guidelines and processes across its national platform.

In an interview with Insurance CIO Outlook, Tapasak highlighted the need to ensure consistency in strategic execution. He also emphasized balancing growth and profitability in a technical and competitive insurance market.

Protecting Healthcare Providers through Consistent Underwriting

At ProAssurance, we provide liability products to a spectrum of healthcare providers, physicians and facilities. I ensure that appropriate underwriting guidelines are followed and consistently executed across our national platform.

Our company's mission statement, ‘We protect others,’ aligns with the goal to ensure consistent delivery. We aim to balance growth and profitability in a highly technical and competitive market.

Unifying Risk Management across Healthcare Divisions

Large hospitals face significant challenges when integrating multiple departments under a single risk management program. Diverse departments with distinct risks, combined with numerous management layers, complicate coordination and consistency in safety protocols. Additionally, variations in risk exposure across different locations increase the complexity of unified risk management.

Hospital risk managers are critical in navigating these challenges. Their expertise ensures effective liability management and helps maintain a proactive safety culture across the organization.

Adapting Coverage to Varying Litigation Environments

For multi-state and multi-facility healthcare providers, coverage typically doesn’t require customization. They only need to be licensed in every state where they practice, whether in-person or telehealth care.

When a provider works with multiple employers, separate coverage is required. They must clearly describe the scope of their work to their insurance agents to avoid gaps in coverage.

As physician groups expand into new states, it is essential to understand the differences in litigation environments. Both underwriters and insurance agents play a crucial role in helping manage these risks and ensuring the most suitable coverage is in place.

Navigating Changes in Healthcare Liability

In healthcare, procedural errors and administrative documentation failures impact the defensibility of care and the strength of the evidence supporting the medicine provided. While there has been minimal change in this regard, social inflation trends have become prominent. Jury awards have risen substantially in the past years, with decisions often driven more by sympathy for plaintiffs. This shift poses a growing concern for healthcare providers, as it can result in larger financial risks despite adherence to proper care.

As regulatory requirements continue to evolve, healthcare leaders must reassess their liability coverage. Large healthcare systems typically have dedicated in-house risk management capabilities. Smaller practices often depend on the risk consulting services provided by medical professional liability insurers. At ProAssurance, we offer services like risk consultant hotlines and educational webinars to help providers stay aligned with the changing landscape.

While still in the early stages, AI is expected to play a significant role in the future of healthcare. It offers promising applications for improving the quality of care and safety in the environment.

Strategic Guidance to Strengthen Liability Risk Management

It is crucial to consider risk management as a preventive investment, not just a cost center. By prioritizing preventive measures to reduce risks, organizations can minimize incidents and long-term liabilities.

Risk management and safety work best as top-down initiatives. When the C-suite leads the effort and reinforces risk awareness across the organization, it sets the tone for a proactive and accountable safety culture. Regular involvement of leadership ensures everyone understands their role in improving safety and preventing loss.