How much thought do you put into selecting a partner? are your assets and livelihood worth a little of your time and effort to make sure they are protected? If so, read on. Selecting a risk management and insurance partner is one of the many critical decisions you will make regarding the health of your practice. Many physicians and practice administrators put little thought into this decision. Much of the time they retain the services of a friend, college fraternity brother or sister, relative, golfing buddy or fellow club member. There are those that go with the agent that brings the cheapest premium to the table. others just stay with an agent because they have been with them for a while and feel it is too much trouble to evaluate their existing partnership and consider the possibility of making a change. Some just don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings and so take the path of least resistance. None of these are necessarily bad, as long as they are not the only criteria used to make your decision.
Protecting your assets and livelihood are obviously worth a little of your time and effort. You have invested a considerable amount to get where you are today. The time of a claim is not the time to find out you have selected the wrong partner. Here are some things to consider when selecting a risk management and insurance partner:
- Experience
- Industry commitment
- Client commitment
- Business focus
There are some very important considerations when selecting a risk management and insurance partner, aside from personal relationship and cost. When your patients are considering which physician they should choose, would it be prudent for them to select a physician solely based on price or personal relationship? take a moment and think about having one of your college fraternity brothers perform surgery on you without checking into their other qualifications. That puts a pretty scary picture in my mind.
Let’s take a little closer look at some of the above mentioned criteria for consideration. We will explore others in upcoming issues.
You should look at the experience of the agent and agency. Between the two, you should feel comfortable that they have sufficient experience both in the insurance industry and in working with healthcare providers. ask about the experience of the support staff, management team and national resource team. do your current agent’s loss control representatives have prior experience consulting in the healthcare environment? How about their clinical risk man– agers? are they former clinicians that have been healthcare providers and understand your business?
Industry Commitmen
Investigate how committed the agent and agency are to your industry. ask if they are involved in your industry associations. are they involved in tort reform efforts? do they have a dedicated practice that specializes in healthcare? Inquire about the internal communication procedures they’ve implemented. It is critical for insurance professionals to be able to share time sensitive information with each other. They should have a system that facilitates and encourages an active exchange of information between their offices. This will ensure all the insurance and risk management professionals within the organization are up to date with regard to the latest innovations and trends related to your industry. Client Commitment
Do they demonstrate a strong commitment to you by committing the resources necessary to properly service your account throughout the year and to help manage your “total cost of Risk”? Keep in mind, protecting your assets is a year round endeavor. If you only hear from your agent at renewal time, you may want to evaluate their level of commitment to you. Business Focus
Is your agent in the business to be a risk management and insurance partner? Your risk management partner needs to be committed to helping you manage your “total cost of Risk”. Insurance and Risk management needs to be their main focus and not a sideline operation used to generate fee income.
There are many very capable agents out there. However, not all of them have the experience, capabilities and resources to offer the services and expertise needed to help healthcare providers manage and drive down their “total cost of Risk”. If you are not seeing or hearing from your current agent on a regular basis throughout the year, chances are, you are working with an agent that is focused on selling you a policy rather than partnering with you to make sure your risks are properly managed and your assets are properly protected. Your “total cost of Risk” is not minimized by focusing solely on shopping your insurance at renewal time. It is minimized by the work that is done throughout the year to help you manage your risks and mitigate your claims.
In the upcoming issues of NSIdE Md, we will explore additional items that should be considered when selecting a risk management and insurance partner. In the interim, feel free to contact me should you be interested in discussing this further or to get a preview of the next edition.
