1. Defendant Reimbursement Coverage…How Can it Help? 
2. Just Starting a New Practice? ISMIE Can Protect You!
3. Risk Rewards Hosts Additional July Seminars
4. Pennsylvania: Proof that Tort Reform Works

Defendant Reimbursement Coverage…How Can it Help? 

Having a claim or lawsuit against you is bad enough; but how are you going to deal with the lost income created by the time away from your practice to be part of the defense team? Active participation by our policyholders is essential to an aggressive defense and ISMIE is concerned about the financial impact defending claims has on your practice.  So…your ISMIE policy includes Defendant Reimbursement Coverage. Developed with physician first service in mind, ISMIE’s Defendant Reimbursement Coverage will compensate you $500 per day to help defray lost income while you are participating in your own defense.

Your $500 can be reimbursed for attending depositions (other than your own) and time spent at trial, up to a maximum of $5,000 per year. In order to receive the benefits of Defendant Reimbursement Coverage, you must be a current policyholder at the time the claim is filed.

If you have any questions regarding your eligibility for defendant reimbursement contact your claims analyst at 800-782-4767 or e-mail the Claims Division at claims-services@ismie.com.

Just Starting a New Practice? ISMIE Can Protect You! 

How expensive is it to start up a new practice? Very! How helpful is ISMIE? Very! As a physician-owned company ISMIE understands what it’s like to launch a new practice and at the same time start paying off those educational debts. That is why ISMIE offers reduced liability insurance rates to physicians who launch a new practice or enter a new specialty after completing medical training. Under this policy, ISMIE provides special discounted rates for the first four full years of your new practice.  

The discounts are on a sliding scale, with the highest discount received in the first year. As your practice continues to grow, the rates are adjusted accordingly. For more information, contact the Underwriting Division at uwtg@ismie.com or call 800-782-4767.

Risk Rewards Hosts Additional July Seminars 

ISMIE Risk Rewards has scheduled two additional physician seminars. Taking place on July 30, 2008 in Chicago, these seminars will focus on patient interaction. The schedule is as follows: 

Difficult Patient Encounters
Chicago
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
University Club
76 East Monroe Street
8:30 – 11:30 am

Clinician-Patient Communications to Enhance Health Outcomes
Chicago
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
University Club
76 East Monroe Street
1:30 – 4:30 pm

Successful completion of each course will earn you a 1% premium discount for one policy year and AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. A maximum discount of 15% may be earned in 2008 and will be applied to your annual policy renewal on or after July 1, 2009. Remember, physician policyholders may attend any of these courses provided they have not completed the same seminar since January 1, 2004. Discounts that exceed the 15% annual limit may not be carried over to the following year. To register for any of our seminars, go to www.ismie.com and click on Risk Rewards Resources, or call 1-800-782-4767, ext. 1627.

Pennsylvania: Proof that Tort Reform Works 

Since making important tort reform changes in 2002, the Pennsylvania Medical Society reports the state has seen a 40.8% decrease in the number of medical liability cases. What can be learned from this?  The answer is simple: medical litigation tort reforms work! This decrease in liability cases in Pennsylvania, along with what we have already seen in other states who passed meaningful litigation reforms, points directly to the importance of keeping tort reform in Illinois.

There were three key tort reform changes in Pennsylvania. First, the state’s Supreme Court required attorneys to obtain certificates of merit from medical professionals to establish that medical procedures fell outside acceptable standards. Second, the state’s Supreme Court required cases to be filed in the county where the alleged incident took place. This change was aimed at reducing “venue shopping” among trial lawyers. Finally, the General Assembly in Pennsylvania also enacted standards governing the qualifications of expert witnesses.

As result of the combined efforts of Pennsylvania’s judicial and legislative bodies, it appears that their medical litigation reforms have been successful in weeding out non-meritorious claims.  However, despite these efforts, Pennsylvania still has a long way to go. The Pennsylvanian environment as it relates to non-economic damages continues to have a negative impact on the state’s ability to recruit and retain physicians.  More information can be found at the Pennsylvania Medical Society web site.

Pennsylvania’s success and continuing fight for caps reinforces our own mission of keeping doctors in Illinois. Get involved and join our efforts for medical liability reform in Illinois -- visit www.realitymedicine.com and www.ismie.com.

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