According to information provided to the AMC/NOMA by The Premium Group, Medical Protective Company is tightening its underwriting guidelines. The efforts to do so appear to be underway preliminarily at the present time. While the target date for this is January 1, in actuality, the contemplated guidelines will likely be phased in during the first quarter of 2004.
These guidelines will include:
Tightening sharply the underwriting guidelines for new business applications. Certain specialties will only be eligible for coverage if they are spotless in their claim experience during the past ten years.
Most specialties will be limited to $1M/$3M in limits of coverage.
Existing clients will more than a few existing lawsuits will be non-renewed.
Policy premiums are expected to jump by an average of approximately 40 percent.
Solo practitioners are expected to have an easier time securing coverage as compared with group practices.
Watch for updates on this issue in upcoming AMC/NOMA publications.