A group of physicians in New Albany, Mississippi, have found that they were limited in how they could obtain medical liability coverage because carriers decided they were high-risk candidates. After much searching, the group signed with an insurer only to see it go bankrupt months later.
Left with no choice, the group asked their local hospital administrator for help and got it. The hospital found insurance for the group. The policy was expensive, with an annual premium of about $70,000, nearly $55,000 more than the group’s former rate, but the hospital agreed to help pay for it, too.
Experts say hospitals are increasingly stepping in to help independent physicians pay soaring liability insurance premiums. Concerned there won't be enough local physicians offering some medical services, hospitals are writing checks, creating special trust funds and changing business relationships to subsidize insurance costs. And though the arrangements can raise legal issues, experts say more and more hospitals are taking action to keep physicians in their communities.
Legal counsel helped tailor the program so that it fit within guidelines set by the Office of the Inspector General and didn't run afoul of Stark or anti-kickback laws as they apply to relationships between hospitals and physicians. Once they had the program blueprint, hospital system officials set out to find the roughly $650,000 needed to pay for it this year. The program likely will only last a couple of years.
The hospitals themselves stand to benefit from having more physicians in the community to refer business their way, so long as their assistance is legal.
For more on this story, go to: http://www.ama-assn.org/sci-pubs/amnews/pick_03/bil10818.htm