“Even though the typical professional liability claims environment is stable, the Aon/Beazley analysis of excess claims suggests that the driver of the changing environment is the cost of extremely large claims. The frequency of claims above $5 million is increasing and they are trending at higher rate,” said Virginia Jones, FCAS, MAAA, Associate Director and Actuary at Aon. “Obstetrics claims and higher risk jurisdictions are contributing to this uptick in large claims, making it vital that health care systems have the risk management know-how to appropriately deal with a large claim should one occur.”
One of the ways organizations can gain intelligence to ultimately reduce costs is by utilizing root-cause analysis. New this year, the study included insight from Coverys into how to approach root-cause analysis and its benefits. Focusing on the root cause of medical malpractice area within an organization can help organizations identify and promote best practices to improve the consistency and reliability of the health care delivery model.
The 2018 study also analyzed data based on three new demographic comparisons:
- High-risk regions – the loss rate and claim severity for professional liability were approximately double for high-risk regions, including Connecticut and Illinois; South Florida; Cook County and New York County; and Washington D.C., compared to all other regions. This is attributable to high-risk regions being generally more litigious and challenging for professional liability claims.
- University health systems – university health systems typically serve more acute patients who need specialized and focused medical treatment. Thus, while university health systems experience on average more severe claims than non-university systems, the frequency at which claims are experienced is lower.
- Children’s hospitals – similar to university health systems, children’s hospitals have the ability to treat acutely ill children. As a result, data shows that professional liability claim frequency and loss rates are consistently lower for children’s hospitals than non-children’s hospitals, yet the average cost of claims is higher for children’s hospitals.
Other Noteworthy statistics from the 2018 Aon/ASHRM Hospital Professional Liability Benchmark report:
- Projected loss rate for hospital professional liability is $2,860 per occupied bed equivalent for events occurring in 2019. The frequency of claims is projected to be 1.58 per 100 occupied bed equivalents and the severity of claims is expected to be $181,000 per claim.
- Projected loss rate for obstetrics claims occurring in 2019 is $182 per birth and emergency department is $5.73 per visit.
- Projected loss rate for physician professional liability is $5,540 per class 1 (internal medicine) physician for events occurring in 2019. The frequency of claims is projected to be 3.55 per 100 class 1 physicians and the severity of these claims is expected to be $156,000 per claim.
- Projected loss rate for hospital general liability is $145 per occupied bed equivalent; the average general liability claim is expected to be $44,000 for claims occurring in 2019.
- Labor and Delivery related issues, with an average value over $400,000, continue to be significantly more severe than claims related to other allegations.
- Findings indicate that respondents, on average, employ one full-time risk management professional for every 100 occupied beds.
- Projected hospital professional liability and physician professional liability loss rates are increasing at a 2 percent annual rate.
Click here to purchase a copy of the 2018 Aon/ASHRM Hospital and Physician Professional Liability Benchmark report.
About the 2018 Aon/ASHRM Hospital and Physician Professional Liability Benchmark report
The database includes 118 U.S. health care systems, representing 33.6 percent of the total U.S. hospital industry. Data collected includes 107,419 non-zero professional liability claims, representing more than $20.2 billion of incurred losses. The database contains historical claim information for 10 accident years (2008 to 2017). All ASHRM members were invited to participate in the study, which is designed as a hands-on tool to provide health care risk managers with a better understanding of their cost of risk compared to an industry benchmark. Through measurement and analysis of claim and exposure data, risk managers can develop proactive strategies to help reduce risk-related costs and improve related outcomes.