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Early Claims Reporting Protects the Insured

Some physicians hesitate to report an incident as soon as it happens because they don’t want to arouse the concern of their insurance company. Instead, they wait to see if the incident develops into a complaint or claim. This delay can have significant consequences.

NORCAL Mutual continually stresses that there is no penalty for early reporting of incidents. Speaking recently to the leadership of our endorsing medical societies, Paul Gabel, Vice President of Claims, said, “We fully support early reporting of incidents or events.” Early reporting means we can put the insured at ease and confirm that the matter is covered. Equally important, it means we can help insureds avoid making the situation worse by, for example, making additions to the medical record or giving the record to the wrong party.

Even precautionary reports—what we call “reports of contact” or ROCs—qualify for coverage under the policy. This is not true for all medical professional liability insurers, some of whom require that an insured receive a Letter of Intent or wait for a lawsuit to be filed before coverage is triggered.
Finally, early reporting is important at NORCAL Mutual because we are a “claims made” insurer—as a condition of coverage, the incident must occur and the policyholder must report the incident within an active or covered policy period. Therefore, it is always prudent to report incidents as early as possible.

HCP National Insurance is a national medical malpractice and medical professional liability broker appointed by Norcal. HCP National’s Medical Malpractice Insurance brokerage is located in Orange County, CA.

[Credit: NORCAL Mutual Insurance Company, Spring 2010 Issue]

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HCP is Your
Diverse Team of
Insurance Experts

HCP National is a certified MBE & WBENC Insurance Brokerage.
Request a quote now and see how much you can save!