Nearly 3K Medical Professional Liability Claims Closed in Ohio in 2010

Close to 3,000 medical professional liability claims were closed in Ohio in 2010, regulators report.

The Ohio Department of Insurance’s annual Ohio Medical Professional Liability Closed Claim Report for 2010 showed a total of 2,988 medical professional liability claims were closed in that year. Data collected from entities providing medical professional liability coverage to Ohio health care providers and health care facilities was used to generate the report.

Ohio law requires all entities that provide medical professional liability insurance in Ohio — including authorized insurers, surplus lines insurers, risk retention groups and self-insurers — to annually report closed claim data to the insurance department.

Claims are reported and included in the analysis based on the year in which they reach final outcome. The specific data filed by each reporting entity is confidential and is not subject to public record requests. The ODI is required to prepare an annual report summarizing the closed claims on a statewide basis.

Some key findings in the report, which also includes regional, specialty and treatment comparisons, includes:

Total Closed Claims: A total of 2,988 closed claims were reported for 2010 by 103 entities. Authorized insurers reported the majority of the closed claims, 1,639. Self-insured entities reported 958 closed claims, surplus lines insurers reported 271 closed claims and risk retention groups reported 120 closed claims.

Total Claims Reported: During the six years since reporting starting, total annual claims have steadily decreased from approximately 5,000 in 2005 to around 3,000 in each of the last three reports.

Indemnity Payments: A total of 75 percent, or 2,231, of closed claims resulted in no payment to a claimant, while 25 percent, or 757, of the claims closed with an indemnity payment. For all six years during the reporting period, approximately 77 percent of the claims closed without an indemnity payment.

Closed Claim Expenses: While most medical malpractice claims closed with no payments to claimants, almost all closed claims generated expenses for investigation and defense. These expenses totaled $69,969,486, an average of $29,424 per closed claim.

The full report and past year’s reports are available on the Department’s website at www.insurance.ohio.gov/Legal/Reports/Documents/2010ClosedClaimReport.pdf.

Source: Ohio Department of Insurance

Topics Claims Ohio