E-Mail Express

Name:

Company:

E-mail:

Phone:

Flurry of new products offered

COVERAGES TAKE AIM AT SHIFTS IN HEALTH CARE, GREEN BUILDING TRENDS

NORTH BAY – Recent ratings have proved that property and casualty premiums have continued to dive in 2008, extending the soft market and forcing insurance carriers to find new ways of attracting business.

With pricing competitive, many have turned to the specialty market as a way to distinguish themselves and to create innovative new coverage. Among new products released so far this year, Fireman’s Fund offers specialized protection for alternative types of medical sites as well as coverage for individuals who incur losses from those without insurance or who are underinsured.

Anthem Blue Cross, formerly Blue Cross of California, has also developed a program meant to encourage hospitals to improve patient care. And Travelers Companies Inc. has hopped on the green bandwagon, releasing the nation’s second eco-building-specific product.

Fireman’s Fund

The health care industry is without question in a pivotal evolutionary state. Practicing in hospitals has become less and less profitable as more become uninsured, and doctors have been grouping up and creating alternative sites for care as a way to beef up their income.

In the North Bay, several large medical groups – including Sutter Medical Foundation North Bay, Redwood Regional Medical Group and the Northern California Medical Associates – have all expanded and added new facilities such as ambulatory centers and medical group offices.

“After doing some market studies, we have noticed the delivery of health care changing and modernizing. You’re not just going to the doctor’s office or the hospital anymore” said Paul Sulaski, Fireman’s Fund national product director for medical facilities and health care organizations.

“These alternative types of medical sites have some of the same and some different risks from those of the past, and we have created a product that provides professional liability coverage beyond what they would receive with a general coverage plan.”

The Medical Facilities Signature Class Coverage is specific for ambulance services, ambulatory surgery centers, home health agencies, rehabilitation centers, hospices, counseling centers, halfway houses and shelters, imaging labs, dialysis centers, drug testing labs, urgent care centers and other similar medical facilities.

The product offers primary professional and general liability limits up to $3 million and umbrella limits up to $10 million.

Fireman’s also unveiled an upgrade to those with uninsured and underinsured liability protection under its Prestige Excess policy. The expansion on coverage involves losses incurred by a liable third person without insurance or underinsured.

The previous policy only covered losses involving a motor vehicle, but the upgrade broadens coverage. “As health care becomes more expensive less and less people can afford insurance and even good health plans can be quickly exhausted, this gives you an opportunity to protect yourself in cases where you might otherwise be at the mercy of other people who may or may not be insured,” said Fireman’s Fund Marketing Manager for Excess Liability Jim Calhoun.

Anthem Blue Cross

Officials of recently renamed Anthem Blue Cross insurance also say their latest product complements current health care trends of standardizing care and monitoring quality.

As part of many electronic medical records programs, hospitals have been standardizing procedures and integrating quality oversight programs, including at Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital and Kaiser Permanente.

Last year, the California HealthCare Foundation, the University of California at San Francisco Institute for Health Policy Studies, the California Hospitals Assessment and Reporting Taskforce and other partners created an online tool for consumers to compare hospitals through continually updated quality measurements.

As a way to further motivate hospitals to improve care, Anthem Blue Cross is offering hospitals a chance to receive financial incentives for improving performance using the online tool’s indicators. Since unveiling the new policy in mid-March, 24 hospitals have signed on to the project, which is accessible to facilities under a hospital services coverage contract with Anthem and submitting data to the reporting taskforce.

The Anthem Blue Cross program called Quality-in-Sights Hospital Incentive Program provides additional reimbursements annually to facilities that prove performance enhancement. “The program can be implemented when a hospital enrolls for the first time or renews their contract,” said Steve Melody, vice president of health care services for Anthem Blue Cross. “It’s still in its infancy stage and will take about two to three years to be fully implemented.”

Criteria include patient safety, successful outcomes and patient satisfaction. Currently, Anthem covers about 380 hospitals in California. About 71 percent of facilities participate in the voluntary reporting program accessible by visiting www.calhospitalcompare.org.

Travelers Companies Inc.

In March, Travelers commercial property division launched Green Building Coverage Enhancements to its Deluxe Property Coverage policy.

The product meant for mid-sized businesses offers green building replacements for covered losses through the policy, including green reengineering or recertification, vegetative roofs, increased period of restoration for green building and increased costs for green alternatives.

Travelers is the second carrier to offer specific green building coverage after Fireman’s Fund released its Green Guard products last year.