The 2014 PLUS Medical PL Symposium was a great success, with almost 400 industry pros joining the networking, learning and fun in Atlanta. Among the attendees were reporters from Medical Liability Monitor, who produced an excellent recap of the event. A few snippets of their article are below:

On Healthcare Insurance Exchanges: the Rubber Hits the Road:

“… the industry has enjoyed an unprecedented period of stability in the low-frequency of claims and a steady, predictable severity trend, coupled with record levels of financial capacity during the last decade. No one really knows how long that will last because of the Affordable Care Act’s requirements that are driving many specialties toward hospital employment and an anticipated additional 25-27 million new patients stressing a healthcare system already suffering from a physician shortage. Panelists warned of higher patient expectations in an environment of high premiums and deductibles, narrow networks and constant chaos.”

 

On Strategies to Successfully Integrate Hospitals & Physician Practices:

“Emerging risks resulting from increased hospital employment include an adversarial claim relationship, lack of risk-management and quality-improvement coordination as well as limited shared clinical/business goals and objectives. Panelists agreed on the need for improved patient engagement, stressing the collaborative relationship between physician and patient in the modern healthcare system. This will require teaching patients how to be engaged, and teaching providers how to engage.”

 

On Tackling the Top Claims Trends:

“Panelists noted that claims frequency remains flat, but severity is climbing. Some panelists attributed increased severity to the new challenges inherent in electronic medical records and e-discovery.”

Check out the full recap on the Medical Liability Monitor’s blog.