Some specialists face 40 % premium increases . |
have a strong and exemplary record of patient care , they are seeing similar rates to those with a reasonable number of claims because they |
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work in a high-risk specialty where |
Rachel Carter THERE are new concerns about |
claims are potentially an inevitability of care . |
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medical indemnity premium |
“ You could be a practitioner with |
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hikes , with some specialties seeing |
a perfect record , you ’ ve never had |
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increases of 20-40 % year-on-year . |
a claim against you , and what you |
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Neurosurgery , bariatric surgery |
are seeing is significant increases |
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and obstetrics were worst affected . |
because the insurers are targeting a |
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AMA NSW president Dr Michael |
specific specialty .” |
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Bonning said while private practi- |
AMA NSW has suggested that a |
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tioners could “ probably stomach ” |
number of specialists have shifted |
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two years of a 20 % increase , they |
away from subspecialties to reduce |
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would not be able to sustain this |
their premiums . |
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longer-term . |
But it has initiated discussions |
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“ If we ’ re sitting five years down |
with the major medical defence |
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the track and your premium has |
organisations to understand what |
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actually more than doubled and you ’ re looking at more like 220 % |
Dr Michael Bonning . |
they are experiencing and where the cost escalation is coming from . |
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of your original premium , that ’ s a |
Dr Bonning said they claim that , |
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really big change ,” he said . |
negligence cases surged , forcing the |
There are also questions about |
their workload in private practice |
on average , premiums are not going |
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The larger increases mirror |
Federal Government to intervene |
whether the indemnity system is |
after working at a high level for |
up very much . |
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some of those that began to surface during the indemnity crisis 25 years ago , when thousands of doctors faced losing the right to practise following the near collapse of indemnity provider United Medical Protection . |
with a multi-million dollar support package .
Dr Bonning stressed this time around he was less concerned about failure of providers than “ changes to the private practice environment ”.
In some cases , the increases have
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‘ You may find yourself locked into a certain kind of practice .’ |
decades .
“ If your insurance is now consuming not an insignificant amount — say 10-15 % of your gross billings — you may find yourself locked into a certain kind of practice ,” Dr Bonning said .
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“ But one of the problems of averages is that it can hide important detail ,” he said .
A spokesperson for Avant said that “ limited specialties ” had experienced double digit increases but this reflected a significant increase
|
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At the time it was unable to |
already led doctors to move out of |
working “ fairly and appropriately ” |
“ We ’ re hearing from many of our |
in the “ frequency and severity ” of |
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cover its liabilities as high-cost |
subspecialties . |
for doctors to be able to reduce |
colleagues that even though they |
claims . |
PAGE 4 |