We hear quite a few misconceptions about Medical Protection and our service in Singapore, so we want to bust those myths once and for all
It’s important that Medical Protection members in Singapore fully understand how their membership helps to protect both their career and their professional reputation. We value all members and appreciate they may have questions, so we want to bust some of those myths and set the record straight.
Does Medical Protection have a policy to try and settle claims as soon as possible rather than defend the member?
It is a common misconception that we settle claims as quickly as possible because it is cheaper and easier for us to do so. This is simply not true – in fact, this would just encourage more claims in the long run.
Instead, we take into consideration all of the evidence and information that we have available – including your record keeping notes and consent documents, and give you our considered view on the relative merits of settling or defending a claim, based upon our experience and expertise in these matters.
As a member-owned organisation, supporting members is always our first concern, and we will robustly defend claims whenever possible and where the professional advice is that the patient’s claim has poor prospects of success. Where a claim is deemed indefensible and the advice is that compensation should be paid to a patient, we aim to resolve the claim as quickly as possible.
We are proud to say that 76% of medical claims and potential claims against members were successfully defended worldwide in the five-year period from 2012 to 2016.
Continued education, allied to the adoption of improved record keeping processes and tools by practitioners, will help to ensure more defensible cases. In Singapore we actively invest in risk management education for members, stressing the importance and impact that good record keeping has on our ability to defend members successfully. We will continue to partner with members and associations, providing relevant education and advice on the critical process of accurate record keeping.
Through continuous education, improved tools and enhanced processes such as record keeping, we should see more defendable cases in Singapore.
Does requesting advice affect my annual membership subscription rate?
Medical Protection does not use the number of requests for advice as part of its risk assessment of a member. This includes determining their membership subscription.
In fact, we actively encourage you to contact us for advice to provide peace of mind and to help prevent a concern or problem escalating. That’s what we are here for.
Why do some other indemnity providers and insurers charge less than Medical Protection?
Medical Protection has been supporting healthcare professionals for more than 40 years in Singapore. During that time other providers of professional protection have entered the healthcare market, sometimes offering cheaper products in the short-term – even if this means making a loss initially because they want to enter the market. Unfortunately, such pricing is rarely sustainable and can result in providers exiting the market, or limiting the scope of their service. We have seen in the past how this has left practitioners unprotected.
Similarly, insurance providers from other fields enter the clinical negligence market looking to make a profit without completely understanding the risks and challenges that healthcare practitioners can face. Such a move is often opportunistic and is rarely part of their core business. As a result products are designed and managed to ensure profit objectives are met – when this is not the case, or the risk has been insufficiently provisioned for, they can exit, leaving practitioners unprotected.
Medical Protection has four decades of experience in dealing with complex clinical negligence cases in Singapore, which is a highly specialist area. We can use this experience to more accurately predict the true price of risk. Whilst no process can be an exact science, we are the best placed to set subscriptions that accurately reflect the full cost of protection.
A long time can elapse between an adverse incident occurring and the resulting claim being settled. Because of this delay, a number of factors can have a significant impact on the size of settlements, such as changes in legislation and unexpected changes in claims inflation. Practitioners need to be confident that their provider has the resources reserved in order to be able to accommodate these factors.
Any other questions?
If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch on 1 800 81 5837 or at medicalprotection.org.