Just as having all the facts helps you take the right steps for your patients, having all the facts will also help you make the right choice for your professional liability insurance coverage—not only when you first become insured with us, but also each year at renewal time. Here are the facts about COPIC:
- COPIC promotes risk management and patient safety. Innovative COPIC programs like Practice Quality assessments clearly reduce your liability risk. COPIC is also an active participant in—and contributor of knowledge to—numerous local, state, national, and international initiatives aimed at improving patient safety. Copiscope, COPIC’s bimonthly risk management newsletter, draws on COPICs 25+ years of claims experience to report on trends in liability exposure and teach practical, pragmatic techniques for managing and reducing risk. COPIC conducts risk management and patient safety seminars throughout Colorado and Nebraska. Seminars present basic risk management tips and techniques as well as specialty-specific recommendations. An increasing number of education activities are also available online through COPIC’s web site, as are more than 30 model informed consent forms in English and Spanish that insureds can download and modify or use as-is. In addition to raising the bar on safety, COPIC programs like Practice Quality clearly reduce your liability risk. We also believe that programs in simulation training for O.R. and OB units will improve patient safety and simultaneously decrease liability. These are win/win programs for doctors, hospitals, and patients.
- COPIC successfully protects/defends insureds’ reputations. Protecting our insureds’ reputations is our priority. When a patient is injured as the result of an insured’s failure to meet the standard of care, COPIC’s claims philosophy calls for fair compensation delivered expeditiously. But when the medicine meets the standard of care, that same philosophy calls for relentless resistance and defense. In any given year, approximately 80% of all claims against COPIC insureds close with no indemnity paid. (Indemnity is compensation for damage or loss sustained paid to a claimant.) On average, 60-65% of all lawsuits filed against COPIC insureds are dismissed*. COPIC has an enviable track record of successfully defending its insureds at trial, with outcomes favorable to the defense approximately 85% of the time.
* Filed but not prosecuted, withdrawn by the plaintiff, or dismissed by the court.
- COPIC works to resolve unanticipated outcomes without involving the broken legal system. COPIC’s 3Rs pilot program (for recognize, respond, and resolve) intervenes early in the process, allowing for a more immediate response to patients’ physical, financial, and emotional needs following an unexpected medical outcome…and without the unnecessary time and expense of legal proceedings. The NEJM highlighted the 3Rs Program in its June 28, 2007 issue, calling it a leader in a “national transformation in how health care providers communicate with patients about unanticipated outcomes.”
- Whenever permitted by favorable loss development and capital position, COPIC returns funds to policyholders in the form of distributions credited against their premiums. COPIC has
returned $123.6 million to Colorado insureds to date, including $12 million—its largest distribution ever—in 2008.
- COPIC premiums have their basis in actuarial projections drawn from past loss experience. This data is supplemented by estimates of how advances in medicine and changes in the medico-legal environment might affect future claims. This time-tested approach helps COPIC ensure rate stability, an integral part of its mission.
- COPIC is financially strong and stable, with an excellent ability to meet its ongoing obligations to policyholders. COPIC first earned its “A (Excellent)” rating from A.M. Best in 1999 and has maintained it without interruption since…even during the “hard market” years when other insurers witnessed rating downgrades. COPIC’s rating was most recently affirmed in November 2008.
- COPIC works to make sure Colorado and Nebraska remain favorable tort environments. COPIC’s legislative advocacy program is an intensive, year-round effort focused on tort reform as a single nonpartisan issue essential to accessible, affordable health care. To the greatest extent possible, COPIC conducts its legislative effort in conjunction with the lobbying and legislative efforts of organized medicine.
- COPIC’s premium structure uses “the carrot” instead of “the stick.” If you have a claim, COPIC is committed to working with you to reduce your risk rather than automatically increasing your premium or nonrenewing your coverage. In addition, COPIC provides discounts and credits for learning and incorporating risk management techniques and for remaining claims-free.
- COPIC has a true partnership and collaboration with organized medicine. COPIC has a quarter-century tradition of supporting the efforts of state, local, and specialty medical societies, as well as organizations targeting rural and underserved areas. We provide support that helps make their programs and publications possible and lend our voice and perspective to their advocacy efforts. For these reasons and more, COPIC has earned exclusive endorsements from both the Colorado Medical Society and the Nebraska Medical Association. COPIC also enjoys the endorsement of growing number of local and specialty medical societies that recognize COPIC as one of their most valuable and important allies. These include: Arapahoe-Douglas-Elbert Medical Society; Aurora-Adams County Medical Society; Boulder County Medical Society; Clear Creek Valley Medical Society; Colorado Academy of Family Physicians; El Paso County Medical Society; Larimer County Medical Society; Mesa County Medical Society; Mt. Sopris Medical Society; Pueblo County Medical Society; and Weld County Medical Society.
- COPIC offers training and education programs to increase the skills of practice administrators and office managers.Programs such as our COPIC College give practice managers a chance to explore topics such as leadership, motivation, change management, planning, and communication. COPIC’s “Risky Practices” seminar gives office managers essential information in the most important areas of personnel management.
- COPIC has a history of commitment to the health care community. COPIC supports a broad range of health care organizations both financially and through active participation by staff. Examples include ClinicNet (Colorado), Colorado Clinical Guidelines Collaborative, Colorado Health and Hospital Association, Colorado Rural Health Center, and Critical Access Hospital Advisory Group, Nebraska Hospital Association, Nebraska Rural Health Association, and Critical Access Hospital Advisory Group, as well as organizations serving medical students and residents at universities and health care facilities. COPIC funds an annual scholarship program for Colorado and Nebraska medical students.
- COPIC subsidizes coverage for Colorado and Nebraska physicians who provide uncompensated medical care. In 2008, more than 70 physicians took advantage of this opportunity.
- COPIC works to exceed your customer service expectations. COPIC customers know they can count on superior service—from dedicated underwriting staff who take the time to get to know each customer’s unique preferences and practice needs; to physician risk managers who are available 24/7 to offer advice drawn from their extensive experience in primary care and surgical practice settings; to specially-trained registered nurses who expertly field incident reports; to claim staff who are there to help our insureds, their families, and their staffs cope if a claim is filed. It is our goal to prove in every encounter that the COPIC name stands for better coverage, better service, and better value than you could find anywhere else.
In our 2008 physician satisfaction assessment, respondents rated COPIC at 9.4 on a 10-point scale (where 1 = strongly disagree and 10 = strongly agree) in response to the statement, “Overall, I am pleased to have COPIC as my malpractice insurer.” In addition, 98.8% indicated that they intend to renew coverage with COPIC when their current policy period expires. Finally, when respondents were asked to provide additional comments and feedback, time and again we saw answers such as the following:
- “COPIC is an outstanding company, operating efficiently and with integrity in the best interests of physicians. I'm proud to be a long-time insured!”
- “During my lawsuit I felt protected from the system by COPIC and my attorney. I feel COPIC was in my corner and I felt like I had input in my case.”
- “I have nothing but good things to say about COPIC. I very much feel that COPIC is "on my side" when I call with questions or problems. Personally, I am comfortable calling with relatively trivial questions. I am always answered in a thoughtful and respectful manner."
- “Your company is professional, very well run, has physician/mid levels interests first and foremost. Designed to work this way and it does.”
As it has since its founding in 1981, COPIC will continue to provide unparalleled protection and support for the health care community.