Patient Safety: Highlights and Benefits

The Benefits of Early Reporting

Everyone understands that lawsuits and written claims must be promptly reported to their insurer, to confirm coverage, allow the insurer to evaluate the matter without delay, and where necessary assign legal counsel for representation. But what about “incidents” or untoward events, where there may have been no claim in writing? What about those cases where you might just have a bad feeling that the family was unhappy, or where you may have heard about subsequent developments which are causing you concern? Should those matters be reported to your insurer?

At The Mutual, we call this "incident reporting" and we strongly encourage it - for your benefit. We are pleased to receive reports of matters you’d like to bring to our attention or may wish to discuss. But what good does this do? We think there are a few answers to this question:

  • The Claims Team Ivenne Largaespada, Bill Rietmann, Sally Choy We may be able to assist with questions and provide useful advice. For example, we might offer opinions on questions regarding charting, family discussions, or specific legal matters such as medical board questions; or advise where you’ve received an inquiry concerning care from the hospital where you practice.
  • In certain situations, The Mutual offers other resources such as outside counseling support, which has benefited several practitioners during these difficult times.
  • On occasion, you may wish to discuss the prospect of pre-litigation evaluation of an incident. Together with you, the Mutual will assess the incident and decide whether further steps may be useful. Does it make sense to open discussion and look at a small offer to help a patient and also potentially reduce the likelihood of future litigation?
  • When you contact us, we are able to open an "incident file." Note that incident files are not claim files and do not entail outside reporting. These files remain confidential between The Mutual and our insureds, so long as they do not progress to formal claims or lawsuits. You do not need to disclose them on any recredentialing applications.

Every early reporting situation is different, but at times we can provide help and support. And there is no downside to reporting an untoward event, incident or question of any kind to The Mutual. We’ll take a look, address any questions together with you and let you know our views. We’re here to support you and as best we can, take these concerns off your desk and put them on ours – or better said, partner with you to help as much as we can.

Please contact The Mutual’s Claims Department at any time. Key initial contacts are:

Sally Choy
choys@tmrrg.com
925-949-0113

Ivenne Largaespada
largaespadai@tmrrg.com
925-949-0107