In private practice, ensuring you adequately implement a risk management strategy is very vital to mitigating practice exposure. Having appropriate processes and procedures should be a priority with medical indemnity or practice insurance acting as support backup for when things go wrong.
Commonly Arising Risk Events
Adverse events in medical practice have a long history. Medical practitioners can face situations where their treatment decisions are challenged by patients, their family and even colleagues.
Some of the frequently seen complaint or claim scenarios in private practice include:
- Risks involving patient safety;
- Medical misdiagnosis;
- Failure to recall patient for followup;
- Risks involved in noncompliance with protocols & procedures;
- Risks associated with inadequate or damaged medical equipment causing injury;
- Data security-related risks.
Tego Understands the Needs of Private Practitioners
As medical indemnity insurance providers in Australia, we have experience supporting doctors through the myriad of complaints and claims they may face. We understand the risks as well as well as the stress that medical practitioners can experience when an action is brought against them. Being proactive with risk management is the best position you can be in. That is why it is essential to keep up to date with best practice which you can do by speaking with your relevant college or association such as RACS, RACP and RACGP.
Formal Risk Management Plan to Battle against Risk Events
There are a number of simple tools and processes medical practitioners can implement in their practice as a way forward to ensuring better risk management:
- Adverse event register: this helps to maintain an entire record history of any such event and can help in reducing the future occurrence of a similar event;
- Adequate workforce management: in order to keep the work-load distributed and avoid human errors owing to fatigue;
- Updated cyber security measures: this is to avoid crucial data loss of any kind and prevent cyber attacks;
- Effective budget allocation: this will help in achieving a balance between resource availability and efficient operations of the practice.
Role of Insurance in The Risk Mitigation Process
Now more than ever, insurance is playing a vital role in helping medical practitioners mitigate practice related risks. Just like any other profession, doctors are always exposed to various kinds of risks. Insurance helps them to manage their practices in a more confident manner. Insurance provides stability, certainty and the protection that you will be supported when something goes wrong.
Tego Can Help
Tego covers medical indemnity insurance, medical malpractice insurance, doctors indemnity insurance, medical practice insurance, gp medical indemnity insurance, and more. If you are a medical practitioner with Tego, your medical indemnity insurance comes with 24/7 medico-legal advice and support to guide you through the perils of private practice.
This publication is general in nature and is not comprehensive or constitute legal or medical advice. You should seek legal, medical or other professional advice before relying on any content, and practice proper clinical decision making with regard to individual circumstances. Persons implementing any recommendations contained in this publication must exercise their own independent skill or judgment or seek appropriate professional advice relevant to their own particular practice. Compliance with any recommendations will not in any way guarantee discharge of the duty of care owed to patients and others coming into contact with the health professional or practice. Tego Insurance Pty Ltd is not responsible to you or anyone else for any loss suffered in connection with the use of this information.