XL Group’s Bermuda insurance operation’s initiative to help clients in healthcare mitigate risk went live in the wake of the The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), otherwise known as Obama Care, becoming law in the United States.

Wesly Guiteau, senior vice-president and healthcare practice leader at XLIB said: “ACA really put the focus on quality and safety more than ever before,” explaining with greater numbers of people coming into the US healthcare system, the pressures on it have increased exponentially.

He said the innovative approach by The Sullivan Group (TSG) with whom XL have partnered, has shown that over a short period of time, healthcare providers demonstrate a measurable improvement.

“This is not abstract — this is measurable in many ways,” he said.

In a press release, the XL Group called The Sullivan Group “one of the premier providers of clinical risk and loss prevention services to hospitals, physicians and nurses throughout the US”.

The Sullivan Group’s website reads: “Implemented in more than 700 hospitals, urgent care clinics, and private practices, RSQ Solutions from The Sullivan Group is a series of scalable, comprehensive loss prevention and patient safety programmes, specifically targeted at reducing medical errors and malpractice claims across the spectrum of high-risk medicine.

“Programmes are tailored to each medical specialty and are based on a proven cyclical model of continuous quality improvement that drives change, strengthens clinical performance and reduces risk exposure.”

XL added: “Through this new partnership, (XL) seek to align XL’s portfolio of healthcare clients and prospective clients with TSG’s mission of improving patient safety by reducing medical errors and lowering the frequency of malpractice claims.”

Mr Guiteau outlined the history of the initiative. “Why is it important to the healthcare industry? After 9/11 the industry went into a total tailspin — healthcare providers suffered tremendously from an insurance standpoint because of a shortage of capacity — so prices increased.”

“Since then, the hospitals have invested heavily to improve their quality of patient care and mitigate their risk — using Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), risk mitigation — and now today with the ACA — healthcare reform in the US — there has been a renewed focus on patient safety, quality of care and a direct correlation between hospitals and their bottom line.”

He said they now have their new ‘product offering’ in their partnership with The Sullivan Group where they can partner with hospitals in a symbiotic relationship for better risk management, to “improve the quality of patient care, and reduce medical errors. In doing so, the hospital will benefit by lessening the cost of their risk.

“To give a more direct example, most of our clients have significant retentions because they are liable for a very large percentage of their own risk. They buy insurance/reinsurance for the excess of their risk. So if a hospital retains a significant portion of their own risk (similar to a deductible policy) to cover the losses emanating from medical errors, our partnership with The Sullivan Group will help to improve the quality of the patient’s safety with proven methodology and risk mitigation tools.

“The package we are offering through the partnership includes risk assessment, identifying areas where they may need to improve, as well as offering online education to doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners.”

He said: “This package is different because it provides the full spectrum — including education — to decrease or eliminate medical errors. Part of the contract with TSG includes quarterly newsletters and webinars on key emerging issues, industry best practices and loss prevention.

“It is offered at significant cost to XL — not to the insured — so it is complimentary in its approach.”

Mr Guiteau explained that most of XL’s insureds have existing infrastructure expertise in the area, and the role of The Sullivan Group is to complement that — to provide a fresh pair of eyes, and make recommendations in areas where it is mutually agreed they need to help.

“It’s a costly proposition, but the benefits for us are that the insureds would have an improved risk profile, to improve the quality of care, to improve the quality of patient safety — and the benefit to XL is that there would be a decrease in the number of claims and that would protect our capital.”

“This is a perfect partnership. TSG is known as a premier provider of risk management and loss prevention services, and XLIB’s aspiration is to become the premier provider of insurance solutions to our healthcare clients.”