Four insurance brokers and six insurance companies in the Bermuda market have combined efforts to offer two new products aimed at health care organisations.

The new policy forms, the Bermuda Market Follow Form Healthcare Insurance Policy and the Bermuda Market Reinsurance Agreement provide clients with 'batch' coverage and an affirmative grant for punitive damages, consistent with applicable law.

Under the arrangements, healthcare organisations will be able to secure up to $250 million of medical malpractice insurance capacity from six Bermuda-based insurers using a single policy document.

Their launch follows extensive research over two years by brokers at Aon, Bowring Marsh, Integro and Willis and the insurance carriers Allied World, Alterra, Endurance, Hiscox, Torus and XL into how healthcare clients' needs have evolved.

Susan Pateras, principal, Integro Bermuda Ltd., said: "Through the financial challenges of the last 48 months, we observed clients seeking to replace their larger blocks of capacity by forging global relationships with multiple carriers.

"These new forms were created to meet our clients' desire for diversification. Not only do they allow Bermuda carriers to share risk on one form, they also serve to eliminate potential gaps in coverage by having pre-agreed wording which all approved markets have endorsed."

Wesly Guiteau, senior vice-president of Willis Bermuda, said: "These new forms will offer our clients the unique opportunity to procure all, or a majority, of their capacity on a single form while creating multiple relationships with financially sound carriers.

"We believe we have addressed one fundamental question for our clients: 'How can you diversify your portfolio in favour of multiple relationships while maintaining or improving coverage consistency?' The answer is the new Bermuda forms."

Chris Klouda, senior vice-president of Bowring Marsh Bermuda, added: "Our clients are constantly looking for markets to innovate to meet their changing needs. These new forms create additional options for healthcare organisations."

Annie Sousa, senior vice-president, Aon, added: "Our clients' interests are always a top priority. We listened and, with many of our clients opting to diversify their programmes, continuity was at the top of their list of requirements. We then set about achieving just that."

Four of the carriers are offering $25 million each in capacity, while Torus is providing $50 million and XL Insurance (Bermuda) Ltd. $100 million. Allied World supports the Follow Form policy only.