In 2010, Milliman created a hospital professional liability database. This includes professional liability for hospitals, nursing homes, and long-term care facilities using data gathered from our offices throughout the country. In this paper, Milliman consultants provide an updated analysis of key findings from our hospital professional liability database.
Like it or not, healthcare is an industry with various liabilities attached to it, some of which are unfunded or underfunded. While medical malpractice rates have been trending down, a soft market can raise concerns of irresponsible pricing on the part of insurers. Indeed, there are no holidays for liabilities.
Nor are tomorrow’s liabilities self-evident. Nano-technology has gotten a lot of attention as a possible enabler of future medical breakthroughs, but this reporter at least cautions about nano-technology as a source of liability (while citing Milliman research on asbestos as a way of putting things in perspective: an eventual $265 billion total price tag for asbestos certainly gets your attention).
Cautionary tales of nano-technology may or may not hold up to scrutiny–certainly there are a lot more immediate worries in healthcare–though hopefully we can learn enough from history to ward off future 12-figure product liabilities.