The Novus Insurance Program

Novus provides its members with a primary professional liability insurance policy, generally with limits of $1 million per occurrence and $3 million annual aggregate. Novus also offers policies with higher limits to those surgeons who need them and who qualify. It offers policies with lower limits in states having lower statutory coverage limits. It issues policies directly to eligible physicians, their professional corporations, and related paraprofessionals.

Novus provides claims made coverage in all states and occurrence coverage in limited states. There usually is no need for a physician to purchase a tail from his old carrier when switching to Novus. This however, is subject to individual underwriting. Each new member to Novus, however, is required to report known problems to his/her old carrier before joining the program.

Novus can provide an extended reporting endorsement (“tail coverage”) to physicians who leave the program. A physician who retires after five years with the program will receive tail coverage at no charge. The premium for the tail is also waved in the event of death or total disability.

Description of Services for Proposal

Risk reduction. Risk reduction can be achieved by employing a level of serious risk management not previously seen in the insurance industry. Novus of course focuses on the traditional areas of risk reduction, meaning patient involvement and satisfaction, communication, documentation, and expectation management. Education and training in risk reduction areas are provided to surgeons and their staff. Data supports the proposition that incorporating enhanced communication skills, focusing on assuring patient literacy, and increasing service excellence can reduce professional liability claims. Novus not only endeavors to move all its members to “best practices” in risk reduction, but also incorporates new tools and strategies.

Event management. The event management component of the Program implements a new approach to preventing events from maturing into lawsuits combined with aggressive claims management. Event management is an evolving concept, where systems are developed to manage information, documentation, and behavior after an event has occurred. In supporting management of events as they occur, Stevens & Lee will help Novus-insureds to provide their patients with thoughtful and meaningful information and to create evidence which can be used for the insureds and not against them, thereby derailing claims and lawsuits. Event management also provides for a process of continuous quality improvement, forming the basis of a “near miss laboratory” from which every insured can benefit.

Litigation strategy. Sometimes events will turn into claims, and those claims will be attacked more aggressively than previously done in the litigation arena, using innovative litigation strategies. Only attorneys with significant experience and an institutional commitment to the defense only are on our national panel. Our attorneys all invest in the use of technology in the courtroom and agree to participate in national conferences on bariatric and general surgery. Further, we strive to improve the foundation of the defense by having managed the earlier event and having handled the claims management, all allowing Novus to have a more effective and aggressive defense. Early evaluation of how the defense should proceed, evaluation for counterclaims, as well as consideration of claims against expert witnesses are all incorporated.