Healthcare risk management has always focused on the need for patient safety and the mitigation of medical errors or negligence. These factors have been affecting the goodwill of organizations. Therefore, it is best to avoid claims that cause financial liability.
However, healthcare risk management has become more complex over time due to the expansion of healthcare technologies and increased cybersecurity concerns. The fast pace of medical science and the industry’s ever-changing regulatory, legal, and political conditions have made the system further complex.
Therefore, it is vital to adopt risk management strategies, especially in the medical profession, since the consequences of liability claims here are more serious.
How to Implement Risk Management
Proper training for physicians and staff can mitigate many medical risks. One needs to encourage healthy communication among staffers, provide counseling for those working with patients, and conduct competency assessments.
Here are the steps for effective risk management to avoid liability claims:
Risk Identification
Risk management involves handling uncertainties while new risks emerge continuously. It is a challenge to recognize all threats that a medical entity can face.
However, in modern times, threats can be identified through the use of data, and institutional and industry knowledge. Patients, employees, administrators, and healthcare risk managers can also be engaged to uncover threats and potentially compensate for events that otherwise would be hard to anticipate. SecureNow (support@securenow.in) can give you a list of the most common risks in medical practice.
Education & Training
Risk management requires employee training. This includes orientation of new employees, ongoing, in-service, and event-specific training, annual review, and competency validation.
Purpose of Risk Management
Risk management strategies should define the purpose and benefits of a plan. It needs to mention specific goals to reduce liability claims, near misses, and the overall cost of the organization’s risk. Additionally, the plan must include reporting on quantifiable and actionable data.
Quantify Risks
Once you identify the risks, it is crucial to prioritize them based on their impact. The next step is to allocate resources and take necessary measures to lessen the impact.
Learn from Near Misses
When you avoid a possible mistake through sheer luck, it is crucial to identify and prevent similar risks in the future. Medical professionals should report risks so that prevention measures can be put in place.
Record retention
It is useful to preserve patient records for monitoring their health. Medical establishments should retain the records even after the patients have been discharged. According to risk management protocols, hospitals should have plans in place for disposing of records as per federal mandates.
Risk Financing/Transfer/Retention
Risk financing involves an organization’s methods for funding losses coming from risks. This includes risk transfer usually through insurance policies such as the Doctor’s Professional Indemnity Insurance. The other method is risk retention through self-insurance and captive insurance.
Why Doctor’s Professional Indemnity Insurance?
Doctor’s Professional Indemnity policy covers doctors and other medical professionals from legal liabilities. This coverage is essential in cases when medical negligence has cost a patient’s life or caused a disability or injury.
However, this insurance will not cover liabilities and compensation related to criminal acts, use of drugs, fraudulent acts, or any condition associated with AIDS.
Additional Read: Exclusions under the doctor’s professional indemnity insurance
Please note that many of these incidents are related to unintentional errors. Hence, it becomes essential for doctors to have the right insurance coverage.
