SAFECO LOOKS TO INDEPENDENT AGENTS TO REACH PODIATRISTS' MARKET
The program was started a few years ago. Safeco was interested in getting into the medical malpractice market and saw podiatry as a good market. As Doman explains, "Podiatrists have been treated by many malpractice carriers as outside the traditional medical professions. Yet they have an equivalent type of education. They get a DPM (Doctor of Podiatric Medicine) after college and are board certified." Safeco was approached by an agent who had a program, so they put together a product. Doman goes on to point out that the Podiatrists Program has extremely broad coverage, including: * Protection for the DPM's professional corporation or partnership, employees and locum tenens (substitute physician) while serving on the DPM's behalf. * Extended protection for prior acts and free tail coverage upon death, disability or retirement at any age. * Coverage for liability assumed under contracts with HMOs, PPOs and IPAs. * Defense costs are outside of and in addition to limits of liability. * Coverage includes defense costs associated with peer review actions. * There is no "hammer clause" under the consent to settle and there is no freezing of policy limits if the doctor decides not to settle. * If a claim goes to court, Safeco reimburses the doctor up to $500 a day for trial attendance. Policy limits are available up to $1 million/$3 million. The program also includes discounts based on a podiatrist's patient mix, medical treatments, loss experience, part-time practice and membership in professional associations. Doman continues that the adjusters in the program are totally dedicated to medical malpractice. Safeco also has set up an "800" advice and help phone number for podiatrists. The company also is sending out numerous mailings to support the program. "Our last mailing got an 11% response," she points out. That strong response clearly indicates that this niche is interested in admitted markets for this coverage, which primarily has been available only from non-admitted carriers.
David Prentice, vice president and account executive at Kibble & Prentice, Bellevue, Washington, one of the independent agencies that uses the Safeco program, says there were a couple of factors involved in the decision to use the company. One of the principal ones is that "Safeco offers financial stability. Another factor is Safeco's ability to come up with a rate that actually reflects the doctor's risk using individual underwriting rather than a cookie-cutter approach." *
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Safeco Select Markets is looking to reach the podiatrists' market through independent agents. "We're appointing agents in various states of regions. We've found that the close relationship with local agents is a strong selling point," says Jacqueline Doman, account executive for the Podiatrists Program. "We've filed the program in nearly all states and now are actively seeking out agents with books of podiatrists/medical malpractice insurance."
