CNA HealthPro and Nurses Service Organization Provide Analysis of Nurse Practitioner Claims

CNA HealthPro, a leader in the healthcare professional liability industry, recently collaborated with the Nurses Service Organization (NSO) to publish Understanding Nurse Practitioner Liability: CNA HealthPro Nurse Practitioner Claims Analysis 1998-2008, Risk Management Strategies and Highlights of the 2009 NSO Survey. Using CNA HealthPro claims data and NSO’s survey of nurse practitioners, the document is designed to help this group of medical professionals recognize medical malpractice risks, understand the current legal and regulatory environment, and implement risk management strategies to prevent patient injuries.

"In the last ten years, nurse practitioners have increased their role in patient care; and, as a result, there is a greater focus on nurse practitioners in malpractice litigation,” said Bruce Dmytrow, vice president of Specialty Risk Control, CNA. "This claims review helps our clients better manage risk by examining the current litigation environment and understanding professional liability exposures associated with the patient care provided by nurse practitioners.”

Through its collaboration with the NSO, CNA HealthPro currently insures approximately 25,000 nurse practitioners nationwide. In addition to analyzing reported events from CNA-insured nurse practitioners and providing results of the NSO survey, the collaborative claims review includes the following highlights:

• ultimate average indemnity and expense payments have increased over the past 10 years; the average appears to be increasing at a rate of 2.3 percent per year;
• the medical care office is the location with the highest number of claims;
• adult/geriatric, family and pediatric/neonatal medicine specialties continue to have the most claims;
• pediatric/neonatal specialty has the highest average severity; and
• several closed claims that settled at the policy limit (i.e., $1 million) resulted from allegations of failure to diagnose or failure to properly assess.

The entire publication -- Understanding Nurse Practitioner Liability: CNA HealthPro Nurse Practitioner Claims Analysis 1998-2008, Risk Management Strategies and Highlights of the 2009 NSO Survey -- is available online at www.cna.com/riskcontrol/ ; or, printed copies can be requested by calling 888-600-4776.

A proven leader in providing comprehensive insurance coverages to the healthcare industry, CNA HealthPro offers a full range of insurance products for healthcare providers and organizations. For more information, please contact CNA HealthPro at 888-600-4776 or visit www.cna.com/healthpro/.

Serving businesses and professionals since 1897, CNA is the country’s seventh largest commercial insurance underwriter and the 13^th largest property and casualty insurance company. CNA insurance products include commercial, specialty, information technology, surety, marine, and other property and casualty coverages. CNA services include underwriting, risk control consulting, and claim management. For more information, please visit CNA at www.cna.com. CNA is a registered trademark of CNA Financial Corporation. Copyright © 2010 CNA. All rights reserved.