Ageism is the next Employment Practices Liability frontier
An article in today’s Wall Street Journal, ” ‘Objection!’ Older Lawyers Resist Forced Retirement”, points out the tip of an emerging iceberg. We have all heard those catchy phrases like “60 is the new 50″. Well, some of that thinking is coming to a courtroom near you. The article outlines ageism-related cases brought by partners at law firms who are routinely forced to give up their equity partner status upon achievement of a certain age. The newspaper also outlines that some large law firms have started to drop or amend their retirement policies thereby putting forced retirements into a case by case basis.
Lawyers, of course, often start legal trends. This one could really catch on fire. Lots of entities have mandatory retirement ages for officers, directors, partners and employees. Not just law firms, but churches, government entities, and other large employers. All of them susceptible to mass torts and class actions. It seems likely that age discrimination legal battles will increase. Underwriters of Employment Practices Liability Insurance need beware.
Hospital data breach shows vulnerabilities in data protection and insurance
Hospital officials announced yesterday that computer files from South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, MA containing personal information for 800,000 individuals (patients, employees, doctors, volunteers, donors, vendors and business partners) may have been lost when they were shipped to a contractor to be destroyed. The notice posted to their website provides careful readers with some insights into some of the potential financial and insurance coverage risks that even the most careful organizations can face in connection with the compromise of confidential information. Read more…
Considering the legacy of your digital property
Our friends at Hemenway & Barnes LLP have recently given our team here at WGA’s Private Client Group their wise counsel on an area of critical importance but not frequently addressed: website passwords. Take a look at this write-up how accounting for “digital property” has become and important part of estate planning, it is totally on point.
A closer looks at medical malpractice coverage triggers
Most healthcare providers look at their insurance policies more as a costly expense, a nuisance and a necessity for their licensing rather than a legally binding contract. However, that is a oversimplification. A medical malpractice insurance policy IS a contract and must be treated as such. The terms and conditions of the contract can vary from company to company and even among different policies issued by the same company.
Few contract items demonstrate this more clearly than the wording surrounding the issue of “triggers”. For simplification purposes, we will assume coverage is on a claims-made coverage from. Claims made policies exclude coverage for incidents that were reported to previous insurance companies. Read more…
Privacy risks extend beyond your own systems
A recent news item highlights one of the most challenging and frustrating aspects for companies and organizations dealing with their privacy and data security obligations: their potential responsibility for the behavior of others. Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center in New York City has posted a notice on its website explaining that several CDs containing patients’ protected health and personal information had apparently been lost in transit. One of the hospital’s vendors had shipped the CDs to the hospital via overnight courier, but they never arrived. According to the website, the CDs contained the following types of information: name, address, social security number, medical record number, patient number, health plan information, date of birth, dates of admission and discharge, diagnostic and procedural codes and descriptions, and possibly a driver’s license number. Read more…
Ask the Experts: What is expected for the 2010 hurricane season
Experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predict a busier than usual storm season for 2010 and there are reports that show unsettling similarities to the 2005 season which produced 28 named storms including Hurricane Katrina. WGA’s Bruce MacDougall talks about being prepared for the 2010 storm season.
For more information on being prepared, see WGA’s Claims Bulletin.
DHCFP Speaks
DAVID MORALES
Not everyone is familiar with the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy (DHCFP) as Commissioner David Morales readily admits. But, this state agency is trying to drive health care cost control reform as much as anyone in the state. Alongside Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley and private industry studies such as the McKinsey study cited in earlier blogs, DHCFP is exposing the truth about rising health care costs: the biggest driver is that hospitals and doctors are getting paid much more money. Their prices have been escalating in part due to unfair competition according to AG Coakley as well as Insurance Commissioner Joseph Murphy. Read more…
Wellness incentives – a lesson from workers compensation
As consultants and advocates for our clients, we want our clients to have a broader set of pro-active tools to reduce the cost of health insurance. One of those tools that still is mostly untapped is employer-sponsored Wellness initiatives at the worksite. Wellness is hardly a new concept. Many researchers have reported on the success of Wellness programs but they have been sparsely implemented. One of the biggest problems with Wellness programs is that only some of the gains in health care expense control are achieved in the near term. Many of the gains are not achieved until later in life as a result of decreases in the incidence of cancer, heart disease and diabetes. And given that the average employee changes jobs every seven years or so, many employers feel that the benefits are passed on to future employers. hat poses a problem. How do you incent businesses to pay for Wellness programs when they may not get many of the benefits? Read more…
Healthcare organizations find themselves at risk of “low tech” privacy breaches
In an age of ever-increasing dependence on electronic records and cyber-security, it should come as little surprise that there is a steady diet of new examples of data breaches and the loss of private data. This is especially true in the case of healthcare institutions and providers. Read more…
Promote wellness and control your medical costs
Wellness programs in the workplace are designed to educate and assist employees to live healthier lives. But there is no denying that the overall health of employees can certainly help to reduce medical costs. Did you know that 15% of employees accrue 78% of medical expenses, and that 75% of health care costs are directly related to lifestyle and are preventable? As we enter the next phase of wellness, we find that many human resources professionals looking for new ways to proactively control their medical costs. We hosted a discussion this week with Interactive Health Solution (IHS), a partner firm that provides health awareness and preventive care programs that can help reduce the severity of claims, and ultimately allows the workforce to be more productive. Read more…
