| The Doctor’s Advocate | Third Quarter 2007 |
Member Experience Survey
At the beginning of 2007, we launched our first national Member Experience Survey to ensure that we continue providing you with exceptional services and benefits.
We received a very strong response, with 13 percent weighing in on a broad range of satisfaction and experience measures. If you took part in our survey, thank you for taking the time to respond. Your responses are invaluable in helping us to fulfill our commitment to relentlessly defend, protect, and reward those who advance the practice of good medicine.
Here are key results:
Inspiring Member Loyalty
Our members’ positive experiences with The Doctors Company have invoked a considerable sense of loyalty. Ninety-five percent of members are likely to renew their policies, and 93 percent are likely to remain with The Doctors Company until they retire. The vast majority of members rate us as the finest malpractice insurer in the country and would strongly recommend our coverage to colleagues.
Achieving Member Satisfaction
Our mission is to advance, protect, and reward the practice of good medicine. We are a company built by doctors for doctors. More than any other medical malpractice insurance company, we are relentless in protecting our members from potential threats to their reputation and livelihood, defending our members whose professionalism has been challenged by litigious patients and lawyers, and rewarding our members for their loyalty to The Doctors Company and for their dedication to patients. It’s clear from our survey results that our efforts have created a high degree of member satisfaction.
Relentless Defense
Of responding members with a claims experience, 89 percent recognize that The Doctors Company aggressively defends them when their professionalism has been called into question. No other insurer is more aligned with your interests or provides more effective claims defense strategies. We close more than 80 percent of claims against our members with no payment to the plaintiff. Of those claims that go to trial, over 87 percent result in victory for our members.
Protection
A full 85 percent agreed that we successfully protect our members from potential threats to their reputation and livelihood. Protecting our members also means pursuing patient safety issues. We are widely considered to be our industry’s thought leader on this subject. Look for exciting new programs designed to support your practice and help you deliver outstanding patient care.
Exceptional Member Services
At The Doctors Company, we pride ourselves on our industry-leading service; the survey results reflect that our members are very satisfied with our services across several important experience points:
- Eighty-nine percent of members are satisfied with the way we handle phone calls, questions, and requests.
- Ninety percent are satisfied with the accuracy of our billing.
- Eighty-four percent are satisfied with our efforts to communicate. Although most members rate us highly in this area, we are determined not to stand pat—as evidenced by a major investment in improved member communications that we have already begun to introduce.
Fair Pricing
On the subject of pricing, 74 percent of members considered The Doctors Company’s rates to be fair. We understand that medical malpractice insurance is expensive and that our members deserve low yet responsible rates and the best possible service. We price our coverages fairly to maintain our ability to protect members now and in the future.
Members also indicated areas where The Doctors Company could improve:
Online Services
Many members have not experienced the online services offered on our Web site—including 24-hour access to Certificates of Insurance, credentialing, free CME credits, billing statement information, claims handling instructions, and industry-leading patient safety information. We are committed to launching an aggressive program to make our Web site the best in the industry. Look for exciting new features, including easier navigation, multimedia presentations, online polls with feedback, article ratings, and more.
Rewarding Loyalty
Members also expressed a desire to be rewarded for their loyalty. This year we launched the groundbreaking TributeSM Plan, a unique benefit that significantly increases the reward for membership with The Doctors Company. It is a tribute that no other national medical malpractice insurer can match. Additionally, most members will receive a dividend credit this year because of outstanding clinical performance and fewer claims than expected.
Again, thank you to all who participated.
The Doctor’s Advocate is published by The Doctors Company to advise and inform its members about loss prevention and insurance issues.
The guidelines suggested in this newsletter are not rules, do not constitute legal advice, and do not ensure a successful outcome. They attempt to define principles of practice for providing appropriate care. The principles are not inclusive of all proper methods of care nor exclusive of other methods reasonably directed at obtaining the same results.
The ultimate decision regarding the appropriateness of any treatment must be made by each health care provider in light of all circumstances prevailing in the individual situation and in accordance with the laws of the jurisdiction in which the care is rendered.
The Doctor’s Advocate is published quarterly by Corporate Communications, The Doctors Company. Letters and articles, to be edited and published at the editor’s discretion, are welcome. The views expressed are those of the letter writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or official policy of The Doctors Company. Please sign your letters, and address them to the editor.