Despite the pandemic leading to a groundswell of demand for telehealth coverage among general practitioners, exposures and claims for telehealth related coverage remained relatively benign, with the most common concerns among carriers being the potential fallout of state licensure issues and claims severity as damage caps vary greatly across state lines.
ProAssurance’s Mike Rosenthal, senior vice president of Business Development, has not noticed a particular increase in telehealth under its written premium, though the carrier does not offer a standalone telehealth product, instead preferring to build those coverages into the risk management and underwriting process on a per policy basis.
“It’s hard to create a cookie cutter telehealth policy,” he said. “For some specialties, there’s been some examples of success, but by and large, there’s been a whole lot more failures of specifically telehealth offerings than successes.”
Rosenthal also notes that telehealth could be a solution to a different problem.
“It may be part of the long-term solution to the ongoing and continually exacerbated physician shortage that will be around for years to come,” he said.
While claims frequency in the physician space benefited from the reduction of non-COVID-19 related in-person care during the bulk of the pandemic, carriers are concerned that the looming market hardening of 2019, before the pandemic, was merely put on hold. As the demand for telehealth coverage seemingly dwindles due to the potential dips in COVID-19 cases, pent up in-person care and the potential claims that follow may be on the horizon.
“Our claims performance [in 2021] did really well in terms of production and growth as a combined company,” said Rosenthal, following ProAssurance’s acquisition of NORCAL last year. “The whole industry has benefited from a claims stand point from COVID-19. Courts were closed, hospitals and clinics were closed to anything but COVID. But there’s no precedent to be able to look at.”
ISMIE, similarly, has not felt the need to add any additional telehealth coverages to its playbook, instead relying on its existing coverage offerings for this segment, though it has noted an increase in demand and risk management questions from insureds related to telemedicine. As the carrier does not offer a standalone telehealth policy, it determines pricing and limits when establishing the needs of an insured during the underwriting process.
Despite the increase in demand, ISMIE has also not noticed an uptick in telehealth frequency or severity over the last two years. The carrier has kept a close eye on this segment from a risk management perspective, encouraging practitioners to practice consistent standards of care, be it virtual or in-person, while also preparing for any potential technical difficulties and maintaining, and will keep a close eye on reporting trends related to telehealth issues as the segment continues to evolve.
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