Risk Management

Mapping Today’s Risk Environment

Cyberthreats, staffing shortages, aggressive payer audits, and evolving scope-of-practice laws all add new layers of exposure. Our posts break risks into clinical, operational, financial, and reputational categories and suggest mitigation tactics suited to solo offices, group practices, and hospital-employed providers.

Policy Templates & Playbooks

Blogs include downloadable informed-consent addenda, social-media guidelines, and incident-reporting forms that satisfy legal standards while fitting real-world workflow constraints.

Insurance & Alternative Risk Financing

We explain malpractice policy structures, occurrence vs. claims-made coverage, and captive insurance options.

Leadership, Training, & Culture

Effective risk management requires engaged leadership. Posts outline strategies—regular safety huddles, anonymous reporting channels, and just-culture scorecards—that encourage proactive issue identification.

Business Continuity & Disaster Planning

From ransomware response plans to supply-chain contingency mapping, we translate high-level frameworks into checklists that clinics can adapt to their size and specialty.

Defining Frivolous Lawsuits

August 15, 2024December 2, 2009 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

In English, a word can have many meanings. It’s important that we understand the term “frivolous,” as it relates to medical malpractice claims. “Frivolous” is at the heart of the problem and is a core concern of the system by which we provide our nation with wellness.

According to Merriam-Webster, the term comes from Middle English, from the Latin “frivolus,” about the 15th century. There are two root meanings:

1) Having little weight or importance, or no sound basis in fact or law

2) Lacking in seriousness, or marked by unbecoming levity.

When we use the term in regards to claims of medical malpractice, we generally employ the first meaning, that the suit has no sound basis in fact or law. Contrary to the first part of that definition, though, any medical malpractice claim is important and constitutes a considerable burden, so it does have weight, and is serious. There’s nothing funny about being named in a baseless lawsuit.

Demands For Refunds on Dental Work? Yes, they ARE serious!

August 15, 2024September 25, 2009 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

When it first started, most thought it was a joke, a hoax or a fluke. Could someone seriously be demanding a refund because they didn’t like the way their dental work turned out? Never underestimate the power of greed and ignorance. Some patients have attorneys trying to get them refunds for dental work now. If you don’t think this is preposterous, you may want to have a closer look.

To be fair, let’s put this into neutral ground. Say you’re a mechanic. The client brings in their vehicle wanting new tires, and asks you to check out a “clunking” sound heard in the front end when cornering. You find the problem, change out the part, install their tires, balance it, and send them on their way. Then, weeks or months later, you get a letter from their attorney. They’re saying they don’t like the way their car looks with the new tires, so they want you to refund the money paid — all of it. Does that seem fair or make sense to you?

Liars On Notice: Accountability Emergent; Google Ordered to Identify Sources

August 15, 2024September 9, 2009 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

… all too often there isn’t even an injured patient in the first place! Any disgruntled employee or mischievous graffiti artist has been able to make false and vapid claims against a doctor or practice, and then hide behind a cloak of Internet anonymity.

Online Libel — Freedom of Speech Does Not Protect Anonymity

August 15, 2024August 28, 2009 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

The Constitution is, more than anything else, a set of limits placed upon our government. It is NOT carte-blanche for one citizen to damage another’s reputation.

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