News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACTS:
Alven Weil
Premier Inc.
704.733.5797

Premier Insurance Management Services introduces professional liability insurance program

Solution offers Premier healthcare alliance members risk management and hospital medical malpractice protection to reduce risk, improve patient safety and avoid adverse outcomes

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (July 20, 2009) – Premier Insurance Management Services Inc. (PIMS) today announced a new professional medical liability insurance program offering risk management and hospital medical malpractice protection to not-for-profit hospital members of the Premier healthcare alliance.

PIMS, a wholly owned subsidiary of Premier, has selected Medical Protective, a national leader in professional medical liability and a part of the Berkshire Hathaway Group of businesses, as its partner for this sponsored liability program. The program offers customized risk management plans tailored to each hospital, targeting reductions in risk and improvements in patient safety through risk management tools, resources, education and other solutions designed to reduce exposures.

The program is geared towards community-based acute care hospitals including critical access, general acute care and specialty (orthopedic, children's, cardiac, behavioral health, etc.) with 350 beds or less which have a deductible or retention of not more than $500,000 in select targeted states. It features a premium discount for Premier members plus an additional discount for Premier Healthcare Informatics members using the Quality Manager™ or ClinicalAdvisor™ solutions. As the program grows and gains the spread of risk necessary, participants have potential for long-term savings through, where allowed by state law, a Safety Dividend Program. Under a Safety Dividend Program, if claims are lower than projected, participants may be refunded a portion of the excess premium.

"This offering from PIMS and Medical Protective expands beyond the traditional insurance plan," said PIMS President Robert Dowdy. "It includes Medical Protective’s review of self insured facilities that would now like to consider an alternative structure, such as loss portfolio transfer 'capital release' programs or risk transfer partnerships with self-funded entities.

Continued Dowdy, "Our goal is to help our members further improve patient safety while reducing their insurance costs. In the worst-case scenario of a lawsuit, the coverage represents an organization, its assets and its reputation."

About Premier Insurance Management Services Inc. (PIMS)
Incorporated in 1987, PIMS is an Illinois for-profit corporation wholly owned by Premier Inc. PIMS provides contracted management services for American Excess Insurance Exchange, Risk Retention Group (AEIX), and is attorney-in-fact for Premier Insurance Exchange, Risk Retention Group (PRx). PIMS also serves as program manager offering enhanced sponsored programs with leading commercial insurers through a comprehensive portfolio of property, casualty and employee benefit products. Other services include providing claims and risk management assessments and education offerings regarding medical professional liability for hospitals and their physicians. For more information, visit http://www.premierinc.com/risk/tools-services/pims/index.jsp.

About the Premier healthcare alliance, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient
Premier is a performance improvement alliance of more than 2,400 U.S. hospitals and nearly 70,000 other healthcare sites working together to achieve high quality, cost-effective care. Owned by not-for-profit hospitals, Premier maintains the nation's most comprehensive repository of clinical, financial and outcomes information and operates a leading healthcare purchasing network. A world leader in helping deliver measurable improvements in care, Premier works with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the United Kingdom's National Health Service North West to improve hospital performance. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier also has offices in San Diego, Philadelphia and Washington. http://www.premierinc.com

About Medical Protective (MedPro)
With approximately $700 million in annual premium, Medical Protective is a national leader in primary medical professional liability coverage and risk solutions for physicians, dentists, other healthcare professionals, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities. As the nation's first provider of medical professional liability insurance, Medical Protective has been protecting the assets and reputations of doctors and other providers of healthcare for over 100 years. Its offerings include professional liability insurance on both claims-made and occurrence forms, risk management consulting and education, premium finance solutions and – through affiliates and partners – additional products and services for its healthcare providers. Medical professional liability insurance products are underwritten and provided by The Medical Protective Company, rated AAA (Extremely Strong) by Standard & Poor's and A++ (Superior) by A.M. Best, and its affiliates on both admitted and excess and surplus paper, and are distributed through a nationwide network of employee sales managers, appointed agents and brokers. Medical Protective is a Berkshire Hathaway business. More information about Medical Protective is available at www.medpro.com.