Lloyd's specialist underwriter Marketform has started underwriting hospital professional liability, comprising medical malpractice and associated general liability insurance, in the US.
The hospital professional liability insurance market provides Marketform with the opportunity to expand its current geographical spread of medical malpractice professional indemnity insurance to include business domiciled within the US.
John O'Neill, chief executive officer of Marketform Managing Agency, said that the launch will allow Marketform to use the knowledge and experience of its hospital professional liability team to underwrite a book of business which complements the existing international medical malpractice account.
"The aim is to build a high value, low volume book underwritten as an excess hospital account with support from other Lloyd's syndicates,” he said. “Our new team has, in the last 15 years, built up extensive expertise in this field and shown an impressive track record within their peer group.
"Many brokers who place business with Marketform also have US accounts. We believe that the inclusion of the US in our underwriting portfolio will raise further the profile of Marketform and provide brokers with a complete medical malpractice solution regardless of jurisdiction. We will be one of a very small number of syndicates who can do this."
Andy Hornsblow, class underwriter for hospital professional liability, said that the detailed research carried out by the working group within Marketform and its parent company Great American has highlighted the positive underwriting possibilities within the territory.
"We estimate that 75% of our prospective US account will cover hospitals, underwritten purely as an open market product as either insurance or facultative reinsurance of hospital captive insurance companies, with cover limited to those hospitals with highly sophisticated risk management procedures, in-house claims management and litigation teams and appropriate self-insured retentions,” he said. “We believe this approach builds on our expertise and will complement the existing medical malpractice international account."
Marketform, liability insurance, medical malpractice, US accounts