DynaMed
Full access to a leading point-of-care clinical information tool
We were fortunate to be able to serve a growing number of physicians last year.
With the addition of Massachusetts last year, Curi is now able to do business in 47 states and the District of Columbia.
Our gross written premium increased in 2019, fueled in part by new business from large, customized programs designed to meet our customers’ changing needs.
While our expense ratio (the amount of premium we receive relative to our operating expenses) increased slightly over 2018, it was still far below industry average—a sign that, even while growing, we were able to manage our business responsibly.
Even amid increasing claims frequency and severity across the MPL industry, we kept our loss ratio—the percentage of premium used to pay claims—far below industry average yet again in 2019, thanks to our members’ prudent clinical practice and our commitment to sound underwriting, risk management, and claims management.
Curi’s low, industry-beating combined ratio (loss ratio plus expense ratio) stands as a marker of our profitability, which in turn allows us to reinvest in our business to stay on top of our members’ needs—even in an extremely challenging market.
2019 was a tough year for a lot of our competitors, with a hardening market and record claims severity straining many insurers’ finances—but even in that adverse environment, Curi earned our sixteenth straight A (“Excellent”) financial strength rating from A.M. Best Rating Service for our strong balance sheet and consistent operating performance, which has outperformed the industry and the medical professional liability composite.
As a member-owned company, Curi shares our success with the physicians who invest in us with their premium dollars. Our Legacy Fund and Policyholder Dividends programs aim to give you a return on that investment, with a goal of returning approximately half of our net income each year.
Member savings accounts that grow tax-deferred and pay out upon designated events, including retirement.
Annual cash payments to qualifying physicians.
While 2019 was yet another difficult year for many medical professional liability carriers, with continued record-setting levels of plaintiffs' verdicts across the industry, Curi continued to deliver outstanding results for our insured physicians.
Curi responded to these challenges by continuing to double down on the strategy that has helped our members all along: low case counts for each examiner (roughly one-half of industry average), which allows them to give physicians more time and attention; hiring only the best defense lawyers; local market presence; regular use of focus groups and witness coaches; and standing with our physicians at every day of trial.
This model is central to who we are as a physician-owned company, and again in 2019, the results speak for themselves. The overwhelming majority of our closed cases ended favorably for our members, and no Curi insured who took a case to trial faced any personal exposure over their policy limits.
Even while claims frequency and severity were going up, Curi prevailed in the vast majority of the contested-liability cases that closed in 2019.
Nearly all of our cases closed without payment in 2019.
* Three trials were dismissed by plaintiffs' counsel in the middle of trial.
Curi’s commitment to defending good medicine is central to everything we do. Last year, while many of our competitors were cutting costs, we spent nearly as much on defending cases as we did making indemnity payments to plaintiff patients—because we believe that spending on defense drives down payments to plaintiffs and their lawyers and serves as a deterrent to frivolous lawsuits.
“Curi invested years ago in technologies for remote meetings and video conferencing, and that has helped put them ahead of the curve. While many others have had to adapt to the ‘new normal’ of remote meetings, that’s business as usual for Curi. It is a pleasure to defend Curi insureds knowing that Curi values our input as litigators and provides us with the tools necessary to defend the case.”— Kristin Ahmadian and Vito Masciopinto,
Partners, L&G Law Group,
Chicago IL
Curi’s Claims team includes numerous professionals with extensive MPL, legal, and clinical experience. This helps us defend our members through our vast exposure to healthcare litigation, our knowledge of the law, and our understanding of complex medical situations. Our front-line Claims staff includes six team members with more than twenty years of MPL claims-handling experience, seven attorneys, and five nurses—including three RN/JDs.
“In my experience, the Curi team’s deep experience with both clinical and legal issues means that we can move from talking about what happens in an operating room to discussing complex issues of law without missing a beat. It’s a privilege to work with Curi.”— Jay Chimpoulis,
Partner, Chimpoulis & Hunter,
Plantation FL
Curi’s Risk Management department stands at the ready to help physicians and practices reduce their risk, increase patient safety, and comply with all relevant state and federal law.
With a newly overhauled Risk Management website that simplifies how you access and search for our resources, we’re more ready than ever to connect our members with the tools they need to efficiently and effectively run their practices.
Curi runs a robust webinar series that helps our member physicians stay on top of trends in the profession while achieving continuing medical education (CME) credits at no additional charge, as a benefit of membership.
For taking part in the webinars, physicians are awarded AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Non-physician providers receive a certificate of participation.
We released seven new webinars in 2019:
| DEEPER DIVE: EMERGENCY MEDICAL TREATMENT AND LABOR ACT CASE STUDIES | CME: .75 |
| 2019 HOT TOPICS IN RISK MANAGEMENT | CME: .50 |
| PRACTICAL CHAPERONES | CME: 1.0 |
| DOCUMENTATION IS EVERYTHING | CME: 1.25 |
| TOP TEN WAYS TO GUARANTEE A LAWSUIT | CME: 1.0 |
| BE PREPARED! DISASTER PLANNING REMINDER FOR HURRICANE SEASON | CME: .25 |
| EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING AND RESILIENCE FOR TODAY’S HEALTHCARE WORKFORCE | CME: .50 |
The premium dollars you send us buy you far more than MPL insurance alone. Each Curi policy is supported by an array of products and services provided as a benefit of membership, from practice management tools to human resources consulting to regulatory guidance. The goal: to help your practice operate as efficiently and effectively as possible.
Our key member benefits include the following:
Full access to a leading point-of-care clinical information tool
Protection against network security and privacy exposure risks
Additional regulatory and compliance protections
Support for larger practices looking to increase control over their insurance program and effectively self-insure
Programs and guidance to navigate regulatory hurdles such as MIPS and MACRA, Open Payments, and state and federal exclusion lists
An on-call, dedicated human resources consultant available for member inquiries and timely HR education
Capital
