From the desk.
Working on the front lines of the insurance industry, we have unique insight into the trends and events shaping its future. Commentary from the specialists placing healthcare's toughest risks.
Latest articles
Travelers Middle Market is writing healthcare auto and property again
Travelers underwriter Elle Koesters tells Westwood what her Middle Market desk will write in healthcare, what it will pass on, and how to get a submission to the right place.
The blocked market: why the first submission wins the account
In specialty insurance, an underwriter accepts one submission per risk. The first broker to knock owns the door — and the impression they leave sticks.
The Importance of Strategic Relationships for Binding Insurance Applications
A real case showing why brokers’ relationships with underwriters matter: spamming every market to lock out competitors backfired, leaving client, agent, and broker worse off.
Spotlight on Emergency Evacuation Endorsements in General Liability Policies
How Emergency Evacuation Expense Reimbursement endorsements in general and professional liability policies protect senior living facilities, covering limits, inclusions, and exclusions.
Why Senior Living Facilities Must be Prepared for the Unthinkable
After Hurricane Helene forced the airlift of 100+ nursing home residents, facilities are urged to build robust evacuation plans and insure for the unexpected.
“We Hear You”: Westwood Responds to Agent’s Feedback
Westwood’s client experience survey earned a Net Promoter Score of 74. Here is what agents praised and the steps Westwood is taking to improve communication.
Spotlight on ‘How’s Mom’ App: Boosting Family Satisfaction and Reducing Lawsuits for Senior Living Facilities
Poor communication drives many lawsuits against senior care facilities. The How’s Mom app gives families real-time updates, boosting satisfaction and cutting legal risk.
Spotlight on Workers Compensation Insurance for Healthcare and Senior Living
Workers compensation is vital coverage for healthcare and senior living facilities, and Westwood lets agents source it alongside PL and GL through one brokerage.
Emerging Risks: The Increasing Importance of Sexual Abuse & Molestation Insurance
As #MeToo reshapes workplace scrutiny, Sexual Abuse and Molestation (SAM) insurance is becoming essential risk management for industries from gyms to schools.
A Threat to U.S. Healthcare
A $68 million malpractice verdict against a small New Mexico hospital shows how nuclear verdicts threaten the survival of healthcare institutions and community care.
Risk Management in Nursing Homes and Assisted Living Facilities
Why communication with residents’ families is central to risk management in senior living, and how tools like the How’s Mom app help facilities reduce liability.
Unraveling Runaway Medical Malpractice Verdicts in the Shadow of Social Inflation
Runaway medical malpractice jury verdicts, fueled by pandemic-driven social inflation, are driving up insurance rates; a nuanced, humanizing defense approach may help course-correct.
Five Key Predictions for Medical Malpractice Insurance in 2024
Westwood's five 2024 medical malpractice predictions: rising rates, more risk management, greater use of AI, more alternative risk structures, and continued market consolidation.
The Return of Venue Shopping: A Perilous Shift in Pennsylvania's Health Care Landscape
Pennsylvania's 2022 Supreme Court decision revived "venue shopping," driving a surge in medical malpractice filings and threatening the state's healthcare providers and insurers.
As tensions rise in the Middle East, cyber attacks are increasing. Are your healthcare clients protected?
With Middle East tensions rising, state-sponsored Iranian cyberattacks on US healthcare are increasing, making comprehensive Cyber Liability Insurance an urgent priority for clients.
RAC audits are a niche area of opportunity to provide essential coverage in today's healthcare landscape
RAC (Recovery Audit Contractor) audits can inflict malpractice-level financial losses on healthcare providers, making RAC Audit coverage an overlooked opportunity for insurance agents.
Study Reveals Residents' Fear in Nursing Homes, Highlighting the Need for SAM Insurance
A Long Term Care Community Coalition study found nursing home residents fear staff retaliation for reporting neglect or abuse, underscoring the need for liability mitigation and SAM insurance.
Digital Healthcare and the Uncertain Malpractice Landscape
Digital healthcare's rapid rise in telehealth, remote monitoring and AI diagnostics brings new malpractice exposures and, amid America's litigation culture, uncertain E&O risk for commercial agents.
GenStar™ – Stability in an uncertain market
With the healthcare insurance market in upheaval, GenStar offers stability, strong premium growth and coverage for a wide range of physician and miscellaneous healthcare facility malpractice risks.
Why so many Commercial Agents prefer working with a Malpractice Insurance Broker
Why commercial agents benefit from partnering with a malpractice insurance broker, from a network of underwriters and tailored proposals to expert guidance and added credibility with larger clients.
What's Hot in 2023 – Carrier Appetites for Healthcare
A look at the healthcare classes, led by telemedicine, that a sampling of top carriers most prefer to insure in 2023, helping commercial agents spot the hottest opportunities in the market.
GenStar®: A Unique and Exclusive Insurance Partner for Tough Classes of Business
A profile of GenStar Insurance Services, a Berkshire Hathaway wholesale carrier known for underwriting tough allied healthcare classes like pain management, radiology and birthing centers.
Navigating the Digital Healthcare Revolution: A Wake-Up Call for Commercial Insurance Agents
As digital healthcare booms toward a projected $253B, commercial agents must understand the sector's new risks and the coverage gaps that traditional liability and cyber policies leave behind.
Increasing Telehealth risks could be good news for Captives
Telehealth's growth is fueling more malpractice claims and a harder insurance market, prompting a look at group, protected cell and single parent captives as an alternative.
the impact of social inflation on insurance premiums
Social inflation, rising claim costs driven by plaintiff-friendly verdicts and larger jury awards, is pushing up medical liability premiums, a trend accelerated by the pandemic.
Senior Care Facilities Rethink Operations post COVID-19
Workers are leaving elder care in droves, leaving assisted living and skilled nursing facilities short-staffed and forcing a fundamental rethink of how senior care operates.
Liability mitigation is essential for senior living facilities
With two million vulnerable Americans in senior living and nursing homes, rising litigation and record jury awards make serious liability mitigation essential.
Standing on the Brink: The Future of Senior Living
Demographic shifts, staffing shortages and the rise of AI and robotics are reshaping senior living, raising complex new legal and insurance questions for everyone involved.
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