October 1, 1997
Did you ever have doubts about a doctor referred to you by an insurance company, or just want more information about someone you picked out of the phone book? Florida Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner Bill Nelson has recently made accessing previously difficult to find public records easy, via the state Department of Insurance website. The comprehensive and free database offers up 20 years of malpractice records against thousands of doctors, dentists, lawyers, hospitals, health maintenance organizations, abortion clinics, mental health crisis centers
and surgery centers in Florida.
The online database includes each professional's name, county of practice, the amount of the malpractice claim and when it was paid. Beyond that, users can order a full-text copy of the original report containing a narrative description of the incident for $1.50 for each file number ordered.
The Department of Insurance has maintained these records since the 70s, when a statute (Florida law s 627.912) required insurance companies to report to the Department of Insurance any "closed claims of error, omission or negligence" against the types of health care providers listed above.
Believed to be the first of its kind, the site includes a DISCLAIMER and CONSUMER NOTICE, which states that "Not all providers and institutions covered by the closed claims law appear in this listing" and "...neither the number nor the amount of any claim is an indicator of professional competence or quality." Some providers may not be listed because they don't carry
professional liability insurance. Others are self-insured. And still others have high-deductible policies that don't involve insurer payments.
So how do our local physicians measure up? Well, I did a bit of digging on Orange County doctors and was surprised at first by the number of claims. Results showed 581 physicians accounting for 811 claims; that's 149 physicians with two or more claims (18.4% of claims by 25.6% of physicians). Yet in this day of frivolous lawsuits, I can see where even good doctors get screwed sometimes.
What really caught my attention, though, was the fact that 20 Orange County physicians have four or more claims listed. Remember, these are all closed claims, meaning the insurance company had to pay up, sometimes exorbitant amounts. And of the 20 physicians with four or more claims, nine are still
practicing locally (45%).
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