Medical Mutual Insurance Company of Maine

A quarterly review of Company and industry news for Medical Mutual member-policyholders.

About Us » Publications & Announcements

The Advocate
Third quarter 2007

Medical Mutual Brings Hospitals Together

Company explores unique coverage and claims issues related to Deemed FQHC’s and shines a spotlight on handling medical errors

 

Hospital administrators, medical directors and risk and quality managers representing institutions throughout the state gathered for Medical Mutual’s inaugural Hospital Education seminar August 28 at the Woodlands Club in Falmouth.

Titled, Disclosure and FQHC Exposures: What every hospital needs to know, the morning seminar featured a presentation by the law firms of Norman, Hanson & DeTroy, LLC and Paul Frank + Collins, PC that explored unique coverage and claims issues related to Deemed Federally Qualified Health Centers. The program also included a viewing and subsequent discussion of When things go wrong, a video produced by CRICO/RMF, the professional liability carrier for the Harvard medical community, that presents patient perspectives on medical errors in the hospital environment.

In an impromptu peer-to-peer moment fostered by the program’s group discussion, attendees also benefited from the firsthand account by Roy Hitchings, Jr., FACHE, President and CEO of Penobscot Bay Medical Center, of a sentinel event that occurred at the hospital several years ago. Hitchings’ powerful description of the event and the subsequent steps he and the hospital’s management team took to address the situation was a tremendous learning opportunity that provided unique insight into the multi-dimensional issues and challenges of responding to fatal medical errors.

Feedback from evaluation forms filled out by attendees showed enthusiastic support for the annual hospital education seminar concept, citing the pertinence of the material, the quality of the presentations and the convenience of the half-day format as strengths of the program.

Suggestions for future presentations included training on how to handle sentinel events and step-by-step recommendations for investigation and follow-up of equipment-related incidents. Should you have an idea for a topic to highlight at next summer’s Hospital Education Program, contact John Doyle, Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communications at (800) 942-2791 or via email at jdoyle@medicalmutual.com.