Aon Corporation Study Finds Hospital Claims at New Lows
02 Ottobre 2007 - 5:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
Patient safety initiatives linked to claims reductions in
obstetrics and emergency departments. CHICAGO, Oct. 2
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The frequency and severity of hospital
claims are at new lows, according to the Aon Corporation 2007
Hospital Professional Liability and Physician Liability Benchmark
Analysis released today. The annual report, the most comprehensive
look at liability claims in the U.S. health care industry, is
published by Aon Corporation (NYSE:AOC) in conjunction with the
American Society for Healthcare Risk Management. (Logo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20041215/CGW049LOGO) The study
measures 65,689 non-zero claims representing more than $7.7 billion
of incurred losses. More than 80 health care organizations
representing 1,000 facilities and 90,000 licensed beds contributed
to the study. Findings at a glance: -- Hospital claims are at their
lowest levels in eight years. -- Claim severity is increasing at
just three percent annually -- the lowest severity trend in eight
years. -- For the third straight year, there has been no increase
in the frequency of claims. -- Patient safety initiatives aimed at
obstetrics and emergency departments are linked to reductions in
the number of claims in those areas. -- Facilities that are
recognized for their patient safety initiatives exhibit lower
liability loss costs. -- Frequency, severity and loss cost
benchmark statistics vary significantly by state. For the third
straight year, the industry has seen no increase in the frequency
of claims. Since the last edition of the study, the trend in the
severity of claims has been cut in half. Liability losses are
projected to be just three percent higher in 2008, down from six
percent in the 2007 projection. The resulting loss cost trend is
the lowest in the eight-year history of Aon's published advisory
benchmarks. "We continue to recognize improvements in the
underlying claims environment and have enhanced our ability to
measure the impact of the improvement on claims costs," said Greg
Larcher, director and actuary of Aon Global Risk Consulting and
author of the analysis. "I expect many hospitals to realize lower
liability expense in 2008 as hospitals adjust to the new cost
environment." The 2007 study introduces benchmark statistics for
the obstetrics and emergency departments. More than 800 facilities
that experienced approximately 700,000 births and 16 million
emergency department visits provided historical loss information
for these measures. "Since many of the patient safety initiatives
being implemented focus on obstetrics and emergency departments, it
is important to have industry benchmarks available to measure their
effectiveness," said Frank Dodero, senior vice president of Aon
Healthcare. The study found that the number of claims per 10,000
births decreased from 9.4 in 2001 to 6.2 in 2006 while the number
of claims per 100,000 emergency department visits dropped from 5.8
to 3.4 in that same period. The report includes a case study of a
multistate hospital operator where similar improvements were linked
to patient safety initiatives. In obstetrics, fetal heart
monitoring and a focus on high-risk deliveries were found to be
contributing factors in claim reduction. The assessment of
high-risk presentations such as chest pain in patients over 50 and
abdominal pain in all patients contributed to the reduction of
claims in the emergency department. In addition, the study found
that the nation's best hospitals, those recognized for their
patient safety environments, exhibit significantly lower liability
loss costs compared to the national averages. This is important
because hospitals that emulate the nation's best in terms of their
patient safety environment may realize reduced liability costs in
the future. The benchmark study is designed as a hands-on tool to
provide health care risk managers with a better understanding of
their facilities' cost of risk compared to an industry benchmark.
To purchase a copy of the 2007 Hospital Professional Liability and
Physician Liability Benchmark Analysis, please dial +1.800.242.2626
and request item #178703. Visit http://www.aon.com/hpl_study for
more information. About ASHRM The American Society for Healthcare
Risk Management (ASHRM) is a personal membership group of the
American Hospital Association with more than 5,000 members
representing clinical care, insurance, law and other related
professions. ASHRM initiatives focus on developing and implementing
safe and effective patient care practices, the preservation of
financial resources and the maintenance of safe working
environments. About Aon Aon Corporation (http://www.aon.com/) is a
leading provider of risk management services, insurance and
reinsurance brokerage, human capital and management consulting, and
specialty insurance underwriting. There are 43,000 employees
working in Aon's 500 offices in more than 120 countries. Backed by
broad resources, industry knowledge and technical expertise, Aon
professionals help a wide range of clients develop effective risk
management and workforce productivity solutions. This press release
contains certain statements related to future results, or states
our intentions, beliefs and expectations or predictions for the
future which are forward-looking statements as that term is defined
in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from either historical or anticipated results depending on a
variety of factors. Potential factors that could impact results
include: general economic conditions in different countries in
which we do business around the world, changes in global equity and
fixed income markets that could affect the return on invested
assets, fluctuations in exchange and interest rates that could
influence revenue and expense, rating agency actions that could
affect our ability to borrow funds, funding of our various pension
plans, changes in the competitive environment, our ability to
implement restructuring initiatives and other initiatives intended
to yield cost savings, our ability to execute the stock repurchase
program, changes in commercial property and casualty markets and
commercial premium rates that could impact revenues, changes in
revenues and earnings due to the elimination of contingent
commissions, other uncertainties surrounding a new compensation
model, the impact of investigations brought by state attorneys
general, state insurance regulators, federal prosecutors, and
federal regulators, the impact of class actions and individual
lawsuits including client class actions, securities class actions,
derivatives actions, and ERISA class actions, the cost of
resolution of other contingent liabilities and loss contingencies,
and the difference in ultimate paid claims in our underwriting
companies from actuarial estimates. Further information concerning
the Company and its business, including factors that potentially
could materially affect the Company's financial results, is
contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. Media Contact Kelly Drinkwine KemperLesnik
Communications 312.755.3537
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20041215/CGW049LOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Aon Corporation CONTACT:
Kelly Drinkwine of KemperLesnik Communications, +1-312-755-3537, ,
for Aon Corporation Web site: http://www.aon.com/
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