Florida Statutes 627.912 – Professional liability claims and actions; reports by insurers and health care providers; annual report by office
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(1)(a) Each self-insurer authorized under s. 627.357 and each commercial self-insurance fund authorized under s. 624.462, authorized insurer, surplus lines insurer, risk retention group, and joint underwriting association providing professional liability insurance to a practitioner of medicine licensed under chapter 458, to a practitioner of osteopathic medicine licensed under chapter 459, to a podiatric physician licensed under chapter 461, to a dentist licensed under chapter 466, to a hospital licensed under chapter 395, to a crisis stabilization unit licensed under part IV of chapter 394, to a health maintenance organization certificated under part I of chapter 641, to clinics included in chapter 390, or to an ambulatory surgical center as defined in s. 395.002, and each insurer providing professional liability insurance to a member of The Florida Bar shall report to the office as set forth in paragraph (c) any written claim or action for damages for personal injuries claimed to have been caused by error, omission, or negligence in the performance of such insured’s professional services or based on a claimed performance of professional services without consent.
Terms Used In Florida Statutes 627.912
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
- Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
- Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
- writing: includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. See Florida Statutes 1.01
(b) For purposes of this section, the term “claim” means the receipt of a notice of intent to initiate litigation, a summons and complaint, or a written demand from a person or his or her legal representative stating an intention to pursue an action for damages against a person described in paragraph (a).
(c) The duty to report specified in paragraph (a) arises upon the occurrence of the first of:
1. The entry of any judgment against any provider identified in paragraph (a) for which all appeals as a matter of right have been exhausted or for which the time period for filing such an appeal has expired;
2. The execution of an agreement between a provider identified in paragraph (a) or an entity required to report under that paragraph and a claimant to settle damages purported to arise from the provision of professional services, which agreement includes the indemnity payment of at least $1; however, if any applicable law requires any such agreement to be approved by the court, the duty arises when the agreement is approved;
3. The final payment of any indemnity money by any of the entities required to report under paragraph (a) on behalf of any provider identified in that paragraph for damages purported to arise from professional services rendered; or
4. The final disposition of a claim for which no indemnity payment was made on behalf of the insured but for which loss adjustment expenses were paid in excess of $5,000. As used in this subparagraph, the term “final disposition” means the insurer has brought down all reserves and closed its file.
(d) After any calendar year in which no claim or action for damages was closed, the entity shall file a no claim submission report. Such report shall be filed with the office no later than April 1 of each calendar year for the immediately preceding calendar year. If a reporting entity submits such a report for a particular calendar year and subsequently discovers that its report was submitted in error, the reporting entity shall promptly notify the office of the error and take steps as directed by the office to make the needed corrections.
(e) If a claim is initially opened and then closed, and is subsequently reopened, the reopened claim shall be treated as a new claim and reported after the occurrence of the first of any event listed in paragraph (c).
(f) Each health care practitioner and health care facility listed in paragraph (a) must report any claim or action for damages as described in paragraph (a), if the claim is not otherwise required to be reported by an insurer or other insuring entity.
(g) Reports under this subsection shall be filed with the office no later than 30 days following the occurrence of the first of any event listed in paragraph (c). An insurer is not required to file a new or amended report on a claim more than 1 year after submitting an initial report.
(2) The reports required by subsection (1) shall contain:
(a) The name, address, health care provider professional license number, and specialty coverage of the insured.
(b) The insured’s policy number.
(c) The date of the occurrence which created the claim.
(d) The date the claim was reported to the insurer or self-insurer.
(e) The name and address of the injured person. This information is confidential and exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1), and must not be disclosed by the office without the injured person’s consent, except for disclosure by the office to the Department of Health. This information may be used by the office for purposes of identifying multiple or duplicate claims arising out of the same occurrence.
(f) The date of suit, if filed.
(g) The injured person’s age and sex.
(h) The total number, names, and health care provider professional license numbers of all defendants involved in the claim.
(i) The date and amount of judgment or settlement, if any, including the itemization of the verdict.
(j) In the case of a settlement, such information as the office may require with regard to the injured person’s incurred and anticipated medical expense, wage loss, and other expenses.
(k) The loss adjustment expense paid to defense counsel, and all other allocated loss adjustment expense paid.
(l) The date and reason for final disposition, if no judgment or settlement.
(m) A summary of the occurrence which created the claim, which shall include:
1. The name of the institution, if any, and the location within the institution at which the injury occurred.
2. The final diagnosis for which treatment was sought or rendered, including the patient’s actual condition.
3. A description of the misdiagnosis made, if any, of the patient’s actual condition.
4. The operation, diagnostic, or treatment procedure causing the injury.
5. A description of the principal injury giving rise to the claim.
6. The safety management steps that have been taken by the insured to make similar occurrences or injuries less likely in the future.
(n) Any other information required by the commission, by rule, to assist the office in its analysis and evaluation of the nature, causes, location, cost, and damages involved in professional liability cases.
(3) The office shall provide the Department of Health with electronic access to all information received under this section related to persons licensed under chapter 458, chapter 459, chapter 461, or chapter 466. The Department of Health shall review each report and determine whether any of the incidents that resulted in the claim potentially involved conduct by the licensee that is subject to disciplinary action, in which case the provisions of s. 456.073 shall apply.
(4) There shall be no liability on the part of, and no cause of action of any nature shall arise against, any person or entity reporting hereunder or its agents or employees or the office or its employees for any action taken by them under this section. The office may impose a fine of up to $250 per day per case, but not to exceed a total of $10,000 per case, against an insurer, commercial self-insurance fund, medical malpractice self-insurance fund, or risk retention group that violates the requirements of this section, except that the office may impose a fine of $250 per day per case, not to exceed a total of $1,000 per case, against an insurer providing professional liability insurance to a member of The Florida Bar, which insurer violates the provisions of this section. If a health care practitioner or health care facility violates the requirements of this section, it shall be considered a violation of the chapter or act under which the practitioner or facility is licensed and shall be grounds for a fine or disciplinary action as such other violations of the chapter or act. The office may adjust a fine imposed under this subsection by considering the financial condition of the licensee, premium volume written, ratio of violations to compliancy, and other mitigating factors as determined by the office.
(5) Any self-insurance program established under s. 1004.24 shall report to the office any claim or action for damages for personal injuries claimed to have been caused by error, omission, or negligence in the performance of professional services provided by the state university board of trustees through an employee or agent of the state university board of trustees, including practitioners of medicine licensed under chapter 458, practitioners of osteopathic medicine licensed under chapter 459, podiatric physicians licensed under chapter 461, and dentists licensed under chapter 466, or based on a claimed performance of professional services without consent if the claim resulted in a final judgment in any amount, or a settlement in any amount. The reports required by this subsection shall contain the information required by subsection (3) and the name, address, and specialty of the employee or agent of the state university board of trustees whose performance or professional services is alleged in the claim or action to have caused personal injury.
(6)(a) The office shall prepare statistical summaries of the closed claims reports for medical malpractice filed pursuant to this section, for each year that such reports have been filed, and make such summaries and closed claim reports available on the Internet by July 1, 2005.
(b) The office shall prepare an annual report by October 1 of each year, beginning in 2004, which shall be available on the Internet, which summarizes and analyzes the closed claim reports for medical malpractice filed pursuant to this section and the annual financial reports filed by insurers writing medical malpractice insurance in this state. The report must include an analysis of closed claim reports of prior years, in order to show trends in the frequency and amount of claims payments, the itemization of economic and noneconomic damages, the nature of the errant conduct, and such other information as the office determines is illustrative of the trends in closed claims. The report must also analyze the state of the medical malpractice insurance market in Florida, including an analysis of the financial reports of those insurers with a combined market share of at least 80 percent of the net written premium in the state for medical malpractice for the prior calendar year, including a loss ratio analysis for medical malpractice written in Florida and a profitability analysis of each such insurer. The report shall compare the ratios for medical malpractice in Florida compared to other states, based on financial reports filed with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and such other information as the office deems relevant.
(c) The annual report shall also include a summary of the rate filings for medical malpractice which have been approved by the office for the prior calendar year, including an analysis of the trend of direct and incurred losses as compared to prior years.
(7) The commission may adopt rules requiring persons and entities required to report pursuant to this section to also report data related to the frequency and severity of open claims for the reporting period, amounts reserved for incurred claims, changes in reserves from the previous reporting period, and other information considered relevant to the ability of the office to monitor losses and claims development in the Florida medical malpractice insurance market.