At Copic, we stand ready to protect you and the practice of good medicine. We’re committed to providing the trusted counsel you need when you face a medical liability claim or lawsuit, and making decisions with you—not for you. At every turn, you’ll have legal guidance, in addition to logistical, emotional, and reputational support.
While other carriers may make claims decisions based on profit and loss, we do things differently. Copic looks at each case with a dedicated focus on you and the specifics of your case. Our approach starts with an in-depth analysis of multiple factors, including the human aspects of healthcare. The goal is to understand what happened and why, and defend you to the fullest extent.
the claims process
Let’s walk through the process—and how we support and guide you every step of the way.
If you believe something occurred that could result in a claim or suit, contact Copic right away. This could be any major unexpected outcome, resulting from any aspect of care.
Early incident reporting helps us help you—we can jump in to address the situation quickly and gather information while it’s still fresh in everyone's minds. Our goal is to avoid litigation and find an early resolution, if possible.
Our physician risk managers, claims department, and other Copic staff will review your report, and determine the appropriate actions to take. Our philosophy is that when medicine meets the standard of care, we vigorously defend insureds. If the incident doesn’t require further action, we’ll still keep track of it in case of any future developments.
If you receive suit papers or correspondence regarding a disciplinary proceeding (or if a patient's intention to sue becomes apparent), contact us immediately.
At this stage, we’ll assign you a claims consultant—an expert on the Copic team who will coordinate your case from beginning to end. They will start an investigation and have in-depth discussions with you to evaluate the potential merit of a claim. Depending on the situation, they may bring in a defense attorney.
We’ll take the time to understand the facts and determine if the standard of care was met. We want to help you avoid litigation when possible—and provide you with the best defense and support throughout the entire process.
The next step involves our collaborative review process that brings in multiple perspectives and expertise: the Claims Committee. The committee is made up of a diverse group of physicians, medical providers, consultants, and other experts—a brain trust assembled to address the complexities of the claim, both medical and legal.
To provide you with the strongest defense possible, we work closely with you to understand the specific facts of your case. This means we need your close cooperation. Your medical knowledge can help us understand special medical skills, techniques, relevant procedures, and other factors that affect your case. The more prepared we are, the better we can defend you.
It may surprise you to know that most cases don’t actually go to trial. Some are settled, others are voluntarily dismissed, and some are dismissed on motion.
It’s natural for a claim or lawsuit to bring up difficult feelings like stress, anger, guilt, fear, isolation, or anxiety. As with any challenging experience in life, it can help to talk to someone who understands what you’re going through.
That’s what led us to create the Care for the Caregiver program to match you with a specially trained peer practitioner—someone who has personal experience with the legal process and can offer their perspective, listen, and support you as you go through it.
The program was developed with the following
goals in mind:
Copic also offers the benefit of reimbursing you for the cost of up to four mental health therapy sessions to help you deal with being a medical provider and a human.
“Care for the Caregiver is a supportive and understanding environment where those who feel that they bear this burden alone come to understand that many others have been through this before and gone on to thrive and continue in their chosen field. For anyone who is facing legal action for the first time in their career, it is an absolute necessity to utilize this program. You will come out of it feeling a great deal more confident about the road ahead.”
Besides navigating the legal aspects of a claim or lawsuit, there are sometimes additional challenges in dealing with media coverage, social media, or other communications that emerge. As part of your coverage, you'll have access to a PR expert who can help manage dealing with the media, crisis communications, and any reputational issues you may face. We make sure you have exactly the guidance you need at every stage to protect yourself, your practice, and your reputation.
Besides dealing with medical liability claims and lawsuits, our defense team works with customers on other issues covered by their policy and in providing guidance for navigating certain situations such as:
Reach out to us immediately at 720.858.6395 during business hours (8am-5pm, Mountain time). During non-business hours, you can start the reporting process online here and we’ll call you to follow up.
In the meantime:
According to the American Medical Association, nearly half (46.8%) of physicians over 54 had been sued, compared to 9.5% of physicians under 40. In general, surgical specialties are at highest risk and internal medicine subspecialties are at lowest risk. Obstetricians/gynecologists, general surgeons, other surgeons and orthopedic surgeons are at highest risk of being sued during their careers.
On average, a case can take anywhere from 2-5 years before it is complete. At Copic, we strive to reduce the resolution time and get you back to practicing medicine without the threat of a lawsuit looming over you. We consistently have a shorter resolution time when compared to the industry average.
Contact our Claims team.
