Beazley Expands Regulatory Liability Offering to Help Hospitals and other Healthcare Providers Manage and Mitigate Charges of Improper Billing

Partnership with Navigant Consulting, Inc. could substantially reduce costs and penalties of regulatory action.


CHICAGO, Oct. 12, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Beazley, a leading healthcare professional liability insurer and a pioneer in the provision of regulatory liability protection to US hospitals, has broadened its coverage to assist hospitals and other healthcare providers in the management and mitigation of billing errors and omissions.

Through a new partnership with the healthcare compliance and investigations division of Navigant Consulting, as well as specialist legal counsel, Beazley's clients will be able to conduct swift and comprehensive internal investigations of billing errors. Armed with the findings from such investigations, hospitals will frequently be able to resolve violations of the False Claims Act and other applicable laws at a far lower cost than they might otherwise have incurred.

"The federal government has made it clear that it will recognize and reward the cooperation of hospitals that self disclose with penalties that are significantly lower," said Kelly Webster, healthcare management liability underwriter at Beazley.  "By working closely with Navigant and specialist attorneys, hospitals should be able to document the billing errors efficiently – often a highly complex process – and present their findings to regulators."

A defendant that violates the False Claims Act can be liable for up to three times the government's losses plus civil penalties.  But if a provider voluntarily self discloses this can lead to the imposition of far lower costs and penalties, including remission from mandatory corporate integrity programs and other potentially onerous compliance requirements.  In a recent case, New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman congratulated one hospital that had self reported extensive billing irregularities for upholding "the highest standards of integrity."

"A company's ability to proactively demonstrate compliance effectiveness is key to the successful resolution of billing investigations," said Navigant director Kristina Kahan.  "We have worked closely with a wide range of healthcare providers to pre-empt the risk of onerous penalties."

The services of Navigant Consulting and specialist legal counsel are available at pre-negotiated rates and service levels to Beazley's clients under an endorsement, provided at no additional charge, to Beazley's standalone regulatory liability coverage and to Beazley Remedy, the company's comprehensive package policy that incorporates regulatory coverage.

Beazley, Navigant Consulting, and Baker Hostetler will be co-hosting a webinar on the benefits for healthcare providers of pre-empting regulatory action on December 1st at 2:00 pm Eastern Time.  To obtain details and access the webinar, please contact straightanswers@beazley.com.



            

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