Fortress Dental Liability

[Toofy88]

Hello all,

Very new to the forums, but have been a long-time lurker.

I'm currently a 3rd year general dentist in California and looking to switch my Occurrence dental liability from Med Pro. I understand Med Pro is good, but in looking at other solid companies, they are almost $600 more each year (even with risk management discounts).

I was wondering if any general dentists are using Fortress insurance for their dental liability? If so, what has your experience been like? Any goods or bads that you can think of?

I tried searching, but not a whole lot of info on here so I'm sure this may help others in deciding which company to go with. Fortress is about $600 a year cheaper than Med Pro (the broker I spoke with also said the cost will remain relatively costant...about 4% increase maybe every 4-5 years).

Any info would be much appreciated! Thanks.

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[Molar Whisperer]

Hello all,

Very new to the forums, but have been a long-time lurker.

I'm currently a 3rd year general dentist in California and looking to switch my Occurrence dental liability from Med Pro. I understand Med Pro is good, but in looking at other solid companies, they are almost $600 more each year (even with risk management discounts).

I was wondering if any general dentists are using Fortress insurance for their dental liability? If so, what has your experience been like? Any goods or bads that you can think of?

I tried searching, but not a whole lot of info on here so I'm sure this may help others in deciding which company to go with. Fortress is about $600 a year cheaper than Med Pro (the broker I spoke with also said the cost will remain relatively costant...about 4% increase maybe every 4-5 years).

Any info would be much appreciated! Thanks.

As someone who had gone through a malpractice lawsuit as well as a Board complaint within 1 month of each other, I hope to provide some insight. In my opinion, it doesn't matter who your carrier is. I would choose the least expensive one that doesn't require Tail insurance (I forgot claims made or occurrence). That way you don't have to worry about it. Fortress has a free online class on "Treating the Challenging Patient." I wished I had taken that course before my lawsuit. The gist of it is the non-compliant perio patient refused all recommended treatment, sued the dentist and the non-dentally educated jury awarded damages to the patient because "the dentist did not adequately prove to the pt his deteriorating perio condition." In response, when I encounter druggies (I was sued by a Meth user) or similar perio pt, I will include..."Explained to the pt of his/her deteriorating periodontal condition (or teeth due to rampant, uncontrolled caries). If pt does not comply with recommended treatment (stop drug use), home care and diet and further deterioration continued, then more teeth loss may occur beyond our control."

Your best defense is your write up. My templates are still a work in progress. If I see a very effective write up from a dentist, I will ask him/her if I could include it for my charting. I noticed a lot of my colleague's write ups are deficient. Hopefully they won't learn the hard way like I did.

 

[Toofy88]

As someone who had gone through a malpractice lawsuit as well as a Board complaint within 1 month of each other, I hope to provide some insight. In my opinion, it doesn't matter who your carrier is. I would choose the least expensive one that doesn't require Tail insurance (I forgot claims made or occurrence). That way you don't have to worry about it. Fortress has a free online class on "Treating the Challenging Patient." I wished I had taken that course before my lawsuit. The gist of it is the non-compliant perio patient refused all recommended treatment, sued the dentist and the non-dentally educated jury awarded damages to the patient because "the dentist did not adequately prove to the pt his deteriorating perio condition." In response, when I encounter druggies (I was sued by a Meth user) or similar perio pt, I will include..."Explained to the pt of his/her deteriorating periodontal condition (or teeth due to rampant, uncontrolled caries). If pt does not comply with recommended treatment (stop drug use), home care and diet and further deterioration continued, then more teeth loss may occur beyond our control."

Your best defense is your write up. My templates are still a work in progress. If I see a very effective write up from a dentist, I will ask him/her if I could include it for my charting. I noticed a lot of my colleague's write ups are deficient. Hopefully they won't learn the hard way like I did.

Thank you so much for your writeup! This is all extremely valuable information and I (along with others I'm sure) really appreciate you sharing your experiences with malpractice. I will definitely be reviewing my note templates to ensure that they are accurate and thorough.

As of now, I probably will make the switch to Fortress since they are much cheaper, but also seem like a solid liability company that only insures dentists and not any other health professionals. Since they only insure dentists, my assumption would be they are able to better equip their clients with the resources you mentioned and also defend them when claims are made. Again, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts!

 

[Molar Whisperer]

I was asked the difference between claims made vs occurrence liability insurance. Claims made is cheaper and most DSOs & DMOs provide it. The problem is when you leave, you need to pay out of pocket Tail Coverage. Claims made does not cover your past work when you leave. You worked on a meth addict and all the work you did the previous year on that pt before you left the DSO failed. You need to purchase Tail for specific years like 2, 3 or 5 after. Usually statues of limitations are 5 yrs. Occurrence insurance does not require Tail coverage. Your past work is covered for life. This is of course more expensive.

 

[Toofy88]

I was asked the difference between claims made vs occurrence liability insurance. Claims made is cheaper and most DSOs & DMOs provide it. The problem is when you leave, you need to pay out of pocket Tail Coverage. Claims made does not cover your past work when you leave. You worked on a meth addict and all the work you did the previous year on that pt before you left the DSO failed. You need to purchase Tail for specific years like 2, 3 or 5 after. Usually statues of limitations are 5 yrs. Occurrence insurance does not require Tail coverage. Your past work is covered for life. This is of course more expensive.

Pmed drcobad. Thank you!

 

[nbde4dds]

I see fortress is providing free tail coverage if you have them for 5 years, so that's good I think. They have claims made and occurrance based policy.

 

[Molar Whisperer]

I see fortress is providing free tail coverage if you have them for 5 years, so that's good I think. They have claims made and occurrance based policy.

I only had 1 experience with Tail Coverage and it left a bad taste. I worked for a DSO and left after 8 months. For 2 yrs Tail, I had to pay $1670 (for 8 mos of work. I couldn't shop around). In contrast, I used Dentist's Advantage and had Occurence (no tail needed, covered for life) for $1460 for 12 months.

 

[nbde4dds]

I only had 1 experience with Tail Coverage and it left a bad taste. I worked for a DSO and left after 8 months. For 2 yrs Tail, I had to pay $1670 (for 8 mos of work. I couldn't shop around). In contrast, I used Dentist's Advantage and had Occurence (no tail needed, covered for life) for $1460 for 12 months.

So they replied to my email that free tail coverage is only if you get disabled, retired or die. So its not automatically free after 5 yrs.

 

[Molar Whisperer]

So they replied to my email that free tail coverage is only if you get disabled, retired or die. So its not automatically free after 5 yrs.

I'm glad you looked into it because nobody likes to pay $1670 or more on any surprise BS fees.

 

[nbde4dds]

I am looking into Occurrence based policy with Fortress.