A new look at medical indemnity caims

The Australian Institute of Health & Welfare has releasedA national picture of medical indemnity claims in Australia 2004-05.

This report presents the first 12 months’ data from the combined Medical Indemnity National Collection (MINC) of public and private sector medical indemnity claims.

The most common incident/allegation type leading to any claim against a clinician in 2004–05 was ‘procedure’ (30.5%) which includes all surgical interventions, followed by ‘diagnosis’ (23.6%) and ‘treatment’ (13.2%).

Over three-quarters of claims finalised in the 2004–05 financial year were finalised for less than $100,000 (77.1%). Claims with sizes in excess of $500,000 constituted 1.7% of all finalised claims.

Neuromusculo-skeletal and movement–related functions and structures were the most commonly recorded as the primary body function/structure affected as a result of the incident for new claims (21.3%).

The next most common category for new claims was mental functions and structures of the nervous system (12.2%), followed by genitourinary and reproductive functions and structures (11.0%).