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A VIEW FROM UNITED MEDICAL PROTECTION
The President of the SMA has invited me to contribute an article on medical indemnity from the UNITED’s perspective. I am pleased to be given the privilege to write to members of the Singapore Medical Association, and introduce Australian largest and truly-mutual indemnity organisation.
Lead position
Established in 1893, UNITED is Australia’s largest and longest serving medical mutual organisation. UNITED achieved this goal by following a long term vision of being the pre-eminent professional indemnity organisation in the Australian healthcare industry and to provide unequalled membership benefits to its members. This has been well recognised by Australian medical practitioners, to the extent that between 1989 and 1994, our membership doubled. Our growth has also increased more dramatically following the departure of The Medical Protection Society from Australia in 1997 when they transferred all their Queensland and New South Wales members to UNITED, and following the departure of The Medical Defence Union in January 1999 when they transferred all their Australian members to us.
Within Australia, membership extends across all states and territories by covering approximately 70% of practising doctors. Our overall membership base of over 40,000 members also includes dentists and other health care professional groups.
The two strategies that underpin our leadership position are paying attention to the business component of medical indemnity and the professional component.
Business component
UNITED takes a lead in managing the indemnity business component by recognising insurance industry principles of management. We were the first in the Commonwealth to acquire an insurance licence in 1956, and the first in 1989 to establish a fully owned subsidiary company, Australasian Medical Insurance Limited (AMIL). AMIL takes on the specialist role in managing the insurance business of UNITED and has had an insurance licence in Australia since 1989.
UNITED’s charter is to protect and support the character and interests of its members. Similar to the defence organisations you may have belonged to, UNITED achieved this primarily by indemnifying our members against true negligent claims. UNITED defends its members against vexatious claims and assists members in disciplinary proceedings by the medical registration authorities.
The subscriptions we charge in Singapore will continue to be based on local needs. We intend to make the mechanics of financial operations in Singapore open and understandable to all members, and in particular to Singaporean members and relevant authorities. Discussions are well afoot with the Monetary Authority of Singapore with respect to UNITED’s local indemnity operations. The MAS has been aware of UNITED’s concern over the needs to make all other medical defence organisations more financially accountable.
Professional component
UNITED takes seriously a much wider perspective on our charter than mere indemnity and cost-cutting risk management. A large focus is made on the reasons why our members face disciplinary proceedings and claims of negligence in the first place. These proceedings and claims are accountability processes relating to professional competence. UNITED has taken the lead in establishing a “top-down” approach by working with educational institutions to help members to maintain professional development and generally to enhance public confidence in the profession. This is in contrast to the “bottom-up” approach that is traditionally the only focus of medical defence organisations, where risk management programs tend to be reactive and driven mainly by commercial factors.
Within Singapore, UNITED will work with the Singapore Medical Association, the College of Family Medicine, the Academy of Medicine, the National University of Singapore, the Singapore Medical Council and other institutions with an interest in professional development. In conjunction with the SMA, UNITED intends to develop a professional development program which is designed to provide doctors within Singapore with continuing access to advancing scientific knowledge, skills and practice management know-how, as well as to issues relating to Ethics and the Law.
UNITED and the SMA
UNITED has appointed the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the SMA Professional Indemnity Committee as our medical advisors in Singapore to assist UNITED further when addressing your local medico-legal issues. Helen Yeo and Partners, and Allen and Gledhill have also been appointed as our panel of Legal advisors within Singapore. With the added support from our Head office in Sydney, you can be rest assured that the service you would come to expect from your professional indemnity provider is second to none. UNITED’s international Toll Free number is now operational; it is designed to provide you with 24-hour medical advice from professionals in your field. We are not only in the business of protecting you from medical indemnity claims, but also to prevent such claims from arising.
In the short term, UNITED hopes to provide the medical profession of Singapore with a real choice for their provider in medical defence. We are a true mutual organisation and do not hold any intention to profit from our Singapore operations for the benefits of another group of members.
In the longer term, we hope to assist the Singapore medical profession to take on the responsibility for your own medical indemnity operations. To achieve this, UNITED will consult the Singapore Medical Association and other relevant authorities.
I would like to thank Professor Goh Lee Gan and his Council for inviting my team to help achieve our mutual goals for your profession. We look forward to an excellent working relationship well into the future.
Dr Richard Tjiong
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
MBBS (Syd), FRCS Ed., FRACS
DipLaw (Barristers Admission Board, NSW)