BRIEF: HPIX to sell malpractice policies to N.C. rival

Dec. 24--The Pennsylvania Insurance Department approved the transfer of Healthcare Providers Insurance Exchange's estimated $30 million of medical liability insurance policies to a North Carolina rival.

HealthCare Providers Insurance Exchange, known as HPIX and based in Philadelphia, was founded in 2002 in the midst of Pennsylvania's malpractice insurance crisis. It is owned by doctors, who bought policies from the company.

The deal with Medical Mutual Insurance Co. of North Carolina, which is based in Raleigh, will allow those physcian owners of HPIX to receive an aggregate payout of $2.6 million next year, Nicholas S. Gaudiosi, HPIX's president, said Thursday.

HPIX had already paid doctors who funded the company $7.9 million between 2009 and 2012.

The deal is effective Jan 1. Gaudiosi and other HPIX employees will start selling insurance policies for Medical Mutual in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware, he said.

HPIX employs 10 people in Center City and 20 in Harrisburg.

hbrubaker@phillynews.com

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