Med-mal insurer unveils new name

A medical malpractice insurance provider has adopted a new name that it hopes will better reflect the products it has added in recent years.
Medical Mutual Holdings Inc., a Raleigh, North Carolina-based insurance provider specializing in malpractice insurance for physicians, plans to rename itself Curi.
The name, a derivative of curious, was chosen to help portray the business’ desire to remain curious when finding new ways to meet the needs of its clients, according to Dale Jenkins, the company’s CEO. He said the name also relates to the physicians who are the company’s clients, including many in Pennsylvania: professionals who are curious in their own fields.
“For years our only business was creating professional liability for physicians and that name was a great descriptor,” said Dale Jenkins, the company’s CEO. “But for the last 10 years it really hasn’t been.”
Medical Mutual writes approximately $17 million in business in Pennsylvania and has offices in Philadelphia and in East Pennsboro Township, Cumberland County. It operates in 48 states and writes about $140 million in business nationally.
But the company once only offered malpractice insurance, Jenkins said, it’s branched out in the past decade to offer human resource consulting, cyber security coverage, compliance consulting, wealth management and retirement planning.
“Our goal is to be that resource that they could turn to for not just insurance but a variety of things they need in their lives,” he said.
Medical Mutual began looking into changing its name about two years ago after it hired its first chief marketing officer. Jenkins said the new head of marketing said the company needed a brand that captured its vision.
Between its two offices in Pennsylvania, Medical Mutual has about 50 employees. The business sees a possibility for substantial growth in the state, according to Jenkins, but a proposed rule change affecting malpractice cases has proved concerning.
The rule change, which s Pennsylvania Supreme Court committee is expected to weigh in on next year, would allow plaintiffs in a medical malpractice case to choose a venue to file their suits in. Opponents of the practice, which they decry as venue shopping, say the practice allows plaintiffs to take their cases to courts with historically favorable outcomes for plaintiffs.
“From our perspective that is concerning,” Jenkins said. “It’s a major risk of doing business in Pennsylvania and it’s a risk for the doctors. Having another layer of cost being added to them unnecessarily is certainly inappropriate.”
 

CREDIT: Ioannis Pashakis