Premier healthcare alliance Selects Beazley to Offer Hospitals New Cyber Liability Protection

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Premier healthcare alliance’s insurance subsidiary, Premier Insurance Management Services Inc. (PIMS), has selected Beazley Breach Response as its preferred data privacy and network security insurance solution. The solution is tailored to meet the needs of hospitals for privacy breaches, and information security and online website content exposures.

“We’re pleased to offer our members this newly endorsed cyber liability program. It provides both the risk management tools and resources to help prevent a breach, and the necessary services should a breach occur.”

PIMS is wholly owned by Premier, a provider-owned alliance of more than 2,700 hospitals and 90,000 other care sites. PIMS chose Beazley, a leading insurer of data privacy and network security risks, because of its experience with health data breaches, coverage and risk management tools.

Through mid-September, 489 data breaches involving 500 patients and more than 21 million individuals have occurred this year, according to a HIP/SA analysis of OCR data.

“Data breaches can cause severe reputational and financial damage,” said Tom Green, vice president of sales and marketing at PIMS. “We’re pleased to offer our members this newly endorsed cyber liability program. It provides both the risk management tools and resources to help prevent a breach, and the necessary services should a breach occur.”

PIMS will offer Beazley Breach Response, Beazley’s flagship product, to hospitals nationwide. Beazley Breach Response is a complete privacy breach response management and information security insurance solution which includes coverage for breaches affecting up to 5,000,000 individuals, including notification and credit monitoring. The product is tailored to the needs of healthcare organizations as well as higher education, retail, and hospitality businesses.

Mike Donovan, head of Beazley’s Technology, Media and Business Services team, said “The digitization of patient records has allowed hospitals to gain tremendous efficiencies, but has increased their risk of suffering a data breach. Varying state laws and an overlay of federal supervision through HIPAA only make navigating a breach more complex. If not handled properly, a breach involving personally identifiable data can seriously damage a hospital’s reputation.”

Beazley has detailed knowledge of the professional liability and cyber liability needs of hospitals. The company numbers among its clients a quarter of Healthgrades’ top hospitals in the U.S. and 15 percent of US News & World Report’s best hospitals (2012 rankings). A third of Beazley’s Breach Response policies have been taken out by healthcare organizations.

About Beazley

Beazley plc (BEZ.L), is the parent company of specialist insurance businesses with operations in Europe, the US, Asia and Australia. Beazley manages five Lloyd’s syndicates and, in 2011, underwrote gross premiums worldwide of $1,712.5 million. All Lloyd’s syndicates are rated A by A.M. Best. Beazley’s underwriters in the United States focus on writing a range of specialist insurance products. In the admitted market, coverage is provided by Beazley Insurance Company, Inc., an A.M. Best A rated carrier licensed in all 50 states. In the surplus lines market, coverage is provided by the Beazley syndicates at Lloyd’s. Beazley is a market leader in many of its chosen lines, which include professional indemnity, property, marine, reinsurance, accident and life, and political risks and contingency business. For more information please go to: www.beazley.com

About Premier Insurance Management Services Inc. (PIMS)

Incorporated in 1987, PIMS is an Illinois for-profit corporation wholly owned by Premier Inc. PIMS provides contracted management services for American Excess Insurance Exchange, Risk Retention Group (AEIX), and is attorney-in-fact for Premier Insurance Exchange, Risk Retention Group (PRx). PIMS also serves as program manager offering enhanced endorsed programs with leading commercial insurers through a comprehensive portfolio of property, casualty and employee benefit products. Other services include providing claims and risk management assessments and education offerings regarding medical professional liability for hospitals and their physicians. For more information, visit http://www.premierinc.com.

About the Premier healthcare alliance, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient

Premier is a performance improvement alliance of more than 2,700 U.S. hospitals and 90,000 other sites using the power of collaboration and technology to lead the transformation to coordinated, high-quality, cost-effective care. Owned by hospitals, health systems and other providers, Premier operates a leading healthcare purchasing network with more than $4 billion in annual savings. Premier also maintains the nation's largest clinical, financial and outcomes database with information on 1 in 4 patient discharges. A world leader in delivering measurable improvements in care, Premier works with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier also has an office in Washington. http://www.premierinc.com. Stay connected with Premier on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.