Health care reform is causing stress and conflict across the insurance and risk management industries, according to a new Business Insurance webinar.

Medical malpractice catastrophic losses have spiked with industry consolidation and the health care reform law, which could lead to greater exposures for hospitals and higher medical malpractice coverage, panelists said during the June 11 webinar, “Med Mal Maelstrom: Health Care Reform's Effect on Medical Malpractice Insurance.”

“It's a very, very interesting and difficult sandbox that we are playing in today, but I think that the opportunity that we need to think about is, quite frankly, how we make this successful for all parties,” said panelist William McDonough, managing partner at Boston-based Integro Insurance Brokers Ltd. “It's an opportunity in my mind. It's also time for us to think about the tools we need.”

Health care reform provides risk managers a great opportunity to implement enterprise risk management, Lisa Havens, director of risk management and senior vice president and legal counsel at Temple, Texas-based Scott & White Healthcare, said during the webinar.

A good working relationship between the health care organization, the broker and the insurer can set the stage for a better understanding of coverage objects and deliverables, said Barbara Sinclair, senior vice president and complex risks division leader at Farmington, Conn.-based OneBeacon Insurance Group Ltd.

Risk managers and insurers have to brace for the baby boomer generation retiring, which could raise medical malpractice claims.

“I also think it's a great opportunity to learn from past events and to implement good models to prevent the types of events that could create a claim or lawsuit,” Ms. Havens said

“Doing the right thing as quickly as we can — if we have an error, if we have a patient safety event — being proactive and trying to solve problems and mitigate problems when they happen to minimize the risk of actual claims and lawsuits,” Ms. Havens said.

Mike Tsikoudakis, associate editor at Business Insurance, moderated the webinar, which was sponsored by One Beacon Professional Insurance.

The free webinar is available here.