GE Medical Protective Co. is dispelling the myth that the Internet is cutting insurance agents and brokers out of the purchasing process.

Its year-old Web site, www.gemedicalprotective.com, was developed to provide independent agents and brokers streamlined processes and online self-service tools, making it quick and efficient to conduct business with the Fort Wayne, Ind.-based medical malpractice liability insurer.

"Our independent agents and brokers were telling us that they wanted to do business with us and want it to be as easy to do business with us as possible," said Michael D.P. Cavanaugh, vp-marketing for GE Medical Protective, a subsidiary of Employers Reinsurance Corp.

Mr. Cavanaugh noted, though, that there was initial trepidation when GE Medical established the site: Agents and brokers assumed the insurer was trying to approach insurance buyers directly.

"Our goal was not to go direct," said Mr. Cavanaugh, who is the e-business leader for the Web site. "Our goal is to improve relationships with independent agents and brokers and make us the easiest insurer to do business with."

Mr. Cavanaugh said intermediaries now "definitely see this as a tool for them." Both the numbers of registered users and hits to the site are increasing, he said.

GE Medical Protective's Web site, which won the Insurance Services Best of Show Award in Business Insurance's first Best of the Web competition, features four areas: Insurance Resources, the Agent/Broker Resource Center, the Risk Management Academy and Customer Service. In addition, users can customize the site to suit their particular needs.

The Insurance Resources section permits independent agents and brokers to compare quotes against sample quotes from other insurers, secure certificates of insurance and request copies of insurance policies. Mr. Cavanaugh said that the insurer is in the testing phase of offering agents and brokers the ability to complete customized GE Medical Protective medical malpractice insurance applications and to receive bindable premium quotations within seconds.

"This is something we're on target for in the next couple of months," Mr. Cavanaugh said.

Among other capabilities, the Agent/Broker Resource Center link lets intermediaries download sample policies and applications, as well as GE Medical Protective letter templates. The samples help agents and brokers achieve a consistency in their documents.

Although independent agents and brokers are the primary target of GE Medical Protective, the insurer also is marketing the site to the primary end users of its product-doctors, dentists and hospital risk managers.

In the Risk Management Academy section of the Web site, for example, a policyholder can take a clinical risk management assessment test as well as ask questions of risk management consultants. Policyholders can also take continuing- education risk management courses through the Web site.

Mr. Cavanaugh noted that doctors and dentists who take the online continuing education courses receive premium discounts from GE Medical Protective.

The customer service part of the Web site helps doctors and dentists locate their local GE Medical Protective agents.