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Insurance department makes first 2008 payout from PCF
The Indiana Department of Insurance (IDOI) made the first of two annual payouts from the Patient’s Compensation Fund (PCF) on Jan. 15, as required by law. Payments totaling $50,610,370.71 were made from the fund on 78 cases.
The balance in the PCF following this month’s payout was $151,040,414.18, a far healthier balance than what has appeared in some recent years. In fact, that balance is partly what prompted the IDOI to announce a 19.1 percent cut in the surcharge physicians pay into the PCF, effective March 1.
“We continue to be pleased by the improving financial health of the fund and the IDOI’s efforts at defending it,” said Julie Reed, ISMA’s legal counsel. “We hope that the number of claims and amounts paid remain stable and that we continue to see less aggressive physician surcharges.”
Established in 1976, the PCF provides compensation to patients severely injured by medical malpractice. The fund is administered by the IDOI and funded solely through surcharge payments by Indiana health care providers.
See a graph of the PCF payouts for the last two years>>
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