R&R Insurance Blog

Volunteerism is alive and well in our communities. We are fortunate to have so many volunteer organizations which are made up of excellent people giving of themselves to help and protect others. Volunteers, whether it be as a coach, 4-H advisor, chamber of commerce committee member, church board member, or even if you helped raise contributions for the last United Way campaign in your community, do have some liability exposure.

Have you ever thought about how your existing insurance policies might respond if legal action was brought against you while conducting volunteer activities? If someone is injured during a project that you are overseeing, are you covered? If you serve as a board member and are sued for breach of duty, imprudent investments, discrimination in hiring or wrongful termination, are you covered? To answer these questions, there are two places to check: your personal liability insurance and the organization's insurance. Here's a look at both of them:

Your Homeowners or Personal Liability insurance policy gives you liability protection for bodily injury and property damage to others while participating in non-business activities, i.e. if you are sued for injuries to a child who is unintentionally hurt while you are the volunteer football coach or 4-H advisor. Your existing homeowners policy would also be an excellent place to endorse coverage for your personal property if using it in a volunteer capacity, for example, if you were using your video camera to cover the organization’s summer camp and the camera fell in the lake.

It’s important to remember that no liability protection is provided if your volunteer activity is related to a business (i.e. trade or professional association representative) or if you receive any compensation. Most homeowners policies also specifically exclude coverage for any act or omission while serving on the board of an organization. While your policy will outline additional specific exclusions, common ones include intentional acts, legal action taken against you other than for bodily injury and property damage, and lawsuits related to personal injury (i.e. libel, slander or false imprisonment).

It’s also important to check for coverage under the organization's liability policy. Ask the organization’s leadership for proof of insurance for general liability, directors and officers liability, and employment practices liability. Also check to see if volunteers are covered (named as additional insureds) under those policies and whether or not the organization is carrying sufficient liability limits for potential loss situations, including:

• Failure to examine documents signed
• Silence with respect to improper conduct of fellow officials
• Improper rejection of bids
• Failure to exercise diligence in management
• Incurring unnecessary expenses

One solution to some of these exclusions may be to purchase a Personal Umbrella, which is designed to provide coverage for personal injury and would be an important investment on the part of anyone looking to volunteer. The best news: a $1,000,000 Personal Umbrella can be purchased for as little as $15.00/month!

This article is not meant to discourage any present or prospective volunteers. If you do volunteer, or have ever considered donating your time to a cause that is close to your heart, our intent is to help you be well-informed, comfortable and adequately protected when it comes to volunteering. Let us help you make compassionate judgements as you evaluate how you will serve your community. Feel free to discuss your activities with knowlegebroker, Brandy Enger to help put your mind at ease!

A recent article in Lawn & Landscape advises that DuPont Professional Products has cautioned lawn care operators of the damage to conifers and other trees potentially caused by the use of the herbicide Imprelis™. Click here to read the online article in Lawn & Landscape.

Today, every customer is a reporter and every employee is a potential marketer. Learn about the basics of social media and how to apply it to your own Human Resource functions.

Presenters:
Jeff Coon, Art Director & Partner at Stream Creative - Social Media Expert and Inbound Marketing Certified Educator

Who Should Attend:
Human Resource Managers; Benefits Managers, Recruitment Professionals, Office Managers, Business Owners, Marketing Professionals, Social Media want-to-be’s.

Seminar Content:

• What is Social Media?
• How to Use Social Media for Internal Branding
• How to Use Social Media for Recruiting
• Employee Policies on Social Media Use

Social Media for HR Managers
Free Seminar
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
MRA Conference Center - Waukesha, WI
7:30-8:00am Registration
8:00-11:30am Program

Contact Pam Baule for registration
262-953-7238

R&R Insurance announces the date for the new Cyber Liability seminar, which will cover how a business can protect itself against cyber crime, will be Wednesday, October 5, 2011, 8:00am - 11:30am, held at the MRA conference Center in Waukesha, WI.

Companies receive an average of 4 million attacks against their networks on a daily basis. Sure, companies can employ the best IT talent around, but that’s no guarantee that your network won’t be compromised, or that your data won’t be breached. No system is 100% secure!

How can a business protect itself against a costly data breach or a business-halting compromise to their network?

Attend our free Cyber Liability Seminar. Learn this and a whole lot more...

Recent news about data breaches and losses sustained due to lack of insurance coverage for cyber crime:

UWM: 75,000 records breached!
Texas Spends $1.8 Million on Data Breach As Lawsuits Loom
WellPoint Fined $100k for Failing to Report Data Breach
Losing the War on IT Security
Sony Laid Off Employees Before Data Breach Lawsuit
RockYou Data Breach Lawsuit Moves Forward
Data breaches may lurk in office copiers and printers
Michael's Department Store Breach 4 Suspects Sought
Average cost of a corporate data breach is $7.2 million
Class slams Michaels for Data Breach

357 People Affected by Data Breach at North Carolina's Wake Forest Baptist
Nurse Accused of Accessing 2,500 Medical Records at Memorial Hospital in Colorado
Walgreens.com site exposed patients’ pharmacy records to other patients?
Hospital employee and three others accused of stealing patients’ identities
An unintended exposure leads to a mea culpa from an online psychiatry journal
Personal Info Stolen From Patients At DeKalb Medical
Drug, paternity test records exposed
Morgan Stanley loses 34k customer records on unencrypted CDs
Groupon loses 300,000 user details
SEGA hacked, records exposed
Eight million health records lost on NHS laptop

Here are 10 tips you should think twice about before you leave your home or let a business person in!

1. Hey, thanks for letting me use the bathroom while I was working in your yard last week. While I was in there, I unlatched the back window to make my return a little easier.
2. Yes, I really do look for newspapers piled up on the driveway. And I might leave a pizza flyer in your front door to see how long it takes you to remove it.
3. Of course I look familiar. I was here just last week cleaning your carpets.
4. I always knock first. If you answer, I’ll ask for directions to somewhere, or offer to clean your gutters.
5. Sometimes I carry a clipboard. Sometimes I dress like a lawn guy and carry a rake. I do my best to never ever look like a crook.
6. I’m not complaining, but why would you pay all that money for a fancy alarm system and leave your house without setting it?
7. I love when you announce your vacation plans on Facebook. It’s easier than you think to look up your address.
8. If you don’t answer when I knock, I’ll try the door anyway. Sometimes I hit the jackpot and walk in.
9. I’ll break a window to get in if necessary, even if it makes a little noise. If your neighbor hears one loud sound, he’ll stop what he is doing and wait to hear it again. If he doesn’t hear it again, he’ll just go back to doing what he was doing. It is human nature.
10. A loud TV or radio is a better deterrent to me than an alarm system. Sometimes people out-smart me by buying a $35 device that simulates the flickering glow of a real TV.

Having a structured return-to-work program has several benefits, the most important of which is the reduction of lost-time (lost-time has 3 times greater impact on your workers compensation premium dollars than a no-lost-time claim). Other benefits include having more control over the claim itself, better observation of the recovery process, and an overall better experience for the employee. As Mike Geldreich, Claims Management Specialist with R&R Insurance explains, an employer can benefit greatly by having a return-to-work program that lessens lost-time and gets the employee back to work as quickly as possible.

Return-to-work programs is just one of the topics of our information-packed morning dedicated to saving you money on your workers compensation premiums. Attend our next free Workers Compensation seminar to learn more about return-to-work programs and other aspects of workers compensation that can drastically reduce your overall workers compensation premium. More about what you'll learn...

R&R Insurance Services- Waukesha, WI
8:00am Registration and continental breakfast
8:30am-11:30am Program

In 2009, medicare reclaimed $2.51 billion from physicians and other health-care providers which is a 29% increase over the prior year. Over $441 million in federal medicare money was returned in 2009 which was a 29% increase over 2008.

R&R Insurance offers protection for your practice and reputation with FFActs Regulatory Compliance Insurance. Coverage Includes:

• Protection from Alleged Medicare/Medicaid Overpayment and Commercial Payor Audits (including RAC)
• Alleged Violations of HIPAA (Patient Privacy), STARK (Patient Referral) and EMTALA (Emergency Room Treatment)
• For Medicare Commercial Payor audits, Regulatory Insurance covers penalties, fines, defense and consulting work up to $1 million for a single claim
• provides experience legal experts and consultants
• Offers protection from six year Medicare look back period
• Board of Medical Examiners review coverage included

For more information about Regulatory Compliance Insurance, contact a knowledgebroker.

You undoubtedly encounter a wide range of people on the job, some of whom are easy to get along with and others you want to avoid at all costs. It’s only human nature to avoid contact with people whose personality traits set your teeth on edge, but there is one type of person who cannot safety be ignored: a co-worker who verbally or physically threatens others. In the aftermath of a violent incident, it’s not uncommon for people to say that the person who harmed others was a time bomb waiting to explode. The question here that begs an answer is: why would people do nothing and wait for that to happen?

While no employee in any setting is immune to workplace violence, knowing what and what not to say and do can have a tremendous impact on a worker’s personal safety at work. Here are some do’s and don’ts:

Do:

• Take verbal threats seriously. All threats should be reported to security or the appropriate manager.
• Report any suspicious person or vehicle to security personnel, especially at night. The suspect could be casing your workplace for a break-in. Or the person could be stalking someone at your workplace.
• Watch for unauthorized visitors who seem to have legitimate business at your plant. Crimes have been committed by people posing as employees, contractors and repair persons.
• Always wear your identification badge at all times.
• Observe your company’s rules prohibiting drugs and alcohol at work. Many violent incidents at work can be traced to the use of these substances.
• Learn how to contact help in an emergency. Speed-dialing numbers should be programmed into phones and emergency numbers should be listed at each phone.
• Adopt some distress signals, including predetermined code words that can be used to alert other workers to dangerous customers or visitors without tipping off the suspect.
• Act on your instincts. If you sense something is wrong, report it.

Don't:

• Pick fights. Loud and aggressive arguments can easily escalate into physical fights.
• Pick up hitch-hikers under any circumstances if your job involves driving. The most important reason for this rule is your personal safety.
• Ignore threats or disturbing changes in a co-worker’s behavior, such as an obsession with weapons or violence or someone talking about a "hit list" of co-workers he or she would like to see dead.
• One’s personal security, whether on or off the job, can never be guaranteed. However, the risks can be greatly reduced by having a plan and reacting to warning signs.

For more information contact the knowledgebroker John Brengosz.

In preparation for a recent seminar I presented, I came across this great article regarding corporate data breaches and the costly ramifications by Tim Wilson of Dark Reading. Everything's more expensive these days -- and experiencing a major corporate data breach is no exception.

2010 Annual Study: U.S. Cost of a Data Breach reveals that the average organizational cost of a data breach increased to $7.2 million and cost companies an average of $214 per compromised record. The sixth annual Ponemon Cost of a Data Breach report is based on the actual data breach experiences of 51 U.S. companies from 15 different industry sectors.

Interestingly, companies who responded quickly to data breaches ended up paying 54% more per record than companies that moved more slowly, according to the study. 43% of companies notified victims within one month of discovering the breach, up seven points from 2009. In 2010, these quick responders had a per-record cost of $268, up 22% from 2009; companies that took longer paid $174 per record, down 11%.

Malicious or criminal attacks are the most expensive breaches, the study says, and are on the rise. In this year’s study, 31% of all cases involved a malicious or criminal act -- up seven points from 2009 --and the cost of these compromises averaged $318 per record, up 43% from 2009.

While external breaches are on the increase, negligence remains the most common threat, Ponemon says. The number of breaches caused by negligence edged up one point to 41% and averaged $196 per record, up 27% from 2009.

System failure dropped nine points to 27% in 2010. "This trend indicates organizations may be more conscientious in ensuring their systems can prevent and mitigate breaches through new security technologies and compliance with security policies and regulations," Ponemon says.

Encryption and other technologies are gaining ground as post-breach remedies, but training and awareness programs remain the most popular, the study says. 63% of respondents use training and awareness programs after data breaches, down four points from 2009. Encryption is the second-most implemented preventive measure as a result of a data breach, with 61%. Both encryption and data loss prevention (DLP) solutions have increased 17% since 2008.

The study takes into account a wide range of business costs, including expense outlays for detection, escalation, notification, and after-the-fact (ex-post) response. The study also analyzes the economic impact of lost or diminished customer trust and confidence as measured by customer churn or turnover rates.

"Churn is still the highest cost that we see," Ponemon said. "There's an attitude out there that users no longer care about their privacy as much, but our data shows that they really do."

The U.S. Cost of a Data Breach Study was derived from a detailed analysis of 51 data breach cases with a range of nearly 4,200 to 105,000 affected records. The study found there is a positive correlation between the number of records lost and the cost of an incident. Companies analyzed were from 15 different industries.

For more information on how to protect your company against the cost of a data breach or anything regarding cyber liability, contact a knowledgebroker.

A four-physician cardiology group in Mississippi was targeted by the Center for Medicare Services (CMS). After an initial review of 159 claims, CMS determined that 30 were improperly paid. Based on the error rate, CMS demanded more than $2.4 million be repaid to the Medicare program within 30 days.

Fortunately, the group had purchased the Regulatory Compliance Insurance coverage and immediately reported the audit. The response to CMS resulted in the overpayment amount being reduced to less than $3,000. The cost of the expert defense work was significant, but was fully covered by the insurance policy minus a small deductible. The cost of the insurance was less than $7,000 for the group.