Meet Brenda L. Freeman, Director of Claims Management

In November, 2004, I had the opportunity to begin working with Advocate, D.O. and managed Advocate's first claim. I have continued to manage claims and litigation from that day forward. In the process, I had the opportunity to join the management team at Advocate, D.O. and look forward to managing your claims and litigation for many years. My background is somewhat diverse, encompassing law, education and claims management. I practiced law in Georgia and Tennessee, focusing on civil litigation, products liability, professional liability and insurance defense. After moving to Texas, I decided to focus on education and training, and taught at Lamar University in Beaumont for several years. When my husband was transferred to McAllen, Texas, I took that opportunity to open the first paralegal school in the Rio Grande Valley. During the past 12 years, I have been responsible for claims and litigation management in the employment and professional liability arena. My diverse experience in law, education and claims management has been instrumental in the development of Advocate, D.O.'s claims and litigation policies.

It's All About Relationships

Advocate, D.O. is dedicated to providing quality claims management to our doctors, establishing sound, team based relationships dedicated to early investigation, evaluation and disposition of claims and lawsuits. This is easily accomplished because our claims department works closely with our doctors from the day a claim is reported. We keep you informed of the status of the claim and establish a working relationship that makes it easy to reach our goals of promptly investigating, realistically evaluating and expeditiously disposing of claims and lawsuits. Our claims and litigation management strategy is based on the following principles:

• Efficient resolution of claims and lawsuits depends on a constructive partnership and effective communication between the doctor and Advocate, D.O.. In many instances, this partnership will also include the defense attorney and risk management.
• The insured must be actively involved with Advocate, D.O. and the defense attorney in the evaluation, strategy and disposition of each case.
• Cases that will be vigorously defended and probably tried will be identified early, and an aggressive strategy will be developed and followed. These cases will be assigned to an experienced defense attorney selected from our approved list of highly experienced attorneys throughout the state.
• Each case will be reviewed and re-evaluated frequently.

Providing Exceptional Service to every Advocate, D.O. Customer

Our physicians have recognized our claims and litigation management strategy — which stresses early investigation, evaluation and disposition of claims — as exceptional service. Recently, I received a letter from one of our insured radiologists, who expressed his appreciation for the manner in which a claim was handled on his behalf. This radiologist missed a subtle lesion in his review of a patient’s mammogram. The claimant alleged that this oversight resulted in an eight-month delay in the diagnosis of a breast lesion. As a result, she alleged that she sustained substantial injuries and losses. On the bright side, however, she has had surgery and chemotherapy and is free of disease. The radiologist’s letter points out how successful we were in promptly investigating, realistically evaluating and expeditiously disposing of the claim under policy limits, without the necessity of a lawsuit:

"I appreciate the company’s settling this case quickly, since I had submitted my resignation to the hospital and was waiting for my successor to complete his fellowship. Had this not been settled, it would have disrupted my life for the next two to three years, and the case still probably would have been lost. So I want to express my appreciation for the company’s support. I regret the company’s loss, and the unnecessary delay in diagnosing the patient’s breast lesion."

This letter is just one of many that shows how we continue to prove that Advocate, D.O. is "the physician’s advocate."