The number of private and public sector medical indemnity claims is rising, but there is “no need for alarm bells yet”, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare says.

Private sector claims (around 1700) outnumbered public sector claims (around 1300) in 2011/12 for the first time, according to a report by the institute.

The number of open medical indemnity claims grew to 10,300 from 7500 in 2007/08.

“The figures are increasing but not any more than expected,” the institute’s Head of Communications Nigel Harding told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

He says it is not clear why private sector claims have outnumbered public sector claims.

“The figure of 1700 [for private sector claims] is perhaps a couple of hundred more than we would have expected, but it could be a statistical blip… or reflect the fact that there are more services in general on offer.”

More information will be available from next year’s data, Mr Harding says.

The report says private sector claims have “continually increased from about 3300 claims in 2007/08 to about 5200 claims in 2011/12”.

Procedural incidents were most common, accounting for 27% of new claims, followed by diagnosis (16%) and treatment (15%).

Across the medical specialties, general practitioners faced most claims, followed by orthopaedic surgeons, obstetricians and gynaecologists and general surgeons. 

The report also notes a shift towards more costly claims.

“The proportion of claims closed for $100,000 to less than $500,000 and for $500,000 or more increased from 15% [in 2007/08] to 25% and from 5% to 10% respectively.”

Of all public sector and private sector claims closed in 2011/12, 54% cost below $10,000, 25% cost $10,000 to less than $100,000, 16% were from $100,000 to less than $500,000 and 5% cost $500,000 or more.

As in previous years, most closed claims were finalised through a negotiated settlement (49%) or were discontinued (48%), with 3% settled through a court decision.

The average time between incidents and claims opening was about two years, with three to four years between incidents and claims closing.

The figures exclude public sector claims for WA, which did not report its claims data for 2010/11 and 2011/12. It is understood the WA Health Ministry no longer supports the collection of data on this class of claims.