The state-owned Victorian Managed Insurance Authority (VMIA) says an international medical indemnity conference in Melbourne last week reflected the importance of collaboration between healthcare services and insurers on a global scale.

“Harm prevention is on the agenda because, ultimately, both healthcare services and insurers have a vested interest in better patient outcomes and reducing the human cost of error,” CEO Colin Radford said.

“We are seeing insurers use incentive schemes to drive safety practices and give back to hospitals investing in tackling specific areas of risk.”

Mr Radford says VMIA’s Incentivising Better Patient Safety program – which encourages health services to take up evidence-based maternity training in return for a partial refund on obstetrics premiums – is expected to channel up to $16 million back into the health sector over five years.

VMIA is responsible for providing medical indemnity insurance and risk advice to the public healthcare sector and rural doctors across Victoria.

Organisations represented at the conference included the Accident Compensation Corporation (New Zealand), Allied World Assurance Company (Europe), CRICO (US), Hempsons (UK) and National Treasury Management Agency (Ireland).