Duane Castles - Physician Insurers Association of America (PIAA)

The Physician Insurers Association of America (PIAA) is the only trade association representing the physician-owned and/or -operated medical professional liability insurance industry. PIAA membership comprises two categories: Primary (Regular and Associate Members) and Affiliate. Primary Members provide medical professional liability coverage to physicians, dentists, and hospitals, among others.

Affiliate Members consist of non-insurance companies that provide goods and/or services to the medical professional liability insurance industry.

The PIAA is pleased to introduce a new tier to its successful Affiliate Membership program: a new, five-year pilot membership program for legal defense firms that have an ongoing business relationship with PIAA regular or associate members. The new program, Affiliate Membership for Defense Law Firms (AMDLF), was designed to be mutually beneficial to PIAA members and the defense law firms that serve them.

Established as a separate subgroup of Affiliate Membership, the new AMDLF category will offer the same high-quality programs and services that regular Affiliate Members receive - adapted to meet the needs of the defense counsel.

In addition, this unique program provides defense firms with unparalleled corporate exposure opportunities—opportunities that are not available anywhere else!

Please refer to our chart that outlines the exposure opportunities available within the different levels of membership, as well as the current benefits of Affiliate Membership. Duane Castles

To become an Affiliate Member of the PIAA, please complete and return the application form.

Please note that first year membership dues will be prorated by number of full months left in the calendar year.

We hope you will take advantage of this unique opportunity to participate in an exclusive forum for defense law firms that serve the physician-owned and/or -operated medical professional liability insurance industry.

Duane Castles: PIAA Marketing Workshop!

The PIAA Marketing Workshop will be held at the Planet Hollywood Hotel & Casino in

Las Vegas on April 2–4, 2008. This workshop is intended for marketing professionals of all levels: account representatives, corporate communications personnel, physician and insurance executives, board members, and any PIAA members with an interest in medical professional liability insurance marketing and sales.

This comprehensive program offers a host of presentations on individual issues specific to marketing, sales, and communications, as well as updates on the performance of the medical professional liability insurance industry as a whole. Duane Castles

Open discussion among attendees is encouraged, and ample time during the program will be dedicated to informal conversation.

This is a unique opportunity for anyone interested in medical professional liability insurance marketing issues.

If you can attend only one educational meeting this year, make it the PIAA

Marketing Workshop!

No other program can offer you as much information as this one.

Duane Castles - CICA

CICA is the first and best source of unbiased information, knowledge and leadership for captive insurance decision-makers. Look to CICA for the best networking, education and advocacy for the captive insurance industry.

CICA members are domiciled throughout the world, with the highest number domiciled in Vermont, Hawaii, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands.

Duane Castles:

Who Should Join VCIA?

Today’s highly competitive business world demands that companies, large and small, continually examine ways in which they manage their risk. Changing needs, cost control, and loss prevention are among the considerations which factor into decisions regarding alternatives to traditional insurance.

Any company or group that has a licensed captive, is considering the formation of a captive or provides services beneficial to the operations of a captive in Vermont will discover value in a VCIA membership.

Looking for that perfect service provider to assist you with a unique business issue?

Our Captive Service Directory is a complete listing of all VCIA members who provide services to the captive industry.

A closely held insurance company whose insurance business is primarily supplied by and controlled by owners, and in which the original insureds are the principal beneficiaries. The insureds have direct involvement and influence over the company's or group’s major operations, including underwriting, claims, management policy, and investments. There are currently over 4,000 captives licensed worldwide, serving their parents' risk financing needs. In Vermont, that figure is 754 (as of December 2005)

Vermont's captive owners represent a wide range of industries including multi-national corporations, associations, banks, municipalities, transportation and airline companies, power producers, public housing authorities, higher education institutions, telecommunications suppliers, shipping companies, insurance companies and manufacturers, among others.

Single-Owner Captive:

Also referred to as "pure captive", insures only the risks of the owner or the owner's subsidiary operations.

Group Captive:

Is owned by multiple, non-related organizations and is designed to insure the risks of these different entities.

Association Captive:

Is owned by members of a common industry or trade association in order to share the risks of that industry among its members.

Risk Retention Group:

Is an entity created under the federal Liability Risk Retention Act, and licensed in any one state to write liability insurance; is regulated as a captive insurance company; and may operate nationwide, provided it properly registers with each state in which it proposes to solicit or write insurance.

Reciprocal:

Is an unincorporated association; reciprocal insurance is that which results from an interchange among subscribers of reciprocal agreements of indemnity, the interchange being effectuated through an attorney-in-fact common to all subscribers.

Sponsored Captive:

Is one that uses the capital provided by an insurer or reinsurer while providing fronted insurance coverage to discrete and usually unrelated entities. The sponsored captive can be either a licensed insurer, an authorized reinsurer, or a fronted Vermont captive insurer (except RRG).

Branch Captive:

Is a unit of an existing offshore (alien) captive, currently licensed in Vermont to write employee benefit business for its owners and affiliates onshore. The branch is regulated as a pure captive, is taxed only on the branch writings and is required to use an onshore trust for the protection of US policyholders and ceding insurers.