Helping You Reduce
Risk and Improve Patient Safety

Program Activities and Benefits

As a member of the Ob-Gyn Risk Alliance, you have exclusive access to a variety of Ob-Gyn-specific risk management courses, activities, and tools. Take full advantage of your membership by leveraging these useful resources for your practice. You can earn CME credit and receive a substantial premium discount by completing the important educational activities outlined below.

• Educational Allowance
• First Year Educational Opportunities and Benefits
• Second Year Educational Opportunities and Benefits
• Additional Online Resources Available for Your Convenience
• Ob Risk Management Guidelines
• Newsletters
• Future Activities and Resources

Educational Allowance

First Year Educational Opportunities and Benefits

Please plan to complete the following two activities within your first policy year to qualify for renewal consideration with a 25% premium discount.

1. Medical Practice Site Survey*

   This activity is tailored to address your medical practice’s needs and areas of risk. A ProAssurance Risk Management Consultant will contact your office manager to schedule a convenient time to visit your office. The consultant will review your practice’s policies, procedures, protocols, health professionals’ credentialing, employee competence files, and medical records, and also interview select personnel. The entire visit takes approximately four hours and includes a short meeting with the physician and a meeting with the practice manager. Following the visit, you will receive a written report with observations and recommendations to improve patient care and minimize professional liability risk.

   *You may fulfill this component by obtaining ACOG’s Safety Certification in Outpatient Practice Excellence (SCOPE) for Women’s Health.
    

2. One of the following online Advanced Practice Strategies (APS) courses**
   
   
   • Informed Consent: A Medical-Legal Case Study
     (2 hours, CME), Cost $40 - Informed consent is one of the most complex and least understood concepts in healthcare. This course addresses the process, legal principles, and information necessary to constitute informed consent.
   • Risk Management Basics: Protection and Pitfalls
     (2 hours CME), Cost $40 - Covers basic liability risks associated with the practice of medicine and highlights steps physicians can take to reduce those risks. (This revised Program Activity list is subject to regulatory approval in various jurisdictions.)
     

     ** You may fulfill this component by submitting current APS certificates of course completion.

Second Year Educational Opportunities and Benefits

During your second year of Ob-Gyn Risk Alliance membership you receive an individual membership benefit of up to $500—provided as an educational allowance to purchase materials from our Risk Management Library. Any funds not used during your 12-month policy period are forfeited. Resources provided in our Ob Tool Kit and ProAssurance online CME courses are free and will not be charged against your allowance.

The Risk Management Library currently consists of seven online Advanced Practice Strategies (APS) CME courses and two electronic fetal monitoring books as outlined below.

Please plan to complete two online APS courses* during your second year to qualify for renewal consideration with a 25% premium discount.

1. SBAR+R: Structuring Communication in Health Care (4 hours CME), Cost: $25 - Provides a structured communication model to reduce errors. Case examples allow clinicians to practice the use of SBAR+R to improve their communication skills.
    
2. Any one of the following:
   
   
   • Maternal Fetal Physiology and Acid-Base Assessment and Electronic Instrumentation (2 hours CME), Cost $40 – The two courses are the first two modules from of the Advanced Fetal Assessment and Monitoring program. Module 1 builds a framework for using the fetal heart rate pattern to determine the proper intervention in a given clinical situation. Module 2 uses four cases to highlight the various methods of electronic fetal monitoring.
   • Management of Uterine Activity and Labor (2 hours CME), Cost $40 – Module 3 from the Advanced Fetal Assessment and Monitoring program uses four cases to highlight the ways in which uterine activity impacts fetal monitoring and the labor process.
   • Pattern Definition and Nomenclature (2 hours CME), Cost $40 – Module 4 from the Advanced Fetal Assessment and Monitoring program provides clear definitions of fetal heart rate pattern characteristics based on NICHD definitions.
   • Interventions and Ancillary Assessment (2 hours CME), Cost $40 – Module 5 from the Advanced Fetal Assessment and Monitoring program features four cases to highlight assessments and interventions for use in cases where danger to the fetus is not clear-cut.
   • Neonatal Encephalopathy (2 hours CME), Cost $40 – Module 6 from the Advanced Fetal Assessment and Monitoring program provides tools to determine the correct cause(s) in cases of neonatal encephalopathy.
   • Risk Management (2 hours CME), Cost $40 – Module 7 from the Advanced Fetal Assessment and Monitoring program assesses the concepts of intrapartum management from the legal perspective.
   • Managing Shoulder Dystocia (2 hours CME), Cost $60 – Provides a unified strategy to help reduce shoulder dystocia.
   • Operative Vaginal Delivery (2 hours CME), Cost $60 – Addresses best practices and fundamental mechanics of labor and delivery, including: indications for operative vaginal delivery, episiotomy repair, forceps, and vacuum delivery.
   • Postpartum Hemorrhage (4 hours CME), Cost $120 – Postpartum hemorrhage accounts for 24% of maternal deaths, most are preventable. Course reviews tools, guidelines, and approaches clinicians need to successfully manage this complication.
   • Informed Consent: A Medical-Legal Case Study (2 hours CME), Cost $40 – Informed consent is one of the most complex and least understood concepts in healthcare. This course addresses the process, legal principles, and information necessary to constitute informed consent.
   • Risk Management Basics: Protection and Pitfalls (2 hours CME), Cost $40 – Covers basic liability risks associated with the practice of medicine and highlights steps physicians can take to reduce those risks.

     *You may fulfill this component by submitting current APS certificates of course completion.

You can access these courses directly from the APS website at CourseServer.com/ProAssurance. First time users will be asked to request a subscription code by contacting Sara Myers at 800.292.1036, extension 6269, or smyers@proassurance.com. Sara is also available to answer questions and assist you in accessing online resources.

In addition to the APS online courses, you can use your educational allowance benefit to obtain one or both of the following books:

1. Mosby’s Pocket Guide to Fetal Monitoring: A Multidisciplinary Approach, Cost: $45
2. Electronic Fetal Monitoring Certification Review, Cost $50

Please contact Emily Odenwald at 800.292.1036, ext. 6304 or email eodenwald@proassurance.com to obtain these materials

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Additional Online Resources Available for Your Convenience

You can access the following risk reduction tools from the Ob-Gyn Risk Alliance Resources section within the secure area of ProAssurance.com. Log in using the link at the top of this page and find these resources listed under the “Ob-Gyn Risk Alliance Resources” heading in the left hand column.

• Ob Tool Kit
  • Forms, Guidelines, Policies, and Procedures
    • C-Section Hospital Documentation Template
    • Shoulder Dystocia Hospital Documentation Template
    • Ob Risk Assessment Checklist
    • Diagnostic Test and Referral Tracking Form
    • Chaperone Guideline
    • Postnatal Depression Screening Guideline
    • Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale
    • Patient Satisfaction Survey Policy
    • Patient Satisfaction Survey
    • Telephone Triage Guideline
    • Telephone Triage Template
    • Telephone Documentation Pads and/or Sheets
    • Withdrawal from Care or Terminating the Ob-Physician-Patient Relationship Guide and Letter
  • Skills Checklists
    • Ob-Gyn Licensed Employee Skills Checklist
    • Ob-Gyn Unlicensed Employee Skills Checklist
  • Informed Consent Forms
    • C-Section
    • Labor Induction
    • Vaginal Birth Delivery/Instrument Assisted Delivery
    • VBAC
  • ACOG Documentation Forms
    • Antepartum Record Extra Progress Notes
    • Antepartum Record Plain Paper Version
    • OB Medical History Form
    • Postpartum Form
  • ACOG Patient Safety Checklist
    • Trial of Labor After Previous Cesarean Delivery
    • Appropriateness of Trial of Labor After Previous Cesarean Delivery
    • Magnesium Sulfate Before Anticipated Preterm Birth for Neuroprotection
    • Documenting Shoulder Dystocia
    • Scheduling Induction of Labor
    • Preoperative Planned Cesarean Delivery
    • Scheduling Planned Cesarean Delivery
    • Inpatient Induction of Labor
    • Postpartum Hemorrhage from Vaginal Delivery
  • Numerous Patient Education Materials on a wide range of subjects

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Newsletters

You receive monthly communications to help keep you abreast of the latest information and risk trends affecting your specialty. Publications include:

• Vital Signs – mailed to you every other month, this closed-claim review illustrates risk factors that prompt claims.
• Ob-Gyn Risk Alliance e-newsletter – emailed to you three times a year, this electronic publication provides risk management news and information specific to the Ob-Gyn practice.
• Ob-Gyn Risk Alliance comment – mailed to you three times a year, this one-page newsletter offers topical information in a concise format.

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Future Activities and Resources

Just as medicine is an evolving science, risk management is a continuum. ProAssurance will provide additional risk management resources for your benefit in conjunction with the Ob-Gyn Risk Alliance. Some future activities and resources include:  

• “Safety Culture” Surveys – Hospital & Medical Practice
• Value-Added Physician/Hospital Staff Collaboration Training (with hospital consent)
• Event Management Participation
• Simulation Training

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