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Professional Program Insurance Brokerage (PPIB) offers: Medical Directors Insurance. Medical Directors face unique liability exposures depending on their level of involvement in patient care and the type of facility they oversee. PPIB’s Medical Directors Insurance program is designed to help insurance agents and brokers place coverage for a wide variety of client types, ranging from direct patient care roles to purely administrative or consulting positions. Retroactive coverage can also be considered, providing additional flexibility for your insureds. Ideal Accounts and Appetite PPIB can support Medical Directors operating in a broad spectrum of industries and facilities, including but not limited to: Occupational Therapy Clinics Women’s Health Clinics Research Laboratories Prison Systems Large Corporations and Businesses Medical Spas Colleges, Schools, and Universities Long-Term Care and Assisted Living Facilities Salons and Spas Animal Ranches Tattoo Studios Submissions are also welcome for other non-standard operations on a case-by-case basis. In addition, PPIB can consider professional liability coverage for various consultant roles, such as: Marijuana Facilities Healthcare Staffing Agencies Expert Witnesses This flexibility makes it easier to place hard-to-insure accounts or those with unusual risk profiles. Coverage Highlights and Advantages Professional Liability for Medical Directors with direct, indirect, or no patient care Coverage available on a claims-made basis Retroactive coverage options available Non-admitted solution offering broader underwriting flexibility Whether your client is a physician overseeing clinical protocols at a research lab or a medical director consulting for a beauty clinic, this program provides tailored protection for their professional activities and exposures. Underwriting Notes Submissions evaluated on a case-by-case basis No minimum premium specified—contact PPIB for pricing details Applications should include detailed descriptions of services provided and facility type Territories and Availability This program is available in most U.S. states, including but not limited to CA, TX, FL, NY, IL, PA, and WA. PPIB can write Medical Directors Insurance in all states except those where prohibited. Coverage is written on a non-admitted basis, offering flexibility to craft customized solutions. Why Work With Professional Program Insurance Brokerage? PPIB is a recognized master policy holder and program administrator with deep expertise in niche and emerging markets. They specialize in placing difficult risks and offer responsive service and underwriting flexibility. If you’re an agent or broker with clients operating in non-traditional healthcare roles or facilities, PPIB can help you secure the professional liability coverage they need. You might have a client who acts as the medical director for a chain of beauty clinics, or another who provides medical oversight for a marijuana dispensary. These types of accounts are well within PPIB’s appetite and can be submitted for prompt review. Contact Professional Program Insurance Brokerage (PPIB) for all your Medical Directors Insurance needs. Frequently Asked Questions What types of accounts are a good fit for this program?This program is ideal for Medical Directors working in clinics, spas, research labs, educational institutions, prison systems, healthcare agencies, and non-traditional settings like tattoo studios or marijuana facilities. Does this program cover Medical Directors who do not see patients?Yes, coverage is available for Medical Directors engaged in direct, indirect, or no patient care roles. Is retroactive coverage available?Yes, retroactive coverage can be considered depending on underwriting review. In which states is this program available?The program is available in most U.S. states, including CA, TX, NY, FL, IL, and more. Contact PPIB to confirm availability in specific states. What information is required for a submission?Submissions should include a detailed description of the insured’s role, facility type, scope of services, and any claims history. Need help placing an account? Connect with a market specialist.

Building Teams: A Nine-Step Approach
BUILDING TEAMS: A NINE-STEP APPROACH by Don Phin Follow these nine steps from Don Phin and you’ll build powerful teams. I’m often asked to facilitate what we will refer to as “team building.” This need usually arises during a merger or acquisition, in forming a new company, or in dealing with a dysfunctional business environment. Here are nine timeless principles that I employ in building teams: 1. The team comes first. Just ask the New England Patriots. All of us have seen sports teams loaded with superstars who fail to win the big games because they’re more focused on individual performance than the collective effort. If a partner or team member has a “me first” attitude, they can work elsewhere. This team stuff isn’t for everyone. 2. Engage in win/win thinking. Whether for good or bad, right or wrong, Americans are so competitive by nature that winning at all cost seems to be a perfectly acceptable mantra — sucking energy from others so that you can succeed is simply the nature of business. Not so if you want to have an effective team! Remember: “A rising tide floats all boats.” In his eye-opening book, The Case Against Competition, Alfred Cohen points out that when it comes to teams, we should focus on cooperation, not competition. We can compete against those outside the team, but certainly not within it. Again, this doesn’t mean that all team members have all the same responsibilities or the same compensation structures; it does mean that they should receive equal, and respectful, treatment. After all, they’re teammates! 3. Be clear up front about your commitments. Assuming that everyone will follow team rules is guaranteed to produce failure and resentment. For example, if you’ve played team sports for your entire life, your perception of what constitutes team play will differ from that of someone who has never played on a sports team. Build mutual rules, commitments, values, or understandings through dialogue and consensus. In game theory, there’s a classic story of the Prisoners’ Dilemma. For example, assume that two men are arrested for robbing a bank. The police separate them immediately and offer each one a deal, saying, “we’ll let you go or give you a lighter sentence if you rat out your partner.” Because the prisoners failed to define their commitments under such circumstances up front, they now find themselves wondering what the other guy will do. Inevitably, one or both will crack, believing that they’re more committed to the relationship than the other person is. If your team members are to trust each other, they must define and honor their commitments up front and in writing. 4. Treat every team member with equal respect. In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink, graduate students were able to define with 90% accuracy the success of a marriage by watching a couple during conflict for less than three minutes! These students focused on this “thin slice” of critical information: Whether or not one party was condescending toward the other during the conflict. Or, conversely, did they treat each other as equals who simply disagree? Although you wouldn’t treat a sibling or friend as “lesser than” just because they have a lower title or earn less than you, such treatment is often the norm in a business environment. 5. Make sure that the team is clear on its direction. Ask yourself if everybody is on the same page — whether you call it vision, mission, or goals. For example, in trying to strengthen a team among the staff of an insurance brokerage, I asked each employee what was the most important thing they did. Broker after broker gave a technical response. Then I asked the agency principal (who happened to out-earn all the other brokers combined) what he viewed as the most important thing that he did. His response opened my eyes: “The most important thing I do every day is make other people feel good about themselves.” When I asked him how he did this, he replied, “That’s easy! You just find the good in them. If you make a person feel good about themselves, they’ll work long and hard for you, or buy anything from you . Now, when we ask these brokers what’s the most important thing they do, they all have the same response — as do the customer service reps and the administrative staff. That’s a team going in the same direction. 6. Remember the “Rule of Seven.” Anthropological studies of everything from hunter-gatherer groups to military organizations have shown that it’s very difficult to create a cohesive team with more than seven members. Tom Peters often points out that no division of an organization should be more than 50 people, broken down into seven groups of seven. Ma Bell created seven-digit phone numbers because the human mind has a difficult time managing more than seven inputs at a time. So, when building teams, keep the magical Rule of Seven in mind. 7. Eliminate dysfunction and drama from teams. Begin by addressing everyone’s fears and concerns. For example, if the existing members of a team are concerned that the new folks won’t play by the same set of rules, you can reduce this concern by identifying the rules and asking if they have any questions about them. At the same time, the new folks might fear that the best practices they have developed will be ignored by the existing team because of their reluctance to change. Eliminate these fears by agreeing that the higher thought or best practices, not the existing way of doing things, will govern. Once you place such issues on the table, rather than keeping them buried, you can deal with them. As Justice Louis Brandeis said, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” 8. Conduct exercises that expose the challenges among teams. For example, I ask people what’s the most important thing that they do every day and then have them rank the top three or five. I then ask how others can support them in this effort. Doing this throughout the team creates an incredible awareness and support structure. Here’s another interesting exercise that I’ve done with everyone from partners, to couples, to work teams: First, I ask each person to write down all of those things that their significant other, partner, team member, or subordinate wishes that they would do differently. This list will probably be fairly accurate. I then ask the participants to exchange lists. Again, the chances are no participants would be missing much. The question then becomes, “If you know this to be the case, why don’t you feel that it’s important enough to try to make a difference? Or, if you are trying to make a difference, have you been as effective in the effort as you hoped for? Is it time to try something else?” 9. Finally, be sure to reinforce and reward team conduct. If your team is hitting home runs, make sure to celebrate them. If there are challenges, make it safe for people to come forward by inviting them and thanking them for doing so. The last thing that you want is for a team member to sit mired what I call a “culture of silence” because they fear speaking up for themselves. Follow these nine steps — and you’ll build powerful teams.

We have an account in Nebraska that has two parts and/or entities. The first part primarily transports clients of Health & Human Services in NE, typically within a 200 mile or less radius but they can go into neighboring states. HHS has also requested they take or retrieve clients that are much further away even to CA and once to Alaska. Not the norm but at least once a month they will travel beyond the 200 mile radius for HHS. The second part of their business provides secured transports for HHS and for law enforcement. Many times HHS clients are violent or due to physical or mental issues need to be in a more controlled element for transfer. Likewise local law enforcement will rely on our insured for transporting their charges. In this part they will travel out of state more often but still not on a regular and frequent basis. This represents less than 10% of their runs. We have access to the BHHC companies and to the Atlas Financial Group companies. Who are the current markets that will look at both HHS and secured transport together? Who are the markets for secured transport only

The Fraud Equation: Fighting Credit Card Mail Fraud
THE FRAUD EQUATION: FIGHTING CREDIT CARD MAIL FRAUD by Leslie Kim The crime of fraud is an equation. It consists of pieces: this criminal, plus that method, plus an element of opportunity. The solution to the problem of fraud is also an equation: this fraud, minus detection, minus deterrence, minus a team prosecution effort. This is a simplification, to be sure, but it illustrates the fact that there's no single element to either the perpetration of fraud or the prosecution of the crime. Bringing the culprit to justice involves the processes of identification, dissection, and follow-up action. Rarely does any one person or agency handle a case on their own; it's usually a team effort that combines the talents of many individuals. When it comes to credit card mail fraud, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service is one of the key players. Who are they? How do they help? What kinds of cases are they looking for? How can they be contacted? Here's an in-depth look: THE POSTAL INSPECTION SERVICE The Postal Inspection Service is one of our country's oldest federal law enforcement agencies. Each of the 2,400 U.S. Postal inspectors is a federal law enforcement agent with the authorization to carry a firearm and make arrests. Benjamin Franklin was the first Postal Inspector. The mail statute, enacted in 1872, allows the investigation of suspected fraud, misrepresentation, deception, and deceit by individuals who use the U.S. mails to obtain goods or services from the unsuspecting public. With the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 the mail statute was expanded to incorporate a more technologically modern definition of mail that includes 'any matter or thing whatever to be sent or delivered by any private or commercial interstate carrier.' Prior to the statute expansion, crooks would often carefully avoid the use of the U.S. mails. They'd use UPS, FedEx, or other private carriers to make their demands or receive their booty, thereby avoiding prosecution. Within the Postal Inspection Service, there are 29 inspectors who serve as credit card coordinators, each heading up a team of investigators. The Los Angeles Division credit card team, formed in 1993 in response to the burgeoning problem, is headed as of this writing by Randy DeGasperin. With credit card crimes on the increase, DeGasperin and his investigators are busy night and day. JOINT EFFORTS The Postal Inspection units comprise one of the three primary federal law enforcement agencies that address financial crimes. The Secret Service is the primary agency when the case deals with counterfeiting or with fraud by the unauthorized use of an access device (i.e., a credit card account number); the Postal Inspection Service deals with any type of mail theft or mail fraud; the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) assumes investigative control when the banking fraud statutes have been challenged, (i.e. loan fraud or check-kiting schemes). More commonly than not, two or more of these agencies work together, often in a task force. The Unabomber case poses an excellent example of a joint investigation effort. In this instance, the Bureau of Alchohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) also figured into the equation because an act was perpetrated with explosives. The Postal Inspection Service was involved because items were being sent through the U.S. mails, and the FBI joined in because the motive of the criminal activities appeared to be terrorism. Another reason more than one federal agency may be involved is that each division enforces certain laws and statutes under which prosecution can take place. The FBI enforces the most resources and statutes of all the federal enforcement groups, so it's commonly involved in many types of investigations. Many organized-ring cases also attract the attention of more than one investigative agency. 'It allows each agency to leverage its limited resources,' says DeGasperin, 'and that translates to working smart.' The Postal Inspection Service receives leads from many sources. Referrals may come from the Better Business Bureau, the Consumers Affairs Department, the various district attorneys, the attorneys general, the media, informants, victims, bank investigators, and more. It's up to the Complaints Section of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service to receive and monitor all correspondence, then to computerize and forward it to inspectors all over the country. The key is gathering follow-up information, which will determine the next step in the investigative process. Each U.S. Postal Inspection field division office has many teams of investigators. There are teams that deal with mail fraud, credit card fraud, internal theft (i.e., by postal employees), external theft (i.e. stealing mail out of mail boxes, assaults, robberies), and prohibited mailings (including narcotics). POSTAL INSPECTION AND BANKING In 1992 the Postal Inspection Service and the banking industry held their first meeting to deal with the growing credit card fraud problem. The Divisional Credit Card Coordinator Program was set up as a result, providing a more unified and effective response to this type of financial crime. It's now estimated that there are over a million credit cards in the mail every day. The amounts have increased dramatically because of bank mergers and expansions and new types of credit card programs. Prevention has become a priority: Postal inspectors meet with the major bank security people at least three times a year. Communication is the key, according to DeGasperin. He cites the example of a major issuer readying a huge volume mailing that was to be sent over several weeks. 'When [this bank] introduced a new product, a ... debit card [linked to a credit card], they mailed one to every customer who currently had [the bank's] ATM card. We knew that a high volume of credit cards was going to pass through the system, so we took certain precautions to assure the mail would not be tampered with during the process of mailing or delivery. This is an example of our working with the banks, not just in an investigative capacity, but in a preventative capacity as well.' The banking industry is also looking for ways to lessen the impact of fraud. The card activation system has had a positive impact because some crooks - at least the small-time ones - just don't think about the process before they leap headlong into it. When the card thief calls to activate a card (because these thieves often have access to the necessary information), he doesn't realize that the phone number he's calling from may be captured, depending on the risk factor of the cardholder's address. The lengths a company is willing to go to varies by the area being serviced. For instance, more stringent deterrents are in place in the New York City metropolitan area than in the middle of Iowa or Nebraska. The system of card activation also deters the amateur thief who doesn't have access to the cardholder's Social Security number. Banks now electronically file monthly reports on missing credit cards to the Postal Inspection Service. This system allows a head start on investigations in cases when the non-received issued (NRI) count is abnormally high. While a small percentage may be entirely normal, a higher number can suggest a problem. What happens when an audit suddenly comes through that pinpoints a large percentage of missing cards? The information alone is just a small part of the puzzle. The Postal Service credit card core unit gets to work analyzing the available information. By looking at things like the date, location, and route of the mailing, these investigators attempt to determine where the theft took place. In order to determine where the loss actually took place, the investigator keeps an eye open for trends and patterns. If the loss numbers are high, it's likely that the problem occurred internally - possibly within a post office, at a third-party processor's location, or at an airport. If a single center processes mail for a certain series of ZIP codes and the major portion of the problem is in those specific ZIP code areas, it's a good bet that the theft occurred within that processing center. Alternatively, if it's a wider band, the investigator might head for the airport that handled the major portion of the mail. Once the analysis has been completed, the next step is to investigate. Another weapon in the Postal Inspection Service's fraud-fighting arsenal is its Credit Card Mail Theft newsletter, which is sent to banks and security departments all over the country. It provides summaries of significant investigations in each reporting period. ORGANIZED FRAUD There are basically two kinds of credit card fraud: friendly and organized. In friendly fraud the perpetrator is someone who knows the victim, often via a close relationship. This might involve, for example, a relative who lifts the new credit card from the household mail. Unfortunately, these kinds of frauds don't often form the basis for a criminal case. It's organized fraud that comprises the high percentage of crimes that lead to federal prosecution. While organized fraud isn't limited to any one ethnicity or group of people, certain groups keep the credit card teams hopping. The cities hardest hit are Los Angeles, Washington D.C., New York, Atlanta, Houston, Boston, and Chicago. The rings aren't picky about locations; they'll move anywhere an opportunity presents itself. Recently there's been a heavy increase in cross-country fraud schemes. 'They're hoping to throw a dogleg into the investigative process by moving around to various parts of the country,' says DeGasperin, 'but we've countered by having specific national credit card coordinators in each division office.' Organized crime rings seem to concentrate on obtaining large numbers of credit cards. They've found that the best way to accomplish this is to recruit people to work within the system. The biggest cases and largest cumulative losses have occurred through internal thefts. Airports and distribution centers are a favorite target for crooks because a high volume of cards passes through these locations. Recently, a 60-member credit fraud ring was broken up through the joint efforts of U.S. Postal inspectors and the Attorney General's Office. The five leaders were charged with organizing a credit fraud scheme by which postal employees in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, and other U.S. cities stole hundreds of credit cards from the mail. The five leaders first activated the credit cards by telephone, then manufactured counterfeit identification documents, which they gave to runners. The runners, in turn, obtained cash advances at banks throughout the United States. Most ring members pleaded guilty to charges that included conspiracy to possess stolen mail, wire fraud, and fraudulent use of credit cards. The five main organizers each faced a maximum possible prison sentence of five years and a fine of $2,500,000. Unfortunately, this case points out one of the problems inherent in the prosecution process: prison sentences that many feel are too light for the financial ramifications of the crime. The government estimated that the organization described defrauded financial institutions of more than $2.5 million over a three-year period. What message does a five-year maximum sentence send to the criminal community at large? To remedy this situation, meetings with the Department of Justice are now taking place in an effort to increase the sentencing guidelines for financial crimes. Another problem is with the thresholds for prosecution. It's tough to get a U.S. attorney to accept a case in which the amount of the theft isn't extreme. This varies by jurisdiction, but the answer is often to take this type of case to local law enforcement and let the district attorney prosecute instead. MAIL DROPS AND IDENTITY FRAUD Yet another problem that has plagued the investigative industry is the use of mail drops. For a low monthly fee, a credit card thief can assure anonymity by renting an address. Such an address may look valid to the untrained eye - 123 Main Street, Apartment 203, Anytown, Anystate - but in actuality the address is a 3'x5' box obtained with a minimum of identification. 'A favorite joke around the Postal Inspection Service office,' says DeGasperin, 'is that instead of special parking places in front of these [rental] places being set aside for handicapped parking, they ought to label them for law enforcement parking.' One way to combat this problem is to contact the Issuers Clearing House for MasterCard and Visa, which assists issuers to identify bad addresses. Another is to obtain a list of mail drops in a particular area. There's also an investigator's chat line with online discussions about ongoing investigations and recently solved crimes. Members of the International Association of Credit Card Investigators (IACCI) can access the organization's e-mail network, which provides secured information only otherwise available to law enforcement, banks, and the FBI. 'The most common cases my teams see are in the area of financial identity frauds,' says DeGasperin. 'Somehow an individual's financial information has been compromised by a suspect. This particular type of crime is certainly on the upswing.' The same scams were occurring in the 1980s, but at that time it was referred to as credit card application fraud and the media pretty much ignored it. When identity fraud cases are referred to the Postal Inspection Services, the victim's name and address are logged in and the customer is contacted by letter. The victim is advised to contact the three major credit bureaus to report a compromise of their financial information. As soon as a crime is confirmed, the mail drop box is shut down. As incoming mail to that same address is monitored, other similar frauds are usually discovered. While banking industry officials may think that all the federal investigators have to do is stand around the mail drop offices and wait for the criminals to appear, it just doesn't work that way. 'They've become far more sophisticated,' relates DeGasperin. 'They've moved away from using mail drops. In some instances they use actual addresses, such as a rented apartment.' In cases of identity fraud where a mail drop is used, the information listed on the application generally isn't valid. This leaves very little in the way of a paper trail for the investigator to follow. If a phone number is listed, it often belongs to a cellular phone. The home address listed is probably just another mail drop. Today's technology has made the crook's job so much easier. The list of prefixes assigned to cellular phones, however, is generally easily obtainable from the servicing phone carrier. PARTNERING FOR SOLUTIONS Education plays a big part in the eventual solution. The average officer on the street hasn't had a lot of training in the area of credit card fraud. They might suspect a problem when they stop a car and find an embossing machine and a bag of mail in the back seat. And if the driver is carrying a stack of credit cards, each with a recent issue date, it could be one heck of a good indication that the cards were stolen from the mails. The Postal Inspection Service wants to help. Investigators are readily available to participate in seminars for law enforcement groups, banks, or anyone else involved in the fight against financial fraud. And while this agency, like most federal law enforcement agencies, tends to pay more attention to the large cases, the investigators are willing to look at any and all cases. Some of the largest cases have begun with a single referral. Obviously, the better a case is put together, the more chance it has to be scooped up. Good records are of the utmost importance. 'We not only want industry to bring us their cases,' summarizes DeGasperin, 'we also want them to learn from the process and to be able to prevent future frauds from occurring. We do not want to be thrust into the role of policemen. We want to participate in a partnership.' U.S. POSTAL INSPECTION SERVICE CREDIT CARD COORDINATORS Inspector/Division Coordinator   Mailing Address / Phone Number Atlanta Division / (404) 608-4549 McCoy P.O. Box 16489 Atlanta, GA 30321-0489   Boston Division / (617) 439-3630 J. Fuccillo P.O. Box 2217 Boston, MA 02205-2217   Buffalo Division / (716) 853-5322 R. Verrochio 1200 Main Place Tower Buffalo, NY 14202-3796   Charlotte Division / (704) 329-9127 R. Bowen 2901 I85 South, GMF Charlotte, NC 28228-3000   Chicago Division / (312) 765-4498 M. Szluka 433 W. Van Buren 642 Chicago, IL 60669-2201   Cincinnati Division / (614) 469-4345 K. McCafferty P.O. Box 837 Columbus, OH 43216-0837   Cleveland Division / (216) 443-4000 M. Rae P.O. Box 5726 Cleveland, OH 44101-0726   Denver Division / (303) 295-5337 M. Kimball 1745 Stout St., 900 Denver, CO 80202-3034   Detroit Division / (313) 226-8238 D. Mills P.O. Box 330119 Detroit, MI 48232-6119   Fort Worth Division / (214) 393-6477 J. Travell P.O. Box 162929 Fort Worth, TX 76161-2929   Houston Division / (713) 238-4410 D. Beaty P.O. Box 1276 Houston, TX 77251-1276   Kansas City Division / (816) 932-0474 J. Reed 3101 Broadway, 850 Kansas City, MO 64111-2416   Los Angeles Division / (213) 729-4019 R. DeGasperin P.O. Box 2000 Pasadena, CA 91102-2000   Memphis Division / (901) 576-2135 J. Knight P.O. Box 3180 Memphis, TN 38173-0180   Miami Division / (305) 436-7238 D. Jones 3400 Lakeside Dr., 6th Fl. Miramar, FL 33027-3242   Newark Division / (201) 596-5400 J. Fresco P.O. Box 509 Newark, NJ 07101-0509   New Orleans Division / (504) 589-1206 M. Winston P.O. Box 51690 New Orleans, LA 70151-1690   New York Division / (212) 330-3493