Alera Group’s Healthcare Professional Liability (HPL) division is a deeply experienced team of physicians, attorneys, captive managers and insurance experts specializing in advising and representing healthcare practices on all matters related to professional liability.
We represent a full spectrum of clients including physicians, medical groups, facilities, senior care, hospitals and research entities. We are a national brokerage with coast-to-coast capabilities focused on providing knowledgeable, honest representation to our healthcare clients. Our team understands healthcare delivery is changing every day and we offer the tools and strategies to help organizations evolve and address developing risk.
Powerful Advisors
We strive to educate and truly collaborate with our clients and pride ourselves in the trust our clients place in us. We form enduring relationships and while many brokers are seen as annual vendors, we strive to become trusted advisors and long-term resources for our clients.
Extensive Experience
With a combined 100+ years of experience, our team consistently delivers quality recommendations and advocacy for its clients, as evidenced by our over 3000 physician insureds and countless years of working relationships.
Trusted Partnerships
Alera HPL’s reputation and size has garnered preferential status with the major insurance carriers across the country. Clients of Alera HPL can expect a complete and thorough analysis of the entire marketplace and the most competitive terms because of our broad carrier access, and keen insight.
Unique Expertise
Medical malpractice is where medicine and law come together. Our medical and legal backgrounds coupled with insurance expertise give us an unparallelled depth of understanding of all issues related to professional liability risks and exposure.
Our Industry Experts
Alera HPL is comprised of industry leaders in professional liability for healthcare practices. Supported by our teams, we provide expertise to Alera Group clients throughout the country.
Sapan Shah, MD, JD
Sapan is a physician and attorney and started the Alera HPL Division. He is an Alera Managing Partner and a Board Director for Alera Group. Sapan’s medical and legal background gives him unique insight into the legal issues facing physicians. Based in Chicago, he provides expert, trustworthy representation and advocacy for hundreds of physician clients around the country. His background includes a diverse experience of clinical medicine, medical research, corporate litigation and physician consulting. Sapan completed his MD and JD from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH.
Jason is a Managing Partner of Alera Group. He has a background in medicine, information technology and business development. Since co-founding Flagship Healthcare in 2007 (now Alera HPL), Jason utilizes his medical background and insurance expertise to develop risk management and insurance programs for healthcare practices around the country. Jason studied Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago and later completed his MD from the UIC College of Medicine.
Joshua joined the Alera HPL team in 2010 through Flagship Healthcare. He draws on his training and experience as an attorney to perform in-depth policy and coverage analysis. He is keenly aware of policy and endorsement differences among the various insurance carriers to ensure clients are protected from liability. Joshua studied law at the Chicago-Kent College of Law and mechanical engineering at Case Western Reserve University.
Ed Schoenwetter has over 15 years of industry experience and is a co-founder of Phalanx Healthcare Solutions, which became an Alera Group company in 2019. With an acute technical focus and a detail-oriented approach, Ed is responsible for creating and maintaining client relationships and supervising day-to-day processes. Prior to Phalanx, Ed honed his analytical skills as a top catastrophe analyst at Gallagher Re, building models using malpractice loss data and identifying certain trends. Ed graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a degree in Management Information Systems. Ed is based out of NYC.
Anne is an Executive Vice President at an Alera Group firm in Las Vegas, Nevada, and has over 35 years of insurance and risk management experience. She is directly invovled in the design and analysis of insurance programs for a variety of industries and has a specialty focus in healthcare professional liability. She routinely helps physician practices save thousands of dollars in malpractice insurance premiums while maintaining the highest levels of coverage. Anne is very involved in charity organizations and currently serves as Chairman of the Board for Easter Seals of Nevada and as Board Trustee for The Shade Tree Shelter.
James Porrello is the Managing Partner Alera Group firms Kaercher Insurance, Sundance Insurance and Loretz Insurance. He provides risk management programs with exposure identification, analysis, guidance, support and ongoing monitoring and review. His experience benefits our clients by helping them resolve claim questions, administrative issues and comply with current state and federal regulations. James holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Management from University of Nevada, Las Vegas. James is based out of Las Vegas, NV.
Paul is a co-founder of Phalanx Healthcare Solutions, which joined Alera HPL in 2019. With over 40 years of healthcare insurance experience, Paul is a preeminent expert in the New York market, overseeing and managing relationships with large physician groups and hospital systems. Paul uses his in-depth knowledge of trusts, captives, RRG’s, etc. to develop tailor-made programs for complex risks. Prior to Phalanx, Paul spent his career working exclusively in the medical malpractice market, holding senior insurance and reinsurance positions at Guy Carpenter, First Reinsurance Intermediaries, and Gallagher Re. Paul graduated from Brooklyn College with a degree in Economics.
Christey has specialized in the medical professional liability field for the majority of her 20+ year career in the insurance industry. She joined the Alera HPL team in 2017 after the merger/acquisition of Trans Service Insurance Agency in Pittsburgh, PA. Christey manages the team in our Western PA office with clients throughout the northeast and midwest US. She provides a thorough review of the medical professional liability programs for all healthcare professionals and facilities and makes solid recommendations to clients and potential clients about their insurance programs. Christey is a graduate of Penn State University where she studied business and marketing.
Randy is an accomplished executive with 40 years of experience in the insurance industry. He is a co-founder of Phalanx Healthcare Solutions, an Alera Group company, and focuses on the burgeoning medical malpractice market for New York’s individual physicians. Randy designs and implements creative insurance program structures that address his clients’ strategic liability needs. Prior to Phalanx, Randy was President of Gallagher Re and held a variety of senior management positions within AJG. Throughout his tenure with AJG, he successfully ran several subsidiary companies focusing on reinsurance and alternative risk financing. Randy graduated from St. Johns University with a degree in Criminal Justice.
Joe Loretz has 35 years of experience in the medical professional liability insurance industry. He advises medical practices on a variety of lines of coverage and is a trusted advisor to medical practices of all sizes. Joe is based out of an Alera Group firm in Reno, NV.
Sruhad has been a member of the the Alera HPL team since 2011, joining through Flagship Healthcare. Having worked with hundreds of medical practices over the years, he excels in providing insurance solutions for all types of practices. Taking the time to understand the needs of the practices he works with, he draws upon his vast experience to provide affordable coverage options. Sruhad is licensed and active in over 20 states and is an expert in the various state regulations that impact medical professional liability coverage options. Sruhad studied Finance at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Alera HPL represents a microcosm of the broader Alera Group story. Formed through a partnership of like-minded, energetic independent firms, Alera HPL is forming an all-star team of professionals focused on healthcare professional liability. Our national team is made up of the industry's leading experts, providing our clients with an elevated client experience. Our national scope includes more than 80 locations and 1,600 team members, working together to serve our local communities with the best possible industry solutions.
Services
Alera HPL is a highly specialized team within a top-ten national insurance brokerage. We focus almost exclusively on medical professional liability insurance for physician groups and every day, we leverage our experience, backgrounds, expertise and industry relationships to provide solutions for our clients. Our services include:
Exposure/Risk Analysis: detailed review of physician exposure, allied provider scope of service, hospital privileges, outside facility medical directorships, vicarious liability, corporate entities, contractual liability (mutual indemnification clauses), facilities liability, employment agreement obligations regarding tail coverage, etc.
Loss history Review: claims and loss history model, open claim reserve review, analysis of deductible/SIR (hypothetical if first-dollar program), pure premium calculation, etc.
Evaluation of Current Insurance Program: rating model, exposure basis, limits/deductible benchmarking, form review, underwriting credits, etc.
Market Analysis: review of prior year marketing efforts, local industry trends analysis, marketing summary
Risk Management Program Review
On the service and support side, our team uses cutting edge tools to simplify work for your credentialing departments. As appropriate, this includes electronic document completion and signature, shared online roster management and task tracking, and robotic process automation.
Other Alera Group Services
Alongside healthcare professional liability, Alera Group can offer comprehensive solutions for all lines of coverage including:
