About Us

Purpose

In recent years Community hospitals have faced significant challenges with few options for liability insurance subject to wild pricing fluctuations.  In response to these market dislocations, the hospital associations of Montana and Wyoming worked with Consensus Management Corporation to form a risk retention group (RRG) for members of their associations along with selected hospitals in Idaho, New Mexico, and Utah.

Structure

Yellowstone Insurance Exchange, RRG is a specialized insurance organization owned by community hospitals and operated by a team of insurance and service professionals with local knowledge. This fundamental difference changes the overall paradigm away from the profit driven model of a traditional insurance company where a key focus is on the short term management of quarterly earnings and on maximizing profit. The focus of Yellowstone is the efficient delivery of insurance protection by reducing the total cost of risk as it relates to liability exposure. This is achieved through enhanced risk management and comprehensive claim management supported by the leading edge technology tools in the Yellowstone Event System.  

People

One of Yellowstone’s most significant competitive advantages is the specialized knowledge of its employees who provide the claims and risk management services and the hospital administrators who manage the company. This knowledge combined with a clear understanding of the unique needs of community hospitals and the collective risk management experience gleaned from the members of Yellowstone creates great value for its members.

Technology

The Yellowstone Event System was developed for the benefit of all members and at its foundation is RiskQual, an integrated web-based risk management information system that addresses incident reporting, risk management, patient complaint tracking and claims management. RiskQual’s advanced DataTrk™ module enables healthcare facilities to easily customize the entry and processing of incident and complaint data, therefore facilitating ease of use and paperless reporting. The modules are fully integrated to provide a comprehensive risk and claims management system.

Financial

Yellowstone has adopted a conservative approach to underwriting and loss reserves in order to build the equity of the members and provide financial security.  Outside consultants provide actuarial guidance and financial review services in order to assist the management of the company in making prudent decisions.  Independent analysis indicates that Yellowstone has performed well in several financial benchmarks when compared to the average performance of the 15 leading property and casualty companies.  The company is not currently assigned a rating from the major insurance rating organizations.  A financial statement may be provided to prospective members on request and is provided subsequently at each annual membership meeting.