Business News: Coverys, USI, Markel, QBE North America

Coverys announced the acquisition of Med-IQ, a global provider of medical education and healthcare quality improvement. Baltimore-based Med-IQ provides certified educational courses for clinicians; offers a suite of educational services to hospitals, academic medical centers, and medical societies; and delivers healthcare system–based quality improvement, education, and training. The transaction was finalized on October 31, 2016.

This acquisition affords Med-IQ’s core medical education division the opportunity to continue to provide relevant and essential clinical education across a broad range of therapeutic areas to current clients while expanding its global clinician reach and participation. As part of Coverys, Med-IQ’s Learning Solutions division will expand its portfolio of educational services that can be offered to hospitals and medical societies by partnering with ELM Exchange, Inc., and MRM Group, LLC, two Coverys educational companies that offer risk management and patient safety content.

Med-IQ, ELM Exchange, and MRM Group will operate independent of the Coverys underwriting companies.

New York-based USI Insurance Services has completed its transaction to purchase Johnson & Bryan, a retail property/casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage firm based in Atlanta, Georgia.

The transaction will expand USI’s footprint into a new city and market where USI is looking to invest and grow. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Markel Corporation announced the launch of new coverage enhancements to its medical professional liability policy. The enhancements offer a number of new coverage features, including blanket additional insured coverage for professional liability, trial attendance coverage, blanket coverage for independent contractors, and subpoena and deposition assistance coverage.

Led by Goldberg, Markel has a team of dedicated medical underwriters that are located in Richmond, Virginia; Chicago, Illinois; Deerfield, Illinois; Red Bank, New Jersey; Plano, Texas; Scottsdale, Arizona; and Woodland Hills, California. Goldberg joined Markel in 2007 and brings 16 years of experience in medical professional liability.

QBE North America, an operating division of global insurer QBE Insurance Group Limited, announced the launch of CyberOne and Data Compromise, as it expands its suite of products and services designed to help protect small to medium-sized commercial organizations from the growing threat of information security exposures.

CyberOne provides broad coverage to help protect the risks typical small organizations may face. It helps policyholders recover from damage to systems caused by a computer attack and also provides defense and liability coverage for certain lawsuits that allege third party damage resulting from a failure by the insured to adequately secure its own computer system.

Data Compromise helps a business respond to the loss or theft of the information they keep on customers, employees and others, including related expenses and legal defense and liability costs. This product is designed to help small and medium-sized businesses investigate a data breach, notify impacted individuals, and provide credit monitoring, case management and other services that help prevent identity theft and fraud.

QBE’s Specialty Cyber product is sold as stand-alone professional liability, offering up to $10 million in coverage.