NEWS

Impact of Communication Errors on Medical Liability Outcomes Grows

November 3, 2025

Candello’s 2025 Benchmarking Report offers one of the clearest signals yet that communication breakdowns remain a dominant driver of medical professional liability exposure. In analyzing more than 25,000 asserted and nearly 30,000 closed MPL cases from 2014–2024, the report shows that four out of every ten malpractice cases involve at least one communication failure—a sharp rise compared to the previous decade. These cases are also more likely to result in payment, carrying 39% higher odds of closing with indemnity. These findings underscore a simple truth: when information between providers, patients, and care teams breaks down, the legal and financial consequences often escalate.

The data also show a shift in where these vulnerabilities occur. Communication failures between providers and patients have increased to 63% of communication-related cases, overtaking provider-to-provider lapses as the dominant problem. Much of this activity originates in ambulatory environments, which now account for more than half of all communication-failure cases. As outpatient care grows more complex—with higher-acuity procedures and tighter follow-up windows—the opportunities for missed expectations, unclear discharge instructions, and incomplete discussions only multiply. Meanwhile, technology-enabled communication continues to reshape the landscape. Texting and patient-portal exchanges appear in a growing share of communication-related cases, reflecting the shifting ways clinicians and patients interact. Virtual visits remain a small portion of the dataset, but their presence signals that new modalities will bring new liability contours.

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For MPL agents, these trends translate directly into underwriting realities. Communication failures complicate defense strategies, elevate indemnity risk, and expose structural weaknesses in an organization’s clinical workflows. Outpatient practices, surgical centers, and multispecialty groups should expect more scrutiny around how they handle follow-up, document critical conversations, manage handoffs, and standardize patient guidance. Likewise, practices that lean on electronic messaging or texting need to be certain their processes are documented, monitored, and compliant, as every communication channel becomes discoverable when a claim is filed. Agents who can help clients articulate these safeguards—rather than focusing solely on claims history—immediately strengthen their position with underwriters.

At a broader level, this report reinforces the market’s pivot toward operational maturity as a risk signal. Strong communication systems, from structured handoffs and early-disclosure programs to clear patient-education frameworks, increasingly separate well-run practices from those more likely to experience preventable events. Western Summit’s value to retail partners lies in helping them translate these insights into practical guidance: improving submission narratives, aligning clients with risk-management resources, and ensuring coverage structures reflect modern communication demands. In a market where nearly half of all claims hinge on how information moves—or fails to move—between people, communication is no longer a cultural issue; it’s a core component of insurability.