Insurance firm creates Oros alliance

Left without a point person to handle professional liability insurance — a large part of his business — Jim Tollerton, president of Sarasota-based insurance agency Professional Benefits in Sarasota, started looking for options in the insurance marketplace.

But instead of simply hiring a replacement, Tollerton choose to change his company through a strategic alliance with Orlando-based healthcare insurance firm Oros Risk Solutions.

The deal effectively transfers all of Professional Benefits' professional liability (medical malpractice) insurance customers to Oros Risk Solutions, while Oros sends Professional Benefits all its benefits insurance work. Revenue from the insurance work is shared, according to Tollerton.

“I've been looking for a year or more,” he says. “All the carriers and customers I talked to said this [Jonathan Katz, president of Oros,] is the guy you want. We talked for several months and got comfortable with them before deciding to do the alliance. ...

Ultimately, I felt this offered our clients the better value than we could frankly do in the professional liability market.”

The agreement will likely make both companies much more specialized, Tollerton says.