By establishing RN Guardian as a benefit for your membership, you receive 9 partnership benefits for your Association:

  1. Up to 50% discount for RNG services.
  2. Offer a unique brand of career protection unlike anything else out there.
    1. Access to lawyers who have a verifiable 98% record of success in RN license retention.
    2. Access to proactive career advice from a 20 year old established law firm, should the member RN find themselves the recipient of a complaint or allegation.
    3. RNG is a service that offers a real benefit of protection from a real threat.
      1. Licensing complaints and the resulting issues are many times more likely to occur than individual claims.
      2.   ii. More than half of complaints filed with the BRN in 2009 resulted in revocation or voluntary surrender of a license. An additional 12% were placed on probation and 1% we suspended. Both probation and suspension can have real impact on the RN’s career through their facility administration.
    4. RNG has a coordinated member rate with a Malpractice Insurance (MPI) Company, which is often less than what the RN would find on the open market.
    5. RNG will coordinate member’s MPI, to eliminate the hassle and complication that arises when trying to handle it on one’s own.
  3. Offer reduced wills, trusts and estate Planning service, through the RNG primary provider firm of Goyette & Associates.
  4. Receive an annual contribution to a designated education scholarship or other discretionary fund and we will help you legally establish it.
  5. Encouraged to utilize RNG panel attorneys for training at your events.
  6. Reduced association only rate of 25% off Plan 3 Non-Scope Litigation (making this unprecedented benefit only $142.46 per month!)
  7. Goyette & Associates’ Corporate Counsel (average annual cost of corporate compliance counsel is $15,000 per year)
    1. Unlimited advice and consultation to the organization=s officers, directors, and principles regarding all corporate and organizational matters including the application of its By Laws, Constitution, Articles of Incorporation, Standing Rules, and other operational documents.
    2. Assist in coordination of services with other professional counsels such as tax-preparers, accountants and actuarials.
    3. Serve as compliance counsel for all applicable state and federal laws and regulations.
    4. Advise your Board of Directors on external activities including fundraising, membership drives, continuing education programs, political action, and the like.
    5. Association leadership training from Paul Q. Goyette, including training for all officers and directors on organizational matters including the organization’s duty of fair representation and fiduciary duties to its members.
    6. Insurance Compliance coordination to ensure the organization retains all proper errors & omissions insurance, professional liability insurance and other necessary protections. Also includes coordination of claims with all applicable insurance adjusters and representatives.
  8. Free access to RNG’s marketing team for membership growth consulting services.
    1. A proven track record of successful marketing and association building strategies.
  9. Consult RNG’s event coordination services.

Some Questions You May Have:

Why is RN Guardian different from what our members have through their Malpractice Insurance?

  • Proactive Counsel: RNG makes sure an incident doesn’t become an investigation. We advise our members how to handle a mistake or complaint so it doesn’t go to the BRN.
    • MP doesn’t offer any type of preventative advice.
  • There are no additional out of pocket expenses with RNG.
    • MPI is all out of pocket and reimburses on a case by case basis.
  • There is no “cap” on services provided with RNG.
    • MPI cuts off reimbursement at $10,000.00- which doesn’t go very far.
  • RNG does not charge Advanced Practice Nurses more than other healthcare professionals.
    • MPI rates go up as the level of education goes up – we think that’s crazy.
  • RNG attorneys specialize in administrative hearings before administrative law judges, we’ve been doing this for 20+ years.
    • MPI’s don’t have attorneys – you’re on your own.
  • There is no time wasted in looking for an attorney who specializes in RN license defense.
  • If you do a search for RN license defense, guess who comes up- our Panel Attorneys: Goyette and Associates!

Can our members keep their MPI or NSO coverage? Is there a conflict?

  • Absolutely keep your Malpractice Insurance! We encourage members to have malpractice insurance and cover all of the bases, even if licensing issues are far more prevalent.
  • There will not be a conflict with the membership keeping their current malpractice coverage, whatever it may be.

We have a staff attorney. Why would members need RNG if they have access to legal advice already?

  • Most association legal plans allow for a predetermined time frame for consultations per quarter with a general practice lawyer; usually 10-25 minutes.
  • Career advice to mitigate complaint damage or licensing defense consultations average approximately 10 hours of attorney time or $3000.00 minimum in legal fees.

This seems too good to be true – how can you offer all of those association benefits for such a low price per member and why are you offering it to us?

  • We need a forum to grow our own membership so we decided to offer a partnership arrangement with nursing associations. Especially those nurses working in high incident practice areas, who could really benefit from RNG.
  • We are sitting on a goldmine of benefits for the association itself. Our provider firm, Goyette & Associates, Inc. has represented their own retainer associations for over 20 years and has offered everything from corporate counsel to marketing assistance, so we figured we could easily do the same for nurses’ associations.
  • We know most organizations won’t do something for nothing and we couldn’t ask you to partner with us without offering you something in return. Hey, we work with lawyers; we’re familiar with the term quid pro quo!
  • We adore nurses. We respect the profession and feel like the caregivers should be on the receiving end of the caring, every once in a while.

What if we don’t “adore” RNG?

  • Cancel. Just like that. We want you to do something that doesn’t make sense for your organization; we want you to be our biggest proponent. You can cancel anytime. You won’t be trapped in a contract. Plus, you will be able to keep any contribution we’ve made to your benefit fund without any strings attached.

What if we do adore RNG? Who will we be dealing with, if we need something?

  • You get me. I’m the Director of RN Guardian: Jennifer Coalson-Perez. Email, call, fax, text, blog, tweet, write on our wall. It all goes through me and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
  • Your members get me too. I want to know each of them personally. If there is a problem, I want be a part of making sure it is taken care of properly.