About
Toro Risk Consulting Group (Toro) is a boutique insurance agency and consulting firm that was created in response to the demand for a company that can efficiently navigate enterprise-wide healthcare risk. There is no shortage of highly-skilled professionals, technology, talent and capability throughout the industry. There is, however, a shortage of companies positioned specifically to coordinate them all.
Toro can help insurance companies and agencies, and healthcare systems and providers, understand how to grow and thrive in the new world of healthcare and risk.
Founder
Brian S. Kern, Esq.
Brian Kern is the President and Founder of Toro Risk Consulting Group, LLC (Toro), which is a company focused on growing insurance agencies and companies that specialize in healthcare professional liability insurance. He is also Of Counsel at Frier & Levitt, a law firm specializing in healthcare.
While attending Seton Hall Law School’s evening program, Mr. Kern worked as a medical malpractice insurance producer in Somerville NJ. Brian graduated a semester early in December of 2005 and passed the NJ Bar Exam in 2006. On January 1st, 2009, he and one of the principals of his insurance firm created a new professional liability insurance agency, Argent Professional.
After just three years, Mr. Kern underwent his first liquidity event when he helped sell his agency to Bollinger. At Bollinger, Brian was an Executive Vice President and the Co-Chair of its Professional Liability Division. When Bollinger sold to Arthur J. Gallagher, Mr. Kern was appointed the NE Regional Director of Healthcare, overseeing a 20-person team and a book of business that rose to as high as $7.5 million in annual revenue.
During his 5-year term, Mr. Kern and his team worked on many projects: Advising struggling Risk Retention Groups through Runoff; Forming New Risk Purchasing Groups (for large consolidators and hospitals); Captive Formations; and Loss Portfolio Transfers. They also helped groups implement comprehensive risk management programs, including patient satisfaction programs and aligning government and risk-based metrics in an effort to both decrease risk and increase reimbursement.
Mr. Kern is admitted to the NJ State Bar Association and is a member of the American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA). He frequently speaks before heath law and medical organizations, including state, county and specialty societies. He writes for publications throughout the healthcare industry, including MedScape (of Web MD) – where he serves on the editorial advisory board, Medical Economics, and MD News.
Mr. Kern formerly sat on the advisory council for NJ Physicians, where he helped create the Medical Malpractice Defense Panel - a group of the top medical malpractice defense attorneys in NJ, and was a member of its EHR committee. He is currently on the Board of NJ Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), where he serves as its Affiliate Chair, and a member of the Union County Medical Society Judiciary Committee. Mr. Kern has testified before the NJ Legislature, and has worked on several bills impacting healthcare in NJ. In 2016, he was honored as one of “40 Under 40” by NJ Biz.
