Doctors and other healthcare practitioners can make mistakes too. A small incision, reactive prescription drug or misdiagnoses are few of the common medical errors in this profession. However, they are quite minuscule mistakes but can cost medical practitioner his profession and incur tremendous financial losses.
Malpractice claims root from these mistakes and can cause cancellation or suspension of license. That is why, medical professionals require malpractice insurance to prevent against lawsuits. Without this, you may not even be able to practice medicine in the US.
What is Medical Malpractice Insurance?
Also known as professional liability insurance, it provides coverage to doctors, physicians, specialists, nurses and other healthcare professionals. It offers protection against claims stemming from wrongful practices that lead to injury, loss or increased medical expenses.
Who needs Medical Malpractice Insurance?
Anyone working in the medical industry requires these coverage plans, especially if they are practicing their profession in the US. Professionals include:
- Surgeons
- Physicians
- Therapists
- Chiropractors
- Nurses
- And Pharmacists
Cost of Medical Malpractice Insurance:
Various factors determine the cost of these insurance policies. From state regulations to insurance plan price to your specialty variables—each has a defining effect on the total cost and monthly premiums of medical malpractice insurance.
On an average, you will be charged $7,500 annually for your medical malpractice insurance cost. However, surgeons may pay around $30,000-50,000 per year, whereas medical personnel can expect anything between $4,000-12000 to insure their practice.
How does Medical Malpractice Insurance Cover Health Practitioners?
The policies provide liability coverage to the professionals when they face accusations of negligence. As additional benefits, the insurance can help you secure a lawyer and cover all the legal cost incurred during the lawsuit case. The coverage includes:
- Court costs and lawyer fee
- Out-of-court settlement cost
- Disciplinary charges
- Financial losses
Although, medical liability insurance policies are quite comprehensive but they have certain limits. Typically, these insurance plans do not cover sexual misconduct, criminal offenses and false representation. You can opt for Employer’s Practice Liability Insurance to compensate for sexual and criminal related claims.
Types of Medical Malpractice Insurance
There are two types of medical malpractice insurance policies:
Occurrence-Made:
It provides coverage for any event taken place during the period of the policy validity, even if it lapsed at the time of the claim. Most of medical personnel prefer this type of policies but they are not available in every state.
Claims-Made:
It provides coverage only while the policy was in effect. The plan has to be active when the event occurred and at the time of the claim. You can add a tail policy to reap maximum benefits and extend the coverage period.
Tail policies keep the insurer covered for a certain period, even after the basic coverage has lapsed. Claims-made policy requires the doctor to be under the coverage when receiving the claim. It becomes problematic, if the client did not renew or cancel the policy, or switched jobs. A tail covers them for at least 5 to 10 years even if he does not have a policy or bought a new one.
If you want to know how much malpractice insurance is, then you can compare different policies on our site Advanced Professional Services. You can even speak to our professional brokers to learn more about your chosen policy.