Choosing the right malpractice coverage can have a serious impact on your practice and your personal life—good or bad. Don’t make your decision based on what your associates have done or on price alone. Be sure to educate yourself about what is available to you and how it can affect you and your practice—from new-to-practice to retirement.
There are two main types of coverage offered in the malpractice market today:
Occurrence Coverage
Claims-Made Coverage
Occurrence coverage provides protection during the covered policy period, regardless of when the patient files a claim. As long as the medical incident occurred during the policy period, your occurrence policy will respond—even if the claim is made after the policy period expires or after you stop practicing.
In addition, occurrence allows you the flexibility to move your practice to another state or take extended time off to take care of your children or go on an extended vacation—without the need to purchase an extended reporting endorsement (tail).
Claims-made coverage responds to claims based on when the claim is first made against an insured—which means, you must have coverage in effect when a claim is filed. When you retire, your coverage will expire and you will need to either purchase an extended reporting endorsement (tail) to cover prior acts, or acquire a free tail from your insurance company (if offered by your insurer).
In addition, with a claims-made policy, if you want to move to a different state you will need to purchase a new policy and if you want to take an extended amount of time off (i.e. vacation, sabbatical) you will need to purchase a tail or continue to pay your premium, even though you are not practicing.
To learn more about the differences between claims-made and occurrence coverage, we encourage you to contact the experts at Medical Protective, by calling 800-4MEDPRO today.
