The Many Faces of Medical Malpractice Insurance
March 24th, 2011 | 
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Medical Malpractice Insurance is intended to cover the MD/DO for claims arising from direct patient care. But there are other kinds of malpractice insurance that cover other things. As mentioned in prior blogs medical malpractice is the name we give to professional liability insurance or errors and omissions insurance for physicians. However, there are other medical professional liabilities that covers others besides the MD/DO for their direct patient care.
Entity Liability Insurance or Entity Malpractice Insurance is insurance that protects the entity from claims that it is pulled into, based on vicarious liability.
Entity Liability Insurance Example:
Dr D hires a doctor, Dr PT, to work with him in his office on a part time basis. Dr D has the part time physician provide his own insurance. Dr PT misdiagnosis cancer and a patient sues the doctor for the mistake. The patient names Dr PT and Dr D. Dr D is named although the patient never met Dr D. The patient sues since Dr D’s name is on the door of the practice and therefore Dr D is seen as responsible for DR PT’s actions.
Since this is not direct patient care, the business entity is the one being named in the lawsuit so this will trigger the entity liability coverage. If Dr D has set up his entity liability insurance coverage, which is usually included in the doctor’s medical malpractice insurance, he will be covered. This is assuming that Dr D purchased entity coverage from his insurer, and that he informed his insurer that he was adding Dr PT to his practice and has him covered.
Or the other alternative is Dr D could have purchased stand-alone entity coverage, which is necessary if his medical malpractice insurer would not offer the coverage.
Clinic Malpractice Insurance is another common form of medical insurance. This is for clinics and has many unique features. First, the entity can require MD’s have their own insurance and the clinic malpractice insurance will cover the entity. Also, the clinic policy will cover its PA’s and NP’s while they work for the clinic for no additional charge. In addition, the coverage will cover the employees and nurses of the clinic. Lastly, it will cover the medical director for non-direct patient care. Many MD’s are not aware that their insurance only covers direct patient care, and does not afford coverage for medical director activities.
Allied Professionals Medical Malpractice Insurance is another form of insurance. These typically cover the NP and PA’s. The coverage is almost identical to the medical malpractice for the MD/DO. It covers the allied for claims arising from direct patient care. It also can include entity coverage.
Medi Spa is a more recent area. Many of these ventures think that their general liability insurance affords them coverage for a malpractice claim. It most certainly does not provide coverage. Medi Spas need coverage similar to the clinic coverage. They need entity insurance coverage, allied coverage (if applicable), and medical director coverage. This industry is the least insured of all the medical providers.
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