Malpractice Insurance

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I can't really find a whole lot about this subject. I graduate next month and start my first job in January. How does everyone go about finding and what is the typical costs for such? (knowing that it varies)

Specializes in ER, progressive care.
Even if your facility does insure you as an employee, you still need your own malpractice insurance. The facility's insurance will do everything it can to protect THEM and their best interests. Have your own insurance so that you will have someone fighting to protect YOU and your best interests.

And you might find yourself in a situation where there is a lawsuit against you years from now and you may not be working for that employer anymore...so you are no longer covered under them. But again, they are always out for THEIR best interest, NOT YOURS, which is why you need your own . One of my nursing instructors was called to court 10 years after something happened and she was no longer working for that hospital. So yes, it can happen.

I have mine through Proliability. I'm a Texan and mine was only $90 for the year. NSO is another great company. Rates depend on your area and also your area of practice. As monkeybug stated, L&D is a high lawsuit area so rates may be higher. NSO and Proliability also offer a first year discount to new grad nurses.

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Specializes in kids.

NSO...dont leave home with out it!:roflmao:

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I do believe is very important, but I think it is very important to pay attention to the policy exclusions. My policy excludes injury that a reasonable person would have expected to happen. I am not a lawyer, but I understand this means that if I am determined to have breached the standards of care, and that this breach resulted in injury to my patient, then the incident is excluded from coverage. To me, this is not a small thing.

Is it easy to breach the standards of care with the result being a poor patient outcome? Are nurses sometimes unable to give safe care?

Malpractice insurance is very important in my opinion, and I believe that as long as you practice within the laws that govern your practice, and within the standards of care, you will be covered. I believe this means you have to really know the laws and standards of care that govern your practice. I have found the risk management information provided by my insurer to be very helpful.

Just my thoughts on this topic.

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Susie2310 points out that one should never purchase without knowing the terms of the policy. Malpractice insurance does in fact, cover MALPRACTICE, and you can find that out by asking the agent who sold it to you-- preferably before you buy it.

Also find out: Does it cover you while you are making premium payments only? Does it cover you for a time when you were making premium payments, even though now you have retired or left nursing and you have stopped them? Does it cover you for claims made before you began making premium?

Example: You worked at Hospital A from January 2005 - December 2010, six years. You worked for Hospital B from January 2011 to December 2011, one year.

You bought your malpractice insurance in June 2006 and you paid your premium until you left Hospital B.

1) The actionable event in question occurred in August 2006 at Hospital A. Your policy might cover you now, today, because it was in force at that time. Or it might not, because it's not in force NOW. Find out before you buy which it is.

OR

2) The actionable event in question occurred in February 2005 at Hospital A. Your insurance might have covered that event any time up until the time you stopped paying premium after leaving Hospital B, even though you didn't have the policy at the time of occurrence. Or it might not have covered it at all, because it occurred before you started paying premium. Find out before you buy.

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Specializes in Trauma ICU, Peds ICU.

Proliability.comTheir plan's endorsed by AACN and they're underwritten by a MAJOR insurance company that's very well thought of in the business.No one in insurance has ever heard of NSO, and I don't know anyone who's had to use it and can report.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

FYI--NSO is a subsidiary of the global company Aon The Aon Advantage | About Aon

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Never go to work without beingh covered by malpractice......the hospital and the MD's will dump on you at the first opportunity. Malpractice also defends against HIPAA claims and provides legal advice......the new number one complaint against nurses.

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I worked in a high-risk CVICU for 3 years, looked into a variety of insurance options. Ended up going with AACN's endorsed (and discounted for members and certified nurses) proliability (formally The Marsh Group). Looked into NSO, but I liked proliability's options better. Also make sure to check if the insurance is occurrence-based or term-based. If you're not familiar with that, occurrence-based means that you're covered for any occurrence under the policy term. So for example, let's say you work in a L&D, or ICU or wherever and a few years later you leave your position to say go back to school, or stay at home with kids etc. and now all of a sudden you've been named in a lawsuit for something that happened 2 years ago (which is common in the legal world) and you haven't renewed your insurance. If it's occurrence based you're still covered (that's how proliability worked when I had it, and they also prorated my yearly fee because I had just renewed and only needed it for a month as I was heading off to grad school after that, so that's another plus!) If your insurance is term-based, it's only covered when your insurance is active. Some policies that are term-based allow you to purchase what's called a "tail" it's a one-time fee that will then cover you if anything is brought against you in the future for the time you were covered under the plan (basically converting to an occurrence-based plan). This is obviously general advise, make sure the READ THE FINE PRINT of any plan you're looking at. Also keep in mind, OB nurses on many plans pay higher premiums.

Also another perk to keep in mind, many insurance plans will represent you if you have to go to the board of nursing. This is HUGE because going to the board can be just as bad if not worse than a lawsuit. Reason? Because most facilities will ask on employment forms about suspensions, reprimands etc against your license. The board holds a lot of power.

I'm in CRNA school right now, the most sued specialty in nursing. In fact, learning about is part of our course curriculum in our basic classes (To the OP, PM me if you have further questions)

Sorry this got long, but this is SOOO IMPORTANT to have, and many nurses do NOT understand it. ALWAYS have malpractice insurance when you're working with patients.

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Specializes in OR Hearts 10.

NSO - in TX is approx $230 year. Sign up before you graduate for the student discount. NSO is my choice.

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Specializes in Public Health Nurse.

At Gofather RN, I sent you a pm about where I can get information on your carrier.

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