CRNA's & malpractice insurance

air · Dec 5, 2004

Crna's need malpractice insurance also.

Now I do not know if their limits are the same like MD's or DO's.

CougRN · Dec 5, 2004

yes they do. the limits are normally 1 million per incident and 3 million per year or policy lenght, i think.

kachoo414 · Dec 5, 2004

yes they do. the limits are normally 1 million per incident and 3 million per year or policy lenght, i think.

Is the insurance expensive...(affordable?)

apaisRN, RN, CRNA · Dec 5, 2004

Is it common for your employer to pay for it?

heartICU · Dec 5, 2004

Is it common for your employer to pay for it?

Not sure. My employer is a self-insured institution, and covers my malpractice insurance (both during school and afterwards).

air · Dec 6, 2004

Is the insurance expensive...(affordable?)

One CRNA I spoke to explained that cost was slightly exhobitant especially when they do some type of Locum that deducts an amount against their malpractice insurance.

for example you are paid $X an hour locum, then you have to donate about 6-10% towards your policy coverage.

If you check AANA website they have a better explanation about how the coverages work.

A member of this board had posted that in KS, the premiums are slightly lower R/T a "stabilization fund". I do not know how it works.

BigDave · Dec 6, 2004

That sounds about right. One of my patients was a CRNA and did rural locums (aside from his military job) here in Texas for $100/hr and got deducted $45/day for insurance.

Another friend of mine moonlights and the insurance is paid by the emplorer.

If you go to a website such as gaswork.com or gasjobs.com, you will see details of a wide array of arrangements for either employee or emplorer-paid insurance.

There was an interesting article in Anesthesiology News magazine last month that discussed insurance. It said to be wary of hospital paid or provided insurance. They usually go with what's cheaper for them and when the chips fall, the lawyers are there to represent the hospital's best interests, not yours. They suggest that if you are named in a lawsuit, you need to weigh the impact of a negative judgement on your career and if hiring your own lawyer may be in your best interest.

apaisRN, RN, CRNA · Dec 6, 2004

There was an interesting article in Anesthesiology News magazine last month that discussed insurance. It said to be wary of hospital paid or provided insurance. They usually go with what's cheaper for them and when the chips fall, the lawyers are there to represent the hospital's best interests, not yours. They suggest that if you are named in a lawsuit, you need to weigh the impact of a negative judgement on your career and if hiring your own lawyer may be in your best interest.

That makes sense. You hear the same things about insurance for RNs. It's a controversial topic, but as an RN I carry my own insurance because I know that even if I'm coverd by the hospital, they would happily hang me out to dry if it saved their own tails. Seems like the ideal thing for CRNA insurance is that the employer pays, but you select the policy and it is an individual policy.

eph432girl · Dec 6, 2004

That makes sense. You hear the same things about insurance for RNs. It's a controversial topic, but as an RN I carry my own insurance because I know that even if I'm coverd by the hospital, they would happily hang me out to dry if it saved their own tails. Seems like the ideal thing for CRNA insurance is that the employer pays, but you select the policy and it is an individual policy.

good pearls of wisdom from apais and dave.......Thanks for stating what many of you might already know (for the ones of us who don't know yet)... Christine

jwk · Dec 6, 2004

Anesthetists definitely need malpractice insurance whenever they're working. Who provides that insurance should be clear up front. If the anesthetist is an employee of a group or hospital, the employer normally provides and pays for malpractice coverage as part of a large group policy. If they're working locum tenens, it's a good idea to carry their own, which I think most already do. Self-employed anesthetists can deduct those expenses as a legitimate business expense. "Going bare" is dangerous nowadays. It's certainly not as cheap as a staff nurse's policy would be (my wife pays about $85 a year), but neither is it the $30-40k a year or more that anesthesiologists often pay. Those of you who are self-employed know better than I do, but I think the cost is generally in the $3-5k per year range.