Malpractice Insurance Independent Practice

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Hi everyone,

I'm still a student so i'm a bit clueless about the cost of malpractice, but what is the cost of in independent practice states? is it more than in states where we are under physician supervision? Is the cost of malpractice higher for NP's than MD's because of the presumed higher liabilities (even though it is a total sham!!)?

Thanks!

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Specializes in Healthcare risk management and liability.

ARNP malpractice premium costs depend on three primary areas: your state, your specialty and your employment status (an employee or the practice owner). A full-time FNP practicing in Oregon as an employee of someone will pay, or the employer will pay, approximately $ 1400 +/- $ 200 per year depending on the amount of coverage and the scope of practice. A full-time family practitioner MD/DO who does not do OB, practicing in Oregon as an employee of someone will pay, or the employer will pay, approximately $5-9,000 per year depending on the amount of coverage and the scope of practice.

The cost of for nurse practitioners is generally considerably less than the cost of insurance for a physician. As far as I know in talking with the insurance underwriters, the issue of physician supervision or not has little, if any, bearing on the premium cost for the NP. As an employee, the NP is likely working under some degree of oversight or supervision regardless of state laws allowing independent practice or not.

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Specializes in Psychiatric Nursing.

Why is NP insurance so much less than MD's.

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Specializes in Healthcare risk management and liability.
Why is NP insurance so much less than MD's.

The short answer is that the typical NP practice has a lower risk of adverse patient outcomes leading to actual or potential malpractice claims. The best proxy for the risk of the insurance company having to make payouts is the insurance premium. The higher the premium, the higher the chance of the insurance company having to defend and pay claims.

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Even for states where NP's and MD's practice independently and in primary care? The malpractice rates for MD family doctors are ~7x more than NP's FNP? We nurse practitioners must be doing something right haha.

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I work for an Urgent Care in the Boston area but I have my license and a LLC setup in NH where NPs are independent. Anyone else have a practice in NH that could recommend a good company that knows the difference ?

Tks JD

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Specializes in Healthcare risk management and liability.
I work for an Urgent Care in the Boston area but I have my license and a LLC setup in NH where NPs are independent. Anyone else have a practice in NH that could recommend a good malpractice insurance company that knows the difference ?

Tks JD

Where are you actually providing patient care? New Hampshire, Massachusetts, or both?

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In Mass I work for a company that provides malpractice. NH is my own gig where I am providing primary care services.

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Specializes in Healthcare risk management and liability.
In Mass I work for a company that provides malpractice. NH is my own gig where I am providing primary care services.

I made a few calls, and the most popular underwriter in New Hampshire for ARNP's is CNA, and NSO will happily sell you the policy. It used to be the New Hampshire Joint Underwriting Association, but that has been dissolved and Medical Protective is winding up the operations of the JUA. Medical Protective, one of the oldest and largest writers in the country, writes coverage for ARNP's, and I would not be surprised if they would be pleased to chat with you as well. Both of them write a good policy, and you could do worse than to fill out an application with each and see who has the best rates.

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I used NSO while I was in school but I let it lapse and have had hard time getting anyone on the phone there to talk to about my situation since I'm not looking to do the conventional brick and mortar office I'm looking to do private pay house calls.. Like they did back in the old days... Thoughts on how to find the write policy for that? Tks

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