Malpractice Tail Policy

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Sep 11, 2008

...good question. I always thought you can purchase the tail from the insurance carrier your employer uses...but I have not had any experience on this so I can be wrong.

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Sep 11, 2008

some interesting articles about tail coverage and nose coverage:

http://medicaleconomics.modernmedicine.com/memag/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=108611

http://medicaleconomics.modernmedicine.com/memag/Medical+Malpractice:+Insurance/Malpractice-Consult/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/197572

core0 · Sep 11, 2008

Hi all!! I am new here, but not new to nursing. I have been at my current job as a NP for 6 years. My malpractice insurance is paid by my employer (and I know I should have gotten a private policy years ago- what can I say) and it is claims made. I am thinking about a job switch in a few months, and want to know if anyone has purchased a tail policy and private insurance together? anyone have experience with a reputable company that does tails? Any info would be great!!

Hopefully you should be able to purchase a tail policy from the company you are with (or more appropriately it should be in your contract that your company purchases you a tail when you leave). I went through this several years ago when the company wanted us to change policies to the physicians carrier (policy in our name but paid for by company). The problem was the carrier would insure PAs but only issue tails to physicians. We declined to do that but did agree to go from occurence to claims made with the agreement that they would buy a tail if we left (saved around $4k per year for all the PAs). So first thing would be to check if the company will pay a tail and/or the insurance company will issue a tail.

The other thing to do is check with other insurance companies. I can't speak for NPs but for PAs one of the unadvertised services that CM&F will do is provide a tail for the previous policy for a set amount (kind of a front I guess). It usually is double the first years premium (but don't quote me on that). You can find CM&F here:

http://www.cmfgroup.com/mal/np.html

I think AANP and ANA also sponsor insurance. You might check with them and see if they can do a previous tail along with the new insurance. Make sure that the tail is covered in your next contract.

David Carpenter, PA-C

Editorial Team / Admin · Sep 11, 2008

As pointed out by pinoyNP, check out Prior Act Coverage (nose coverage). You may be able to purchase this to cover unknown claims that have yet to be reported. Coverage is from the beginning of the new insurance policy and includes a back date that you state on the insurance policy.