Nurse Practitioner and Tail-Insurance

[Lorie Brown RN, MN, JD]

Hi Lorie

I am a Nurse Practitioner. I never fully learned how to deal with professional Liability Insurance so would appreciate any advice people might have. I've held a couple jobs in the past so I need some help in figuring out tail-insurance and how it all works.

I'm about to switch jobs for the second time and have always had claims-made policies. The first time I changed jobs, I bought tail insurance on my own.

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Great question.

There are 2 types of insurance. An occurrence policy provides coverage as long as you have the insurance in place at the time the act occurred. The other policy is a claims made policy in which you must have the policy at the time the act occurred as well as when the claim is made. If you have a claims made insurance and you leave your employer, you or your previous employer will have to purchase tail coverage to make sure you have coverage if and when a claim is made. If you do not purchase a tail, you will not be covered for any acts that occurred when you were employed.

The easiest way to remedy this situation is to ask your employer what type of policy they have. If it is occurrence policy, you are covered no matter what. But, if it is a claims made policy, negotiate in your contract for the employer to pay for any tail coverage for a period of time upon your departure.

You may want to read this article about contracting as a Nurse Practitioner.

Employment Contracting Basics for the Nurse Practitioner