Nephrology Medical Professional Liability Policies
If you are working in a nephrology group, there are a few important issues you should consider to reduce your overall cost of managing Medical Professional Liability Insurance. The first issue is the matter of medical directorship. Nephrology groups will sometimes have responsibilities to serve as medical directors at dialysis centers (there are also medical foundations with ownership interests in dialysis centers.) Additionally, medical directors can present at outpatient clinics and hospitals.
Medical malpractice insurance policies normally carry a separate limit protecting the healthcare organization employees and non-medical doctor providers, these entity policies can extend and be endorsed to include coverage for Medical Director work.
The medical malpractice policies definition of insured should be broad and include owners, directors, and medical directors so that the insurance liability policy covers not only the doctors making decisions on behalf of the group itself but also when they are asked to fill the role of medical director for outside entities and facilities.
However, if the medical directorship is for an entity not related to the group, you should ask your current professional liability insurance carrier to endorse that service specifically on the policy.
It might also make sense to insure medical directors separately. Separate policy limits for Medical Director Insurance policy claims protect and insulate the clinical medical professional policy, thereby preserving the unique claims experience for the physicians practicing nephrology on behalf of the group.
The medical director work often brings revenue for outside service and should perhaps be insured and accounted for separately. These separate medical director policies can be purchased on the Standalone Market for approximately 2,000 annual premiums.
The American Medical Directors Association is also an important resource for nephrology groups to consider as they distribute information about the customary duties and annual revenue inherent in so many hospital and outpatient facility contracts for medical director service.
If the current medical malpractice policy can add a low-cost endorsement, then the work of the medical director is sustainable and profitable. Additionally, the endorsement or low-cost arrangement makes the exit cost (that imminent cost of providing a tail covering you into the future) more affordable.
There are medical malpractice companies that do much more than provide insurance policies, there are malpractice carriers that bring years of experience and service in the interest of studying and creating sessions to educate nephrologists about practicing their best medicine, incorporating technology to grow and connect with their patient base, and understanding how to manage risk.
A medical professional liability policy should have coverage for physicians serving as medical directors for their own Clinical Nephrology Group, Dialysis Centers, and centers and hospitals that require the special understanding and service of this specialty and the corresponding chronic care management.
Nephrology is a field like so many other sub-specialties that are in such high demand partnering with a medical professional liability policy that brings value to managing the medical practice partnering with the chief executive officer, administrator of the group to plan a calendar of events for specific continuing medical education as well as specialty-specific claims studies can provide years of stable claims experience and accordingly competitive and discounted medical malpractice premiums.
Since Telehealth is changing healthcare daily, it is also important to have a policy that scales easily as you expand your practice into other states. Working with a brokerage representative and a single malpractice carrier or more than one can help tighten the protection and cover all the risk presented to the group, as contracts for nephrology telemedicine services are signed this will allow the group to add physicians and to expand. Having nephrology telemedicine support can achieve the three overarching goals of healthcare to increase access, improve quality, and decrease cost.
The Doctors Insurance Agency practices within the Telemedicine Healthcare field, we work daily with over a dozen carriers that understand this and price it reasonably.