Physician Medical Malpractice Insurance & Professional Liability

The problem

Don’t just renew it. Understand what you are actually buying.

Most physicians inherit a malpractice policy. It came with the group, or with the hospital contract, or from an agent a colleague recommended in 2013. It renews every year, the premium moves a little, and nobody reads the form.

That works right up until it does not. The terms that decide the outcome of a claim — whether defense costs erode your limit, whether the carrier can settle over your objection, what your retroactive date is, what happens to coverage the day you leave — are all sitting in a document that takes an hour to read properly. We read it.

RiskLinx is an independent brokerage. We place physician professional liability with carriers across the admitted and excess and surplus markets, benchmark what you are paying against comparable physicians in your specialty and state, and give you the findings in writing before anything is bound.

Coverage highlights we push for

Consent-to-settle provision, so a claim is not settled against your wishes and reported without your say
Defense costs paid outside the policy limit wherever the market allows it
Defense coverage for licensing board investigations and disciplinary proceedings
A retroactive date that reaches back to the beginning of your practice, not to last Tuesday
Tail (extended reporting period) terms confirmed in writing before you need them
Separate limits for advanced practice providers you supervise
Locum tenens, moonlighting and volunteer service addressed rather than assumed
Excess and higher limits where contract or credentialing requirements demand them

Structure

The terms that decide what your policy is actually worth

Claims-made versus occurrence: An occurrence policy answers for incidents that happened during the policy period, no matter when the claim shows up. A claims-made policy answers only for claims reported while the policy is live. Nearly all physician malpractice today is claims-made, which is why the next three items matter as much as the limit does.
Retroactive (prior acts) date: The earliest date of care your current policy will respond to. Change carriers carelessly and this date resets, leaving every patient encounter before it uninsured. We verify and carry forward prior acts on every move.
Tail / extended reporting period: The right to report claims after the policy ends — the thing you need when you retire, change employers, or leave a group. Some policies grant it free at retirement after a service and age threshold; others sell it at a multiple of your annual premium. Know which you have before you need it.
Consent to settle: Whether the carrier can settle a claim without your agreement. A settlement is reportable to the National Practitioner Data Bank and follows you through credentialing for the rest of your career. A pure consent clause is worth negotiating for.
Defense costs: inside or outside the limit: If defense costs erode the limit, a long defense spends the money that was meant to pay a judgment. Outside-the-limit defense is materially better coverage and is not always more expensive. It is frequently the single biggest difference between two quotes that look identical on the summary page.
Licensing board and disciplinary defense: A board complaint is not a malpractice claim, and many policies cover it only through a modest sub-limit or not at all. For most physicians this is the more likely event of the two.
Separate limits for supervised APPs: If nurse practitioners or physician assistants practice under your supervision and share your limit, a single bad outcome can exhaust coverage for everyone attached to it. Separate limits keep your protection intact.
Locum tenens, moonlighting and slot coverage: Work performed outside your primary practice is a frequent gap. Slot positions, locums assignments and second employers each need to be named rather than assumed into the policy.

What the engagement includes

What you get beyond the policy document

A written coverage assessment

Your current program pulled apart term by term, with the gaps named and ranked by what they would actually cost you. Written for you, not for an underwriter.

Market benchmarking

What physicians in your specialty, state and claims history are paying, and on what terms. Premium is one line of it; structure is the rest.

Claims advocacy

When a claim or a board complaint arrives, we read the reservation-of-rights letter, challenge coverage positions that do not hold, and stay engaged with defense counsel until the file closes.

Credentialing and contract support

Certificates, limit verifications and contract review turned around quickly, so a hospital privileging deadline is not the thing holding up your start date.

Transition planning

Leaving a group, joining a hospital, going independent or retiring. Each one is a prior acts and tail question, and each one goes wrong quietly if nobody maps it in advance.

Risk guidance that is specific

Documentation, informed consent, supervision agreements and communication after an adverse outcome — the areas that generate the claims we see most.

Working with RiskLinx

Independent, which means we answer to you.

We are not owned by a carrier and we have no quota to fill. When the incumbent renewal is fair, we will tell you to stay. When a cheaper quote is cheaper because defense costs now erode the limit, we will tell you that too.

You get the analysis either way. What you do with it is your call.

Start here

A thirty-minute strategy call, then a written assessment of what you have now. No application required to begin.

Book a Strategy Call

Common questions

Physicians: straight answers

How much malpractice insurance does a physician need?

It depends on your specialty, your state, your claims history, and what your hospital contracts or credentialing bodies require. Common limit structures are expressed per claim and in the aggregate. Rather than default to a round number, we look at what similar physicians in your specialty and venue carry, what your contracts obligate, and what a severe outcome in your specialty realistically costs to defend and resolve.

What happens to my coverage if I change jobs or retire?

With a claims-made policy, coverage for past care ends when the policy ends unless you either purchase tail coverage or your new carrier accepts your prior acts date. Which route is better depends on cost, the new carrier's willingness, and whether your current policy grants free tail at retirement. We map this before you resign, not after.

Does my malpractice policy cover a licensing board complaint?

Sometimes, and usually through a limited sub-limit rather than the full policy limit. Because board complaints are more common than lawsuits for many physicians, we treat this as a term to negotiate rather than a footnote.

Is cyber liability included in my malpractice policy?

Some physician policies embed a small cyber sub-limit. It is frequently well below the cost of a single ransomware event or a breach notification obligation across a patient list. We read what is actually embedded and show you the number, then discuss whether a standalone cyber policy is warranted.

Can RiskLinx help if I already have coverage I am reasonably happy with?

Yes, and that is a common engagement. We assess what you have, benchmark it, and tell you plainly if it holds up. There is no obligation to move, and we will say so when moving is not in your interest.

Keep reading

Next step

Let's look at what you have now.

Send us your current declarations page and we will tell you what it does, what it does not, and how it compares to the market.

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Physicians