Best places and advice for purchasing Tail between jobs?

[acb550]

We are moving practices from Iowa to WI.  We were in Iowa from July 2013 and will be until June 2018.  Iowa has a 6yr statue of limitations on medical malpractice claims.  The new practice doesn't offer nose insurance and since we are leaving on our own accord, we are responsible for our own tail.

Are there any recommended independent brokers to work through, or particular insurance that you recommend?  Do we need a full 1mil/3mil (not even sure how the numbers work in tail as the chances of multiple claims seems low)?  We obviously don't need tail longer than 6yrs based on Iowa's rules.  How do we proceed during this transition time?

 

Thank you

[jfoxcpacfp]

Here in the South, insurance wouldn't be what you are looking for with that title.

[acb550]

I didn't even realize *face palm*

[q-school]

We used the doctors company for tail insurance when we needed it several years ago. I was astonished how much it cost.

[AndyJ]

I’m an EM MD and I had to purchase tail. I did get to keep payments from patients and insurance companies after I left, and it made up for this cost (slightly). I purchased it from my then-malpractice insurance provider.

I actually switched to part time for a year and a half even though I didn’t work there at all so that my malpractice insurance would go down before having to pay the full tail (i.e. I still had to pay part time malpractice insurance that I didn’t use for 1.5 years, but it ultimately saved me about $8,000). I confirmed that this was legal (but discouraged). I guess you should do the same homework.

My tail insurance is good forever. I was under the impression this was standard, but if not, be wary. If you take care of pediatric patients, the 6 year SoL starts when the kid turns 18 (I was told this by a lawyer). So if you took care of an infant, and the parents didn’t sue, that kid could sue 6 years after turning 18.

Also, in general that SoL clock starts when the “harm” is found. So in theory a patient can claim they didn’t know about the harm for some time (maybe a year or two), so you would need more than 6 years.

[acb550]

Thank you. I didn't know about pediatrics. That makes sense. The 6yrs is from procedure in Iowa. The patient has two years from Discovery. So if they find out one year later, the statute ends three years. If they find out five years, I'm not sure if they have one or two years at that point, but I'd they find out six point five years...no luck. Which I think is unfair to the patient. I'll need to check with a lawyer. We can't do you advanced planning as we are leaving soon.

[acb550]

Ok, so Iowa is until age 10 or same as adults. The only caveat on the six years is if a foreign object caused it. Thankfully we don't do surgery. I found this website, it's a great reference for each state:

http://www.ncsl.org/research/financial-services-and-commerce/medical-liability-malpractice-statutes-of-limitation.aspx

Thank you for giving me more incentive to find out more with pediatrics

[jfoxcpacfp]

acb550 wrote:

Ok, so Iowa is until age 10 or same as adults. The only caveat on the six years is if a foreign object caused it. Thankfully we don’t do surgery. I found this website, it’s a great reference for each state:

http://www.ncsl.org/research/financial-services-and-commerce/medical-liability-malpractice-statutes-of-limitation.aspx

Thank you for giving me more incentive to find out more with pediatrics

Click to expand...

Thank you for posting that link! I keep a list of various state laws pertaining to physicians and didn't have that - extremely helpful for asset protection meetings.

[Dumpster Fire]

This is a bit of a loaded question.  My first questions would be your specialty, who is your present carrier and the terms offered (length of tail and % of annual premium).  If you are shopping for price you may end up selling yourself short and having to worry about uncovered claims as you start your new position.  If you purchase a "stand alone tail" make sure that the new carrier is offering the exact same coverage terms as your expiring carrier and that they are a stable and financially secure carrier.  You can save money if you can have your broker negotiate a higher retention, lower limits (if allowed by contract) or trigger.  Do not skimp on the coverage you currently have as that is always where Murphy's law will file the claim.

Not all insurance policies are the same and not all carriers are equal.