What Is Medical Malpractice Insurance?
Medical malpractice insurance can help pay defense costs and covered damages from claims about a health care professional's medical services.
What Does Medical Malpractice Insurance Cover?
Medical malpractice insurance is professional liability coverage for claims arising from a health care professional’s medical services. 1,2Defense Costs and Damages
Medical malpractice coverage can address the cost of defending a covered claim as well as damages. 1,3Who Needs Medical Malpractice Insurance?
Consider malpractice coverage for clinicians and the practice itself, including the specialties, procedures and remote care you provide. 4,2
Coverage Examples
These are examples, not coverage guarantees. Your policy terms and the facts of the claim determine what is covered.
What happened
A Patient Challenges Their Treatment
A patient alleges that a clinical decision caused them harm.
What happened
A Claim Arrives After You Leave a Practice
After changing practices and insurers, a clinician receives a claim about earlier treatment.
How Do You Compare Coverage and Costs?
People, Practice and Services
A practice can include employed physicians, other clinical staff and contractors, as well as the practice entity itself. Confirm who is insured and whether they share limits. When a limit is shared, a claim against one insured can affect the protection left for others. 3
Describe specialties, procedures, practice locations and telemedicine work, and check that the policy matches those services. 4,3| Role or service to describe | Question for the quote |
|---|---|
| Practice entity | Is the organization itself insured? |
| Employed clinicians | Are they named or otherwise insured, and do they share limits? |
| Contract clinicians | Are contractors insured, or do they need their own coverage? |
| Telemedicine and additional locations | Are those services and places within the quoted work? |
Limits, Defense and Settlement
Compare the limit for a single medical incident with the total policy limit, and ask whether defense costs are inside or outside those limits. 3,2 Ask who controls the defense and whether your consent is needed for settlement. 3How Do Coverage Dates Affect a Claim?
Occurrence and Claims-Made
Occurrence coverage looks to when the medical event happened; claims-made coverage also requires attention to when a claim is made or reported and any retroactive date. 2,3Record when care took place, when the claim arrived and when you reported it. Reporting instructions can matter under either policy structure. 2,3
| Date to record | Why it belongs in the comparison |
|---|---|
| When the medical care took place | Occurrence wording looks to that event |
| When a claim was made | Claims-made wording also looks to that date |
| When the matter was reported | Reporting instructions can apply under either structure |
| Any retroactive date | Earlier care may fall outside claims-made coverage |
Changing Insurers or Leaving Practice
When changing insurers or leaving practice, discuss tail coverage or prior-acts coverage before the existing policy ends. 2,3How Does It Compare With Related Coverage?
Clinical Care, Premises and Patient Data
Review medical malpractice separately from general liability, cyber and employment-related coverage, especially where the practice has premises, patient data and employees. 3,1| Concern | Place in the discussion |
|---|---|
| A claim arising from medical services | Medical malpractice |
| Injury on the premises that is not a professional-care claim | General liability |
| Patient or employee data incident | Cyber |
| Employment-related allegation by staff | Employment practices liability |
What Do You Need for a Quote?
Practice, Insurance and Loss History
Prepare clinician and practice details, prior insurance and retroactive dates, claims history, and information about patient-safety and risk-management measures. 4,2| Prepare | How to use it |
|---|---|
| Clinician and practice details | Identify who is to be insured and what they do |
| Specialties, procedures, locations and telemedicine | Match the policy to current services |
| Prior insurance and retroactive dates | Support a claims-made or replacement discussion |
| Claims history | Give a current picture of reported matters |
| Patient-safety and risk-management measures | Answer underwriting questions without treating them as a coverage guarantee |
Key Terms in Plain English
Occurrence Coverage
Coverage that looks to when the medical event happened. 2,3
Tail Coverage
An extended reporting option for later claims about earlier work, often considered when changing insurers or leaving practice. 2,3
Frequently Asked Questions
What Happens to Coverage When I Leave Practice?
Do Defense Costs Reduce the Policy Limit?
How Do Claims-Made and Occurrence Medical Malpractice Policies Differ?
Which Insurance Providers Offer Medical malpractice?
Sources
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- Physician Application. MedPro Group / issuing companies identified on application; I–II p.1; III pp.2–4; IV pp.4–5; V pp.5–6; VI p.6. Version: MP-HPL-PHL-00-02 02/2015. Accessed 2026-09-16.
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