Nurse Practitioner Insurance Coverage: What Do You Really Need to Buy?

Your career as a nurse practitioner has many benefits, but it carries a few risks too. For example, you can be held personally liable for legal claims that arise in the course of your work. That’s why nurse practitioner insurance coverage is so important to protect you, your financial stability, and your ability to build your career. But what type of insurance do you really need?

In this article, we explain four types of nurse practitioner insurance coverage to consider: malpractice insurance, general liability insurance, workers’ comp insurance, and cyber insurance. We also explain why NPs typically buy each type of insurance to help you determine what might work best for you.

Nurse Practitioner Malpractice Insurance

Malpractice insurance protects licensed healthcare professionals from legal and financial burdens if a patient (or their family) claims your neglect or mistake resulted in bodily injury, death, lost wages, or extra medical expenses. Many states require you to have medical malpractice to practice as an NP.

Whether you work full or part time, and whether you work for a large healthcare organization, work on a contract basis, or own your business, malpractice insurance is valuable to your career. Business owners have the added responsibility of deciding whether to include their employees on the practice’s group policy or to insure only the business.

No matter where you work and who you work for, make sure you know what type of policy you have and how much coverage applies to you. You might be surprised to learn how many NPs are shocked by a discovery that they aren’t covered by their organization’s insurance policy or that their employer-based policy is quite limited.

Malpractice Policy Options for Nurse Practitioners: Claims-Made vs. Occurrence

When buying NP malpractice insurance, you will likely face two options: a claims-made policy or an occurrence policy. Let us explain both types of malpractice insurance for nurse practitioners.

A claims-made policy covers only claims filed during the policy period, meaning before the policy has expired. A claims-made policy could start at a lower premium than an occurrence policy because it does not cover claims made after the policy expires.

Occurrence policies cover claims from services you performed during the policy period, even if the claim is filed after your policy expires.

Here’s an example:

Let’s say you have a side gig as an NP between 2022 and 2025, and you bought malpractice insurance to cover any claims during that time frame, letting it renew year after year. In 2025, you stopped working that job and let the policy expire. But in 2026, a patient files a claim saying you caused her harm during the policy period and she wants $100,000. You now need a lawyer to fight for your case, and you might have to pay some type of settlement. Will your medical malpractice policy help? It should — if it was an occurrence policy. If it was a claims-made policy, it would help only if you had added tail coverage.

Malpractice tail coverage for NPs

Tail coverage for nurse practitioners is like an extension plan for your malpractice insurance, typically on claims-made policies. Say you decide to take a break from work or leave the profession. An NP tail coverage policy can ensure that you’re still covered if a former patient brings a malpractice lawsuit against you.

Take our example above of the NP with a side gig. If that NP had bought a tail policy when her claims-made policy expired, she could also be covered by her malpractice insurance when the former patient sues her for $100,000.

Benefits of having an independent (or supplemental) malpractice policy

Your employer may offer medical malpractice coverage as part of its employee benefits. With this type of policy, your employer has already selected the insurer and negotiated the policy details. While relying only on your employer’s insurance can be convenient, doing so might limit what you’re covered for and when (for example, many employer policies don’t cover licensing board reviews). This is why a lot of healthcare workers, including NPs, buy an extra policy.

An independent or supplemental malpractice policy is a separate policy NPs and other healthcare professionals purchase to add extra protection to what their employer provides. You might want an independent policy:

• If you have a side gig or perform volunteer work
• To avoid any potential conflict of interest if you and your employer were both named in a suit
• To provide legal defense with a licensing board hearing
• To cover any gaps in your employment
• To have extra funds at your disposal
• If you want an extra sense of security that you have a full team on your side

An independent malpractice policy gives you more control over your coverage. For example, you’re able to choose liability limits that best suit your needs.

General Liability Insurance

Many nurse practitioners own their own businesses, and general liability insurance is vital for business owners. Rather than covering errors in healthcare services, general liability (GL) insurance covers you for third-party claims of bodily injury (non-employees) or property damage (meaning your customer’s property, not yours). Think of it as the insurance you buy in case your business somehow hurts others.

General liability insurance typically provides legal defense and funds for these four types of coverages:

• Bodily injury coverage. Say a patient visiting your office slips on a wet floor, breaks a leg, and sues you for the cost of their medical bills and any lost wages.
• Property damage coverage. For example, your patient’s mobile device is damaged when your employee accidentally knocks it to the floor.
• Reputational injury coverage. Imagine a case in which your business is sued for nonphysical personal injury, such as libel or slander. For instance, a competitor sues your business for making a damaging public statement about it.
• Advertising injury coverage. Say a patient sues your business for false advertising or a competitor sues for slander.

Berxi allows NPs to add a GL policy for only $150 per year. You’ll want to start a quote or call our support team for more info.

Workers’ Comp Insurance

As an employee, you probably have workers’ compensation as an employee benefit. This usually means that if you were to get hurt while working, the company is responsible for medical expenses and lost wages due to the event.

Workers’ compensation laws vary by state, but most states require employers to carry it. So if you own a business and you have any employees, you should check your state requirements to make sure you’re in compliance with state law and have the proper workers’ compensation insurance in place.

Cyber Insurance

Digital records are essential for running efficient and modern healthcare practices, but they also present risks. If a cybercriminal succeeds in attacking your business, resulting in a data breach or virus that compromises patient personally identifiable information (PII) you could be liable for patient damages, along with the cost of repairing or recovering your systems.

Cyber liability insurance covers the cost of such claims as well as post-incident support. This type of insurance may include:

• Data restoration
• Legal expenses
• Lost revenue
• Damaged systems
• Customer notification
• Ransom payments
• Consultant fees

While Berxi doesn’t provide cyber insurance, we work with a partner that does. Feel free to reach out to our support team to get more info.

Estimate Nurse Practitioner Insurance Coverage Costs With Berxi

Shopping around for the plan that best suits your needs is always smart, but buying direct from Berxi can save you up to an average of 20% on medical malpractice insurance. Nurse practitioner insurance coverage varies depending on the policy type, scope, and coverage level. On average, at Berxi nurse practitioners can expect to pay about:

• $1,570 per year for an NP who is covered under their employer’s policy and also buying a supplemental occurrence policy.
• $1,963 per year for an NP buying an occurrence policy as their only policy.
• $500 per year for an NP who is covered under their employer’s policy and also buying a supplemental claims-made policy.
• $628 per year for an NP buying a claims-made policy as their only policy.*

* Prices based on policies with $1 million/$3 million in limits, purchased by full-time nursing professionals in the state of Texas. Policies for nurse practitioners working part time are also available at Berxi.

Berxi is part of Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company (BHSIC). That means a policy from Berxi also comes with the knowledge that you’re supported by a company that has the highest possible financial strength rating of A++ from AM Best and AA+ from Standard & Poor’s. Get a free quote today.

 

Image courtesy of iStock.com/Drs Producoes

Image courtesy of iStock.com/sturti

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The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Berxi™ or Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company. This article (subject to change without notice) is for informational purposes only, and does not constitute professional advice. Click here to read our full disclaimer