Q:  What is professional liability insurance, and what are the questions that a person needs to ask as they shop the market for the best plan?

PT Professional Liability Insurance

In this episode we explore some of the important things that you need to know as you search for the best professional liability coverage for your practice. As physical therapists, sometimes I think we forget that we carry a large target on our backs with regards to professional liability. It is so essential to carry the right amount of coverage so that you don’t get caught in the crosshairs of a lawsuit without the best coverage possible.

Joe Fagan Is a director over at MyPTInsurance. In the interview, I talked to him about what physical therapist need to know as they look for the best coverage. Some of the topics that we go over include:

• The differences between professional liability and general liability insurance
• Reasons that a person chooses the insurance company that they do
• Costs and benefits of some of the major plans that are available to physical therapists
• Why student physical therapists may choose to carry additional liability insurance during their final year as a student
• The importance of having the appropriate coverage to cover you for full-time or part-time work

I think my favorite talking point during the podcast is when we talk about the differences between occurrence-form and claims-made insurance.

Occurrence-Form

Occurrence-form insurance is insurance that provides coverage for any event that occurs during the period for which you were enrolled. This insurance can be more ideal because if a claim is made after you leave employment or after your policy lapses, the claim will still be covered under occurrence-form insurance.  Essentially, if you have an issue that arises after the fact and occurred during the coverage time frame, the insurance follows you and will cover you in that case.

Claims-Made

Claims-made Insurance is self-descriptive. Essentially, if a claim is made while you are still enrolled in the policy, it will be covered. Perhaps the benefit here is that if an incident that occurred before your insurance coverage begins, it may be covered (insurance companies set limits on this “lookback” period).

It is important to note that the “lookback” is a very expensive and risky item for insurers that is practically impossible to find in the PT liability insurance world.

Read more on Claims-made vs Occurrence-form here.

It’s also important to recognize that many insurance providers hit you with “gotchas” at the end of the enrollment process. Not all insurance is created equal, and that comes to bear after you’ve just about got your policy created when you discover that some of the things that you want, or need come as extras.

MyPTInsurance is relatively new to the PT market and is seeking to make a big dent in the insurance world. They’ve been in business for several years and are now entering the fields of OT/PT.  MyPTInsurance offers some of the most competitive rates and highest quality coverage available. It is important to note that I participate in their insurance program and have a policy written by them. In the spirit of full disclosure, I do get a small affiliate commission for each sale that’s made through this link. Please understand that this does not have any effect on your end cost and is a way to support PT Outside the Box as a medium for information and entertainment.

Please enjoy this episode comment and let me know if you have any suggestions or comments about PT liability insurance.  Happy listening!

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