Moonlight/Malpractice Insurance

[zeloc]

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I am planning on entering a research fellowship that will not cover malpractice insurance. In order to moonlight, how would malpractice insurance work? Would I be limited to working for 1 hospital or could I work at multiple places? I am thinking of hospital medicine or LTACH with a chance of ER.

 

[WorkaholicsAnon]

I am planning on entering a research fellowship that will not cover malpractice insurance. In order to moonlight, how would malpractice insurance work? Would I be limited to working for 1 hospital or could I work at multiple places? I am thinking of hospital medicine or LTACH with a chance of ER.

Oh yeah I am doing this too (research fellowship + moonlighting). The hospital actually provides your malpractice insurance (I actually did not know this before either). The way it works is you apply to each hospital you want to moonlight in and the hospital credentials you and sets you up with everything. It's sort of a long process (can take a few months), so plan ahead.

The nice thing is that moonlighters are so heavily in demand that it's pretty much a sure thing that you're hired--all the paperwork is just a formality and to make sure you're decently competent and aren't a criminal.

 

[gutonc]

Oh yeah I am doing this too (research fellowship + moonlighting). The hospital actually provides your malpractice insurance (I actually did not know this before either). The way it works is you apply to each hospital you want to moonlight in and the hospital credentials you and sets you up with everything. It's sort of a long process (can take a few months), so plan ahead.

The nice thing is that moonlighters are so heavily in demand that it's pretty much a sure thing that you're hired--all the paperwork is just a formality and to make sure you're decently competent and aren't a criminal.

It's not 100% guaranteed, but most moonlighting gigs will provide your malpractice insurance. I have heard tell of some that don't but wouldn't touch 'em with a 10 foot stethoscope.

 

[zeloc]

lol, nice gutonc.

So you don't have to work a minimum number of hours/month for them to cover your malpractice insurance? Maybe it is different based on the field, I know an intensivist who moonlights and he had to work a minimum of 30 hrs/month for them to cover his insurance.

If I get moonlighting privileges and insurance at 1 hospital, can I use the same malpractice insurance at another hospital or would each hospital cover me?

 

[zeloc]

Anyone?

 

[gutonc]

Anyone?

It's going to vary based on the hospital and your insurance.

 

[WorkaholicsAnon]

wow, well i guess i lucked out then.

 

[gutonc]

wow, well i guess i lucked out then.

No...like I said, most moonlighting gigs have all that stuff covered. It seems as if the OP is posting about hypothetical situations without actually going out and seeing what's available to him/her. My point is simply that, s/he needs to go out and see what's out there, then ask more informed questions.

 

[zeloc]

I have been looking at places. The last hospital I interviewed at told me to check with the fellowship to make sure that they would not cover malpractice insurance since it is really expensive and would complicate things if they didn't. I looked into this and found out that since it is mainly research, it does not cover malpractice insurance. This made me want to figure out how it works in general.

Since I am going to be interviewing at more places, it makes sense for me to have an understanding first since it will obviously affect negotiations. Eg, I mentioned I know someone who had to work 30 hours for the hospital to cover the malpractice. If this is the standard then I would need to aim to be at one hospital maybe exclusively. If each one covers their own then I would be free to moonlight at multiple places.

Whatever I find out I am still going to want to know how it works in other parts of the country. If a certain # of hours is not standard maybe the demand is higher where WorkAnon is and its always important to know regional differences.

 

[VJWDO]

I just had to purchase a medical malpractice plan fo myself in order to moonlight at a specific hospital. They will be reimbursing me however. It was very easy. You should try to buy an occurences policy so you don't have to by tail coverage whereas with a claims made policy you will have to buy tail as well when u leave. Occurences policies are more expensive but tail can be expensive too so weigh the cost and benefits.