Tail Coverage?

[Picklesalt1]

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Hi everyone,

I am pretty fresh out of residency and have been working at my current clinic for the past six months. I plan to move across the state soon and will be joining another practice. I currently have malpractice coverage covered by my employer, but upon looking back at my contract, I see that I am responsible for tail coverage.

I have zero experience with tail coverage. Is this something that is paid one-time, or yearly? Do I get tail coverage from my current malpractice insurance company (TMAIT)? Could I ask my future employer to cover it (have not negotiated terms of that contract yet)?

Any advice would help! I'm clueless here!🙁

 

[TexasRose]

Hi everyone,

I am pretty fresh out of residency and have been working at my current clinic for the past six months. I plan to move across the state soon and will be joining another practice. I currently have malpractice coverage covered by my employer, but upon looking back at my contract, I see that I am responsible for tail coverage.

I have zero experience with tail coverage. Is this something that is paid one-time, or yearly? Do I get tail coverage from my current malpractice insurance company (TMAIT)? Could I ask my future employer to cover it (have not negotiated terms of that contract yet)?

Any advice would help! I'm clueless here!🙁

I don't have a lot to offer, being a 3rd year looking for a job, but I have heard you can sometimes get your new job to cover the cost of your tail from the old job. I would definitely ask as I've heard it can be very expensive!

 

[pedidoc]

You'll have to check with your future employer but it is usually called prior acts coverage if your new employer will cover it. If your past (or current employer now) had covered it, it is called tail coverage. The cost of your tail or prior acts is usually low if you've only been practicing for a year (since you haven't had as much time to make a mistake). Most places I looked were quite willing to cover this if you had only been in practice for a year. Hope that helps.

 

[DickyV]

I see that I am responsible for tail coverage.

Tail coverage, simply, is whether or not malpractice insurance will cover incidents that happened while you were insured if you are sued after your insurance period ends.

The classic example is that of a resident. You're involved in an incident in May of your final year, but a lawsuit isn't filed until after you graduate in July. Tail coverage would pay any award resulting from said suit because you were covered in May.

Could I ask my future employer to cover it (have not negotiated terms of that contract yet)?

Any advice would help! I'm clueless here!🙁

No reason why you couldn't ask. I have no clue if they would cover it (or from whom you would get tail coverage - although I'd start by calling your current malpractice provider).

Also, a friendly hint. I can't speak for all states, but in Virginia, the statute of limitations extends until the child turns 19. Tail coverage is probably way more important in pediatrics than in other fields!

 

[dh2002]

So I practiced after residency for a few years and had a "claims made" policy with my last practice (which I haven't had a claim on, fortunately). Now I am in fellowship and my training program won't provide a nose policy and my malpractice carrier wants an obscene amount of money to continue coverage for the past 2 years of practice. Any thoughts?? I tried asking the carrier if they would cover for a shorter period of time than indefinite because the statute of limitations in my state is 2 or 7 years depending on the situation, but the insurer doesn't offer that option (of course).

 

[pedidoc]

I had a similar problem, but since you're going into a fellowship I am not sure what is possible to resolve the issue of tail coverage. I acutally had my current employer offer me a "loan", paid back if I leave before three years to cover my tail policy with my prior malpractive carrier. They would not provide nose coverage and my prior employer would not cover tail coverage.

I am not sure how much your tail is, but basically I absolutely could not leave prior to resolving this. Apparently going without coverage makes you a pariah to employers. I actually had one year of practice and just winged it (I know those pts could still sue but I had a very low volume and it was only for one year).

I also inquired with other insurance companies, rather than my malpractice carrier, if they would provide tail coverage separately. They would, but it actually ended up being more than what I had to pay on my own from my malpractice carrier when I left. I think most policies for two years of practice are under the $20,000 mark (provided nothing happened during your practice). I know several OB's who had to leave for personal reasons and they actually took out personal loans to cover it.

I don't know if this is helpful, but I just think it is kind of unfair as doctors can get trapped with very few options for leaving. This may be why a lot of doctors basically stay put where they are.