Medical malpractice insurance
Medical malpractice insurance protects physicians against lawsuits by patients for treatment or surgery. In 2007, it was reported that the average internist pays $74,855 per year and the average general surgeons pays $299,420 per year in medical malpractice insurance.[1]
States that require medical malpractice insurance for licensure are:[2]
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Georgia (for optometrists who use drugs)
- Kansas
- Massachusetts
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- Wisconsin
Florida requires physicians to prove that they can pay a $250,000 award. New Jersey has no statutory requirement, but the Board of Medical Examiners insists on coverage of $1 million per case and $3 million per year. Ohio lacks a statutory requirement, but imposes an administrative rule mandating that any physician lacking malpractice insurance must have signed consent by all non-emergency patients agreeing to treatment by a physician who lacks malpractice insurance.
States that require medical malpractice insurance in order for a physician to benefit from an awards caps are:
- Indiana
- Louisiana
- Nebraska
- Nevada (this state does not appear on some lists)
- New Mexico
- New York (this state does not appear on some lists)
- Wyoming
States that require medical malpractice insurance as a condition of holding hospital privileges:
A listing of states that do not require any medical malpractice insurance by physicians is the following:
- Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri (but it is required to practice at hospitals), Montana, Nevada (this is debatable and all regulations should be checked), New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.
These laws and regulations can change and it is important to check the latest rules in any particular state.
