The Less You Need to Use Your Professional Liability Insurance The Better

As a physician, you are among the largest group of professionals that need Professional Liability Insurance for malpractice lawsuits. The weight of an occurring legal issue not only adds stress, but it can jeopardize your entire professional career. It’s important to not only understand your policy and all that it entails, but to work in a manner to prevent having to use it.

In addition to assessing your needs and policy options, Professional Liability Insurance is the policy that you would least like to deal with. How to prevent malpractice claims all together is a major concern for most of our clients. Here are a few tips from the American Medical Association to structure your practice with the least risk possible:

Prevent confusion. Educate your patients about the nature of your care and full scope of your practice.

Be consistent. Make sure your actions are consistent with your stated purpose.

Get it in writing. A “terms of acceptance” or “informed consent” form explains, in plain language, what you will and will not do for the patient. Ask the patient to read and sign the form before you begin providing care.

Maintain accurate records. Keeping accurate, factual records of each contact with every patient (including family members, employees, etc.) builds a powerful defense wall around your practice.

Keep the originals. Be sure to retain all original records, x-rays, or other material, which document a patient’s care.

Do not alter records. Never, under any circumstances, alter any patient record. Although you will need to review your records if faced with litigation, never add, delete, or change anything!

These may seem redundant to your knowledge of malpractice prevention, but it is always beneficial to review and refresh even the most simple of suggestions for your practice. Although Professional Liability Insurance is an outstanding and intelligent policy to hold, it is our hope that you will never need to solely rely on this in the future, due to diligently following the appropriate measures.