Physical therapists and occupational therapists frequently ask me which company they should purchase a professional liability insurance (also called malpractice insurance) policy.
When I hear this question, my first thought is that I am glad that they have decided to purchase their own professional liability insurance policy, as I recommend all physical therapists and occupational therapists do so.
Well, my wife (an occupational therapist) and I (a physical therapist) recently needed to renew our own professional liability insurance policies, so after I shopped around for our own policies I decided to share the information I obtained with you below.
This information includes quotes for physical therapists and occupational therapists who work as employees, are self-employed (eg sole proprietor), or are self-employed single-member business (eg LLC or corporation) owners. I have also listed the coverage limits on each policy so you can more easily compare how robust each policy actually is.
My hope is that this information will help you, along with all physical therapists, occupational therapists, and students, better choose which company’s policy will best suit your needs.
Ground Rules
Before diving into each company’s offerings, I want to make sure what I’ve listed below is not misinterpreted.
Policy Subcomponents
It is common for malpractice insurance policies to have subcomponents. These are items within the policy that often have their own limits.
Commonly used definitions for these subcomponents have already been covered in detail in. If you have not done so already, please take the time to read that article so you will have a general understanding of what each of the policy components actually mean.
Afterwards, you should follow-up with each insurance company you are considering purchasing a professional liability insurance policy from because each company will have their own definitions for these policy subcomponents.
That way you know what you are buying.
Quote Process:
To obtain a quote from each of the insurance companies discussed below, I first visited each of their websites and followed their prompts.
Since each of the insurance company’s websites provided varying amounts of information, I then called each company and spoke with their representatives to obtain even more information.
Therefore, all of the information I have listed for you has come directly from each company.
With that said, companies do make changes to their rates and malpractice policy components.
That’s why I recommend that, after reading this article, you also reach out and speak directly with each of these companies when you are ready to shop around and purchase your own policy.
Doing so will help ensure you have the most up-to-date information.
“Show Me The Insurance Quotes Already!”
Okay, ready to see the quotes I obtained?
Here’s a preview of the different companies that will be covered:
- HPSO
- CM&F
- Proliability
- MyPTInsurance/MyOTInsurance
- Lockton Affinity Health
Let’s get started.
HPSO
Overview:
I’m starting with HPSO because they are probably the most well-known among our physical therapy and occupational therapy professions. That’s largely because they have partnered with the American Physical Therapy Association and they also provide publicly available data on the clinicians they insure to educate others in our professions on preventing potential future lawsuits. Their data was very helpful in my article trying to convince physical therapists and occupational therapists on why they should purchase professional liability insurance because it shed light on how common payouts from lawsuits occurred, how much these payouts were for, and what steps physical therapists and occupational therapists can take to protect themselves from potential future lawsuits.
So what should you know about their policies?
HPSO also offers competitive prices for employee policies and student policies.
HPSO also offers big discounts if you graduated in the last 12 months, especially for employee malpractice policies, but unfortunately these discounts are not available for single-member business (eg LLC, corporations) malpractice policies. Physical therapists and occupational therapists can also take risk management continuing education courses on HPSO’s website to learn about ways to decrease the risk of a law suit. After taking these courses, HPSO will give you an additional discount on your policy.
If you are self-employed and you formed an entity (eg LLC, corporation) then HPSO makes you get a “Businesses or Practices” policy instead of an “Individual Practitioners” policy even if you have no employees other than yourself. Other insurance companies don’t make you do this because they see a single-member entity as just you on your own and understand a business policy is typically much more expensive, as is the case with HPSO’s business policies.
HPSO does not automatically include General Liability Insurance in their policies – if you want General Liability Insurance then you must purchase it separately. This gives physical therapists and occupational therapists more options rather than forcing them to purchase a policy that may cost more because it includes both Professional Liability Insurance along with General Liability Insurance.
If you are a mobile physical therapist or occupational therapist, HSPO unfortunately does not provide an insurance option that provides coverage for the “Hold Harmless Agreement” that is likely in any contract you have with home health companies that provide you with patients. More on what this means later on.
Professional Liability Policy Components:
Coverage Type
Occurrence
Limit of Professional Liability
$1,000,000 per claim and $3,000,000 aggregate
Personal Injury Coverage
Comes within your limits of your professional liability
Good Samaritan Coverage
Comes within your limits of your professional liability
License Protection
$25,000 annual aggregate
Deposition Representation
$10,000 annual aggregate
Personal Liability Coverage
$1,000,000 annual aggregate
Defense Attorney Provided
Yes
Assault Coverage
$25,000 annually
Loss Of Earnings When Missing Work
Will pay you $1,000 per day, up to $25,000 for the year
Medical Payments
$25,000-$100,000 annual aggregate
Damage To Property Of Others/Rental Damage
$10,000 annual aggregate
First Aid Expenses
$10,000 annual aggregate
Sexual Misconduct
$25,000 annual aggregate
Information Privacy Coverage (HIPAA)
$25,000 annual aggregate
Unique Components
Media Expense
$25,000 annual aggregate
*Protects against someone taking out a negative ad campaign against you
Fire & Water Legal Liability
$150,000 annual aggregate
*Protects against damage due to fire or flooding
Limit of General Liability
$1,000,000 per claim and $3,000,000 aggregate
*Must be purchased separately
Cost
All quotes obtained below are for Professional Liability limits of $1,000,000 per claim and $3,000,000 aggregate.
In scenarios where General Liability is included, it is at the limits of $1,000,000 per claim and $3,000,000 aggregate. But General Liability must be purchased separately.
Price For Physical Therapists:
- Professional Liability Insurance For A Physical Therapist Who Works For An Employer:
- $163.00/year
- $85.00/year if you graduated in the last 12 months
- Professional Liability Insurance For A Self-Employed Physical Therapist:
- $371.00/year
- $189.00 if you graduated in the last 12 months
- Professional Liability Insurance For A Self-Employed Physical Therapist With A Single-Member Entity:
- $660.00/year
*Note: HPSO’s quote process required that the type of business be selected, so this quote is specifically for a home health physical therapist who owns their own corporation without any other employees
- Professional Liability Insurance + General Liability Insurance For A Self-Employed Physical Therapist With A Single Member Entity:
- $842.00/year
*Note: HPSO’s quote process required that the type of business be selected, so this quote is specifically for a home health physical therapist who owns their own corporation without any other employees
Price For Occupational Therapists:
- Professional Liability Insurance For A Occupational Therapist Who Works For An Employer:
- $79/year
- $43/year if you graduated in the last 12 months
- Professional Liability Insurance For A Self-Employed Occupational Therapist:
- $227/year
- $117/year if you graduated in the last 12 months
- Professional Liability Insurance For A Self-Employed Occupational Therapist With A Single-Member Entity:
- $446/year
*Note: HPSO’s quote process required that the type of business be selected, so this quote is specifically for a home health physical therapist who owns their own corporation without any other employees
- Professional Liability Insurance + General Liability Insurance For A Self-Employed Occupational Therapist With A Single Member Entity:
- $628/year
*Note: HPSO’s quote process required that the type of business be selected, so this quote is specifically for a home health physical therapist who owns their own corporation without any other employees
Price If You Have Contracts With Other Companies
If you have a contract with another company, that company’s contract will likely include a section that is referred to as a Hold Harmless Agreement. This section essentially states that you are agreeing to hold that company harmless from the claims or damages asserted by the patient. Therefore, if a patient decides to sue you and also names that company in the lawsuit, then you have to cover any damages for that company in addition to your own damages. Some malpractice policies will pay for both of these payouts in the case of a successful lawsuit.
Unfortunately, HSPO does not, leaving you vulnerable in having to pay out-of-pocket for the damages asserted to be owed to the company.
Price For Students:
- Professional Liability Insurance For Physical Therapy Students:
- $27/year
- Professional Liability Insurance For Occupational Therapy Students:
- $27/year
Discounts:
As covered above, HPSO offers discounts to on Individual Professional Liability Policies if you became licensed or began practicing in the past year, but this discount is not offered on Business Professional Liability Policies.
HPSO also offers online courses on risk management. If you complete 3 contact hours worth of courses, you can receive a 10% discount. You can do this for up to 3 years. Again, this discount is not offered on Business Professional Liability Policies, only for individual Professional Liability Policies.
CM&F
Overview:
CM&F offers more than one Professional Liability limit option. This can help better customize your policy to suit your needs. However, if you are self-employed and want to purchase General Liability insurance, CM&F only offers one limit option on their General Liability insurance.
Speaking of being able to customize your policy, CM&F’s General Liability insurance must be purchased separately. This can be a positive or a negative, because if you want General Liability insurance then you don’t have to pay for it but if you do want it then it will cost you more to get it.
Unfortunately, CM&F’s Professional Liability policy does not include Personal Liability coverage (eg slander, libel). You can get this coverage, though, if you their purchase General Liability Insurance policy.
CM&F’s Professional Liability Insurance policy will actually cover you for up to $1,000 worth of damage you do to your patient’s property without you needing to purchase General Liability Insurance. However, if you purchase CM&F’s General Liability Policy, then this limit goes up to $100,000 per location where the property damage occurs and up to $1,000,000 for the year.
In the case of successful lawsuit against you, CM&F’s Professional Liability Insurance policy will also cover payouts owed to home health companies that mobile PTs and OTs are found responsible because the contracts they have with those home health companies include a Hold Harmless Agreement clause. Best of all, CM&F will do this without you even needing to purchase General Liability Insurance. Just make sure that you have each home health company you have a contract with listed as an additional insured. CM&F will even allow you to add as many additional insured as you’d like all at no extra charge.
If you have an entity (eg LLC, corporation) but you are the only member of it, then CM&F will still allow you to purchase a personal policy and not make you purchase a group/business policy – just make sure to add the name of your company to your personal policy. This option can save you a good amount of money.
Speaking of saving money, depending on which state you live in, CM&F will give you a 10% discount if you are a member of a qualifying professional organization (eg APTA, AOTA, etc).
In addition, CM&F will also give you a significant discount if you became licensed or began practicing in the past year. Since single-member entities can purchase individual policies, they can also qualify for these discounts.
When purchasing a self-employed policy, CM&F does give the unique option of paying monthly rather than making a one-time payment. If you do pay monthly, though, you will pay more overall.
Professional Liability Policy Components:
Coverage Type
Occurrence
Limit of Professional Liability
CM&F offers the standard $1,000,000 per claim and $3,000,000 aggregate. They also offer other Professional Liability limit options depending on the type of policy you are looking to purchase.
For example, if you are looking to purchase an employee policy, they also offer $500,000 per claim and $1,000,000 aggregate option and if you are looking to purchase a self-employed policy they also offer $1,000,000 per claim and $6,000,000 aggregate option.
Personal Injury Coverage
Comes within your limits of your professional liability
Good Samaritan Coverage
Comes within your limits of your professional liability
License Protection
$35,000 per claim, $100,000 annual aggregate
Deposition Representation
$10,000 annual aggregate
Personal Liability Coverage
Need to purchase General Liability Insurance to get this coverage
Defense Attorney Provided
Yes
Assault Coverage
$25,000 annually
Loss Of Earnings When Missing Work
Will pay you $2,500 per day, up to $35,000 for the year
Medical Payments
$25,000-$100,000
Damage To Property Of Others/Rental Damage
$1,000 for the year
*However, if you purchase CM&F’s General Liability Policy, then this limit goes up to $100,000 per location where the property damage occurs and up to $1,000,000 for the year
First Aid Expenses
$15,000
Sexual Misconduct
$25,000 annual aggregate
Information Privacy Coverage (HIPAA)
$25,000 annual aggregate
Unique Components
Telemedicine Coverage
Falls under the same limits as your limits of your professional liability
Biomedical Waste Hearing Expense
$10,000
Limit of General Liability
$1,000,000 per claim and $3,000,000 aggregate
*Note that this must be purchased as a separate policy from the Professional Liability policy
**Also note that CM&F’s Professional Liability Insurance policy will already cover you for up to $1,000 worth of damage you do to your patient’s property, but if you purchase General Liability Insurance then this limit goes up to $100,000 per location where the property damage occurs and up to $1,000,000 for the year.
Cost
All quotes obtained below are for Professional Liability limits of $1,000,000 per claim and $3,000,000 aggregate.
In scenarios where General Liability is included, it is at the limits of $1,000,000 per claim and $3,000,000 aggregate. But General Liability must be purchased separately.
Price For Physical Therapists:
- Professional Liability Insurance For A Physical Therapist Who Works For An Employer:
- $157/year
- $78/year if you became licensed or began practicing in the past year
- Professional Liability Insurance For A Self-Employed Physical Therapist:
- $440/year
- $220/year if you became licensed or began practicing in the past year
- Professional Liability Insurance + General Liability Insurance For A Self-Employed Physical Therapist:
- $683/year
- $463/year if you became licensed or began practicing in the past year
Price For Occupational Therapists:
- Professional Liability Insurance For A Occupational Therapist Who Works For An Employer:
- $102/year
- $51/year if you became licensed or began practicing in the past year
- Professional Liability Insurance For A Self-Employed Occupational Therapist:
- $330/year
- $165/year if you became licensed or began practicing in the past year
- Professional Liability Insurance + General Liability Insurance For A Self-Employed Occupational Therapist:
- $573/year
- $408/year if you became licensed or began practicing in the past year
Price If You Have A Single Member LLC Or Corporation:
- Same Price As Purchasing A Professional Liability Insurance Policy
CM&F does not require you to purchase a group policy if you have an LLC or a corporation and you have no other employees except for yourself.
At no extra charge, CM&F will extend coverage to your LLC or corporation, but you have to make sure that you add the name of your entity when getting your insurance quote. To do this, during the quote process you will be asked if there is a third party that you’d like to add as an additional insured – that is where you should put your LLC’s or Corporation’s information.
Price If You Have Contracts With Other Companies:
If you have a contract with another company, that company’s contract will likely include a section that is referred to as a Hold Harmless Agreement. This section essentially states that you are agreeing to hold that company harmless from the claims or damages asserted by the patient. Therefore, if a patient decides to sue you and also names that company in the lawsuit, then you have to cover any damages for that company in addition to your own damages. Some malpractice policies will pay for both of these payouts in the case of a successful lawsuit.
At no extra charge, CM&F allows you to add the name of each of the companies you have a contract with to your policy as “additional insured,” which will extend what is called “Vicarious Liability” thereby providing you coverage if such a circumstance were to happen to you.
If you already have your policy active with CM&F and you sign a new contract with another company, then you can call CM&F and ask them for the Additional Insured Request Form to add that company as an additional insured to your policy.
Price For Students:
You will notice that the cost for a physical therapy student’s policy is slightly less than that for an occupational therapy student. That is because the CM&F gives more coverage to an occupational therapy student’s policy (Professional Liability limit of $1,000,000 per claim and $6,000,000 aggregate) whereas physical therapy students can either get the standard Professional Liability limit ($1,000,000 per claim and $3,000,000 aggregate) which is what the price listed below is for or they can get a lower limit ($500,000 per claim and $1,000,000 aggregate).
- Professional Liability Insurance For Physical Therapy Students:
- $29/year
- Professional Liability Insurance For Occupational Therapy Students:
- $30/year
Discounts:
You will notice in the prices listed above that newly graduated physical therapists and occupational therapists get significantly discounted rates.
When filling out my information to get my quote, the website did give the option for physical therapists to select if they are a member of a professional organization such as the APTA. However, despite making this selection, I was not given a discount.
When I spoke to a CM&F representative on the phone, they stated that it was because I live in California and the APTA discount is not honored in all states. Bummer.
If you live in a different state that would qualify for the discount, then that discount would be for 10% off.
Proliability
Overview:
Proliability’s Professional Liability policy does not automatically include General Liability insurance, but its Professional Liability policies are more robust.
For example, Proliability’s Professional Liability policy already includes Personal Liability Coverage (eg slander, libel) and it will also cover you for up to $10,000 worth of damage you accidentally do to your patient’s property.
On the other hand, physical therapists and occupational therapists who have contracts with other companies will need to purchase General Liability Insurance to get Contractual Liability Coverage. This will provide coverage to physical therapists and occupational therapists who have contracts with companies (eg mobile physical therapists and occupational therapists who have contracts with home health companies) that include a Hold Harmless Agreement.
While Proliability’s policies tend to be on the more expensive side compared to the other insurance companies covered here, they do give a discount to physical therapists and occupational therapists who have attended a Loss Prevention seminar. Proliability also gives a discount to occupational therapists who are first year graduates, but this discount is not extended to physical therapists. Occupational therapists who qualify for both of these discounts qualify for some of the lower policy prices covered in this article.
Professional Liability Policy Components:
Coverage Type
Occurrence
Limit of Professional Liability
$1,000,000 per claim and $3,000,000 aggregate
Personal Injury Coverage
Comes within your limits of your professional liability
Good Samaritan Coverage
Comes within your limits of your professional liability
License Protection
$10,000 per claim, $25,000 annual aggregate
Deposition Representation
$10,000 annual aggregate
Personal Liability Coverage
Comes within your limits of your professional liability
Defense Attorney Provided
Yes
Assault Coverage
$10,000 per incident, up to $25,000 for multiple incidents
Defendant Expense Benefit/Loss Of Earnings When Missing Work
Will pay you up to $500 (not more than what you make as a physical therapist) per day, up to $10,000 per incident, and up to $25,000 for the year
Medical Payments
$5,000 per person, $100,000 all persons
Damage To Property Of Others/Rental Damage
$10,000 per year
First Aid Expenses
$10,000 per year
Sexual Misconduct
$25,000 annual aggregate
Information Privacy Coverage (HIPAA)
$25,000 annual aggregate
Limit of General Liability
$1,000,000 per claim and $3,000,000 aggregate
*Must be purchased separately at an additional cost
Cost
All quotes obtained below are for Professional Liability limits of $1,000,000 per claim and $3,000,000 aggregate.
In a scenario where General Liability is added to a policy, it is also for the limits of $1,000,000 per claim and $3,000,000 aggregate.
The costs listed are if I were to pay for a Professional Liability Insurance policy without any discounts.
When I spoke to a Proliability representative on the phone, I was told that even though Proliability’s website asks if you are a member of the APTA’s Private Practice Section, no discount is given whether you’re a member or not.
However, the Proliability representative also told me that Proliability does give a discount if you have participated in or attended a company loss prevention seminar. Since not all of us have attended such a seminar, I will list below in each scenario covered both the full price and the discount price for your reference.
Price For Physical Therapists:
- Price For Just Professional Liability Insurance For An Employed Physical Therapist:
- $184/year
- $166/year if getting a discount for having attended a Loss Prevention Seminar
- Price For Just Professional Liability Insurance For A Self-Employed Physical Therapist:
- $578/year
- $520/year if getting a discount for having attended a Loss Prevention Seminar
- Price For Professional Liability Insurance + General Liability Insurance For A Self-Employed Physical Therapist:
- $698/year
- $640/year if getting a discount for having attended a Loss Prevention Seminar
Price For Occupational Therapists:
- Price For Just Professional Liability Insurance For An Employed Occupational Therapist:
- $78/year
- $70 if getting a discount for having attended a Loss Prevention Seminar
- $40/year if you are a first year graduate
- $36/year if you are both a first year graduate and also attended a Loss Prevention Seminar
- Professional Liability Insurance For A Self-Employed Occupational Therapist:
- $214/year
- $193 if getting a discount for having attended a Loss Prevention Seminar
- $108/year if you are a first year graduate
- $97/year if you are both a first year graduate and also attended a Loss Prevention Seminar
- Professional Liability Insurance + General Liability Insurance For A Self-Employed Occupational Therapist:
- $334/year
- $313 if getting a discount for having attended a Loss Prevention Seminar
- $228/year if you are a first year graduate
- $217/year if you are both a first year graduate and also attended a Loss Prevention Seminar
Price If You Have A Single Member LLC Or Corporation:
- Same Price As Purchasing A Professional Liability Insurance Policy
Proliability does not require you to purchase a group policy if you have an LLC or a corporation and you have no other employees except for yourself.
Proliability will simply add the company name of your LLC or corporation to the professional liability insurance policy’s certificate holder section at no extra charge.
Price If You Have Contracts With Other Companies:
If you have a contract with another company, that company’s contract will likely include a section that is referred to as a Hold Harmless Agreement. This section essentially states that you are agreeing to hold that company harmless from the claims or damages asserted by the patient. Therefore, if a patient decides to sue you and also names that company in the lawsuit, then you have to cover any damages for that company in addition to your own damages. Some malpractice policies will pay for both of these payouts in the case of a successful lawsuit.
Proliability’s policies will pay for both. However, to get this coverage, Proliability requires you to also purchase General Liability Insurance with Contractual Liability Coverage.
Price For Students:
- Professional Liability Insurance For Physical Therapy Students:
- $35/year
- Professional Liability Insurance For Occupational Therapy Students:
- $37/year
Discounts:
As mentioned earlier, both physical therapists and occupational therapists can get a discount if they have attended a Loss Prevention Seminar.
Only occupational therapists can get a discount for graduating less than a year ago.
MyPTInsurance/MyOTInsurance
Overview:
MyPTInsurance offers malpractice insurance policies to physical therapists and physical therapist students while MyOTInsurance offers malpractice insurance policies to occupational therapists and occupational therapy students.
They streamline the process of purchasing malpractice insurance by offering fewer options compared to other insurance companies covered in this article.
For example, they only offer policies that include Professional Liability, General Liability, and Product Liability all bundled together. Therefore, physical therapists and occupational therapists do not have the option to purchase just a Professional Liability a policy by itself.
They also only offer one limit for all three of these policies, $1,000,000 per claim and $3,000,000 aggregate.
MyPTInsurance/MyOTInsurance’s policy is more trimmed down by not offering several policy components that are often found with other insurance company’s policies such as HIPAA Coverage, License Protection Coverage, Sexual Misconduct Coverage, Personal Liability Coverage, Good Samaritan Coverage, Assault Coverage, or the opportunity to collect money if you have to miss work to attend a trial.
MyPTInsurance/MyOTInsurance will only provide physical therapists and occupational therapists with an attorney if they are the one the lawsuit is against. However, if they are not named in the lawsuit and are just being deposed just as a witness, then MyPTInsurance/MyOTInsurance will not provide them with an attorney.
MyPTInsurance/MyOTInsurance’s policy does include a very high limit for Damage To Property of Others. However, this coverage will only active if the damage takes place in a facility that the physical therapist or occupational therapist owns or rents. Therefore, it will not cover damage to a property that occurs in a patient’s home (eg home health) because the physical therapist or occupational therapist does not own or rent the patient’s home.
MyPTInsurance/MyOTInsurance will allow physical therapists and occupational therapists who have a single-member entity (eg LLC, corporation) to purchase a personal policy and add your company’s name to your personal policy as an additional insured. You will have to pay an extra $10 to add your company’s name to the policy, but this allows physical therapists and occupational therapists to get the same price as a personal policy without having to purchase a typically much more expensive group/business policy.
MyPTInsurance/MyOTInsurance can also add companies you have contracts with as additional insured for $10 each. This is a good option for mobile physical therapists and occupational therapists to provide coverage if you are successfully sued and held responsible for damages asserted to not only yourself but also to the company you have a contract with that likely includes a Hold Harmless clause. MyPTInsurance/MyOTInsurance charges $10 for adding each additional insured to your policy.
Overall, their policy is more trimmed down which allows them to offer some of the lowest prices covered in this article, despite not offering any discount opportunities.
Professional Liability Policy Components:
Coverage Type
Occurrence
Limit of Professional Liability
$1,000,000 per claim and $3,000,000 aggregate
Personal Injury Coverage
Comes within your limits of your professional liability
Good Samaritan Coverage
Not offered
License Protection
Not offered
Deposition Representation
Only offered if named in the lawsuit
Personal Liability Coverage
Not offered
Defense Attorney Provided
Yes
Assault Coverage
Not offered
Loss Of Earnings When Missing Work
Not offered
Medical Payments
Not offered
Damage To Property Of Others/Rental Damage
$100,000
*Damage To Property of Others Coverage only activates if the damage takes place in a facility that you own or rent
First Aid Expenses
Not offered
Sexual Misconduct
Not offered
Information Privacy Coverage (HIPAA)
Not offered
Unique Components
Product Liability
MyPTInsurance defines this as protecting you in the event that you are sued because of a product you used during your visit with the patient.
$1,000,000 per claim, $3,000,000 annual aggregate
Limit of General Liability
$1,000,000 per claim and $3,000,000 aggregate
*Automatically included with the Professional Liability Policy
Cost
All quotes obtained below are for Professional Liability limits of $1,000,000 per claim and $3,000,000 aggregate, General Liability limits of $1,000,000 per claim and $3,000,000 aggregate, and Product Liability limits of $1,000,000 per claim and $3,000,000 aggregate.
These limits are the only options MyPTInsurance and MyOTInsurance provide.
Price For Physical Therapists:
- Professional Liability Insurance + General Liability Insurance For A Physical Therapist Who Works For An Employer:
- $149/year
- Professional Liability Insurance + General Liability Insurance For A Self-Employed Physical Therapist:
- $297/year
Price For Occupational Therapists:
- Professional Liability Insurance + General Liability Insurance For An Occupational Therapist Who Works For An Employer:
- $79/year
- Professional Liability Insurance + General Liability Insurance For A Self-Employed Occupational Therapist:
- $219/year
Price If You Have A Single Member LLC Or Corporation:
- Same Price As Purchasing A Professional Liability Insurance Policy
MyPTInsurance/MyOTInsurance does not require you to purchase a group policy if you have an LLC or a corporation and you have no other employees except for yourself.
MyPTInsurance/MyOTInsurance will simply add the company name of your LLC or corporation to the professional liability insurance policy’s certificate holder section at no extra charge.
Price If You Have Contracts With Other Companies:
If you have a contract with another company, that company’s contract will likely include a section that is referred to as a Hold Harmless Agreement. This section essentially states that you are agreeing to hold that company harmless from the claims or damages asserted by the patient. Therefore, if a patient decides to sue you and also names that company in the lawsuit, then you have to cover any damages for that company in addition to your own damages. Some malpractice policies will pay for both of these payouts in the case of a successful lawsuit.
MyPTInsurance/MyOTInsurance’s policies will do this. Just make sure that you have each home health company you have a contract with listed as an additional insured, but you will have to pay an extra $10 for each additional insured you add.
Price For Students:
- Professional Liability Insurance + General Liability Insurance For Physical Therapy Students:
- $25/year
- Professional Liability Insurance + General Liability Insurance For Occupational Therapy Students:
- $25/year
Discounts:
Not offered
Lockton Affinity Health
Overview:
Unlike the other insurance companies covered in this article, Lockton’s website unfortunately does not offer the option to obtain an immediate quote online.
Their website does list that the price of a professional liability policy with a Professional Liability limit of $500,000 per claim, $500,000 aggregate costs $111 for a physical therapist or an occupational therapist and $20 for a student. However, their website does not state if these prices are for physical therapists and occupational therapists who are employed or self-employed, if the therapists would be working full-time or part-time, or what the makeup of the policy actually includes.
Since the standard Professional Liability limit for a physical therapy or occupational therapy malpractice policy is $1,000,000 per claim and $3,000,000 aggregate, I called Lockton to ask for both a policy quote with that limit and to find out more information on the what components their policy includes.
Unfortunately, each Lockton representative I spoke with refused to give me information on the limits of their policy or even provide me with a quote unless I filled out an application and either emailed or mailed it to back to them and then waited five days for a Lockton representative to respond.
I decided not to do this because I also learned that Lockton only offers “claims made” malpractice policies to physical therapists and occupational therapists – they do not offer “occurrence” policies. If you have not done so already, please read why I highly recommend an occurrence type policy instead of a claims made policy.
It is for these reasons that the information you will find listed below on Lockton is quite limited.
Professional Liability Policy Components:
Coverage Type
Claims Made
Limit of Professional Liability
Lockton offers the following Professional Liability limit options
- $500,000 per claim, $500,000 aggregate
- $1,000,000 per claim, $1,000,000 aggregate
- $1,000,000 per claim, $3,000,000 aggregate
- $2,000,000 per claim, $4,000,000 aggregate
Personal Injury Coverage
Unknown if included and, if so, the limits are unknown
Good Samaritan Coverage
Unknown if included and, if so, the limits are unknown
License Protection
Unknown if included and, if so, the limits are unknown
Defendant Expense Benefit
Unknown if included and, if so, the limits are unknown
Deposition Representation
Unknown if included and, if so, the limits are unknown
Personal Liability Coverage
Unknown if included and, if so, the limits are unknown
Defense Attorney Provided
Yes
Assault Coverage
Unknown if included and, if so, the limits are unknown
Loss Of Earnings When Missing Work
Will pay you $500 per day, but aggregate limit is unknown
Medical Payments
Appears to be included in the General Liability policy but the limits are unknown
Damage To Property Of Others/Rental Damage
$500 per accident, but aggregate limit is unknown
First Aid Expenses
Unknown if included and, if so, the limits are unknown
Sexual Misconduct
Unknown if included and, if so, the limits are unknown
Information Privacy Coverage (HIPAA)
Unknown if included and, if so, the limits are unknown
Limit of General Liability
Limits are unknown
*Automatically included in the Professional Liability policy
Cost
As stated earlier, Lockton’s website does list that the price of a professional liability policy with a Professional Liability limit of $500,000 per claim, $500,000 aggregate would be $111 for a physical therapist or an occupational therapist and $20 for a student.
However, their website does not state if these prices are for physical and occupational therapists who are employed or self-employed, if the therapists would be working full-time or part-time, and what the makeup of the policy actually includes.
Final Thoughts. . .
I hope the information covered will help you find the policy that best suits your needs.
If you’re like me, though, having that information in a chart format might make it easier to compare different policies.
So here is a chart breaking down each insurance company’s policy components (there are two parts to the chart):
So which company and policy type do you think might suit you best and why? Let me know in the comments section below!
