How Important is Insurance in a Locum Assignment?
As a medical staffing agency specializing in locums, we are often asked about locum tenens insurance coverage. Literally meaning “place holder” a locum tenens physician or nurse is one who accepts a temporary assignment in a clinic or office in place of a regular doctor. Doctor and dental offices often use locum tenens staff to cover increased patient load or if the resident doctor cannot temporarily fulfill his duties, whether because of sabbatical, illness or vacation. But what many doctors may not think to ask about is medical malpractice coverage during these assignments. At Preferred Solutions, we support our locum doctors by providing a certain level of liability insurance, though additional insurance is always recommended for certain situations.
Is your Locum Tenens Position Fully Protected?
For those who are already covered within their home medical clinic, making sure that that coverage extends to locum tenens assignments is the first step to protecting yourself against malpractice lawsuits. This coverage is equally important to the clinic’s bottom line too, making it imperative that its operators notifies the insurance carrier when taking on a locum tenens physician. We recommend that even those that are assigned through us, as your medical placement agency, are covered by medical malpractice insurance, even if that means that both the agency and the “hiring” clinic both carry coverage on said doctor. We also recommend that the main physician also carries claims-made medical malpractice insurance that includes a tail policy to ensure that coverage extends beyond the time of employment.
If you have questions regarding locum tenens assignments and your insurance coverage, call our team at Preferred Solutions. We can help you navigate through the confusion of malpractic insurance and your need to cover your stint as a locum tenens physician.
