How much is the cost of malpractice insurance for an anesthesiologist?

Answer 1

The average premium in 2006 was $19,558 (range of $2,921 to $77,436) and Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio and West Virginia continue to lead the nation in average premium costs.

As you can see from the range, rating have too many variables so contacting a agent or agents for quotes would be a good place to start.

Answer 2

Every doctor's insurance premium is different. It depends on your specialty, your claims history, what procedures you do, where you practice, the type and amount of coverage requested and God lone knows what else.

The forms we teem out to get coverage are something like 20 pages long.

Most states require that doctors hold malpractice (professional liability) insurance in command to be licensed.

Malpractice insurance covers the cost of defending a lawsuit that a patient or patient's relatives brings against you if they assert that harm be caused by laid-back medical practice.

Even is a doctor does nothing wrong, the cost of defending a lawsuit is $30,000 or more. If the court finds within the plaintiff's favor, the cost of that doctor's insurance skyrockets.

Policies may cost only $20,000 or so a year, or up to $250,000.

Answer 3

In Northern Indiana the costs can range greatly depending on AGE, LOCATION and past legal HISTORY. Rates rise drastically related to claims. All surgeongs get sued for a variety of reasons from trips and falls on their property to medical malpractice. Most claims are sent to a medical review board and found to be unwarranted but still affect insurance rates.

Lowest rate in 2009 to date full time Orthopedic surgeon, solo practice........

$105,000 and ranges to over $200,000 per annum. In clinic settings with multiple surgeons lowering the rate it can go as low as $90,000.

Please note that some states the costs can be so high that office practice is not cost effective. Yes, your doctor can go broke paying exhorbitant insurances.

Answer 4

Without knowing what profession you are in it is impossible to know what your cost or what the average cost would be. The premium rate would be greatly affected by the type of professional exposures you have and the annual risk volume.

For example in regards to volume, a Surgeon who does 200 surgical procedures a year might pay 100 times more for his insurance premium than another surgeon who does only 20 or 30 of the same procedures per year.

It's not just your profession but also the type of services you provide, the risks associated with those services and the number of times you provide them in a given policy term. This is what the insurance company refers to as "risk exposure".

As you can see someone who does 100 times more operations would naturally have 100 times higher potential to make a mistake that could generate a claim or a law suit.

There is no average cost. Each underwriter has it's own underwriting guidelines and risk assessment factors.

Answer 5

It depends on which state the doctor practices in and on in speciality he or she practices. Some specialities are more risky, and require a doctor to have more expensive malpractice insurance. States have different rates for medical malpractice insurance. Minnesota has the lowest rate for surgeons, but it can vary largely in every state.

Answer 6

It varies, As with any other type of insurance it all depends on the Risk and Risk Volume involved, Prior claims against the doctor, the amount of experience the doctor has etc.

A neurosurgeon who performs 10 operations a year would pay much less than one who does 10 operations a week. It could be anywhere from 6,000 dollars up to 160,000 dollars or more per year.

Answer 7

Average figures on malpractice premiums paid are difficult to find because there is a wide range across the country. ASA reports the average anesthesiologist's premium to be around $25K/year. In states like California with tort reform, a general surgeon may pay the same amount. In other states like Pennsylvania and Florida, general surgery premiums may be well over $100K per year, approaching $200K/year in some counties (Philly, Dade). I am sure some anesthesiologists and radiologists in certain areas of the country and doing certain procedures have much higher rates than the average reported by the ASA. I have been unable to find a good source of average premiums by specialty and state that is recent.

If you consider specialties, anesthesiologists who perform pain related procedures have the highest premiums, neurosurgeons and OB-Gyns are classically hit with higher premiums.

While compensation may be tied to malpractice, in most cases this is not the sole reason for the difference in income between anesthesiology and general surgery. General Surgery is the only field for which Medicare reimbursement has dropped over the last 10 years. All insurance companies tie their payments to Medicare rates.

For a few years, radiologists and anesthesiologists were paid more for the same procedures (ie, image guided biopsies, regional blocks) than when those procedures were performed by surgeons. This has been corrected for the most part. If you look at the reimbursement for general surgery procedures based on the amount of training required and time to complete the procedure, the average reimbursement is less than Rads or Gas. When you factor in the 90 day global period, reimbursement seems even more paltry.

The old saw, "when the knife fight broke out over reimbursement rates, Ortho showed up with a gun and general surgery didn't show up at all" is true.

Remember, outside of academic medical centers, many physicians are not on salary but are in private practice, so reimbursement is not based on malpractice premiums. You just have to work harder to make the same money as reimbursements go down and premiums go up.

Answer 8

It varies by state but base rates are 28k to upwards of 50k.