Nurse Practitioner Malpractice Insurance

As a nurse practitioner (NP), you are on the front lines of patient care every day—but are you looking after yourself? NPs face distinct, significant, and long-lasting liability risks, and providing excellent care is not enough to mitigate them.

Why Nurse Practitioners May Need Individual Malpractice Insurance

As an NP, you face many of the same liability risks as physicians, but your employer's malpractice policy may not provide the level of protection you need. While employer-sponsored coverage can be valuable, it's important to understand what is—and isn't—covered.

For example, coverage limits may be shared across multiple practitioners or the organization itself. As medical malpractice verdicts continue to rise, shared limits can increase your financial exposure. Reviewing your coverage limits and understanding whether they apply solely to you or are shared with others is an important part of protecting your career. Another common gap involves licensing board matters. A board complaint can take years to resolve and may put your license, reputation, and livelihood at risk. However, not all employer-sponsored policies include protection for licensing board actions.

Individual NP malpractice insurance helps close these gaps. Coverage follows you throughout your career and can provide dedicated protection for malpractice claims, licensing board matters, and other professional liability risks. Most importantly, it ensures your coverage is focused on protecting your professional interests—not just those of your employer.

Features of the Industry’s Best Nurse Practitioner Coverage

TDC Group, through The Doctors Company and The Doctors Company Risk Retention Group (RRG), has protected NPs since 1976 and today insures nearly 19,000 NPs nationwide. With $8.4 billion in assets, $3.4 billion in member surplus, and A ratings from AM Best and Fitch Ratings, we have the financial strength to protect your career today and tomorrow.

As a member-owned company, we're dedicated solely to the interests of healthcare professionals. More than 90 percent of our members report high satisfaction with our efforts to prevent claims and defend their careers.

Our coverage features include:

• Flexible coverage options with limits tailored to your specialty, scope of practice, and risk profile.
• Occurrence and claims-made policies, including free tail coverage for eligible members upon retirement, permanent disability, or death.
• Industry-leading claims defense: Our seasoned advocates promise to never settle a claim without your consent, subject to policy terms and applicable law.
• MediGuard® regulatory risk coverage, providing up to $25,000 for covered licensing board and regulatory matters.
• Patient safety and risk management resources, including free accredited education, self-assessment tools, and insights from the industry's largest malpractice claims database.
• Expert practice guidance, including our exclusive resources designed to help you reduce risk and enhance patient safety.
• The Tribute® Plan and multiyear dividend program.† We’ve paid more than $200 million in Tribute awards to retiring members, and we’ve declared $500 in member dividends to date.
• New-to-practice discounts for clinicians who have recently graduated, changed specialties, or transitioned from government service or academia.
• National and state advocacy, led by the industry's only medical liability advocacy program operating in all 50 states and at the federal level.

Additional coverage options are available:

• General liability insurance: Protects against claims involving bodily injury, property damage, and personal injury. Does not cover professional liability, employment practices, or workers' compensation claims.
• Vicarious liability coverage: Recommended for NPs who own practices and supervise employees or independent contractors. This coverage helps protect you if you're held responsible for the actions of others working on your behalf.
• Business owner's coverage: Additional options include commercial property, cyber liability, workers' compensation, employment practices liability insurance (EPLI), and life, health, and disability insurance. Contact us at (800) 780-9975 for details.
• Medical director coverage: Designed for NPs serving in leadership roles. This coverage extends protection beyond direct patient care to include administrative decisions, regulatory oversight, policy development, and potential vicarious liability exposures.

Types of Coverage—Get Exactly the Protection You Need

• Primary: If you currently have employer-provided medical professional liability coverage, but want your own policy to protect your own professional reputation, or if you’re an independent contractor, self-employed practitioner, or practice owner.
• Excess: If you want to rely on your primary policy as your first line of defense against a claim, but you’d like to purchase additional coverage to avoid paying out-of-pocket expenses after your primary policy limits are exhausted.
• Supervising and collaborating physicians: If you have a formal agreement in place with a collaborating physician, surgeon, or anesthesiologist, vicarious liability coverage can be added to your policy or theirs.

†Policies underwritten by The Doctors Company Risk Retention Group are not eligible for the Tribute Plan or dividends.

CAQH Provider Data Portal is the largest database of self-reported provider data in the U.S., with 374,006 advanced practice clinicians (APCs) in their credentials database.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)