What is Dental Malpractice Insurance and How Does Coverage Work?

Dental Malpractice Coverage

Dentists encounter unique risks and challenges in their careers. The increased exposure to dental malpractice affects many dentists, with about 242 dental malpractice cases recorded yearly. This leaves many dental professionals financially and emotionally drained since they must pay for the damages incurred by patients during dental care. This usually amounts to huge fines, penalties, and even a bad reputation that may affect the dental practice and dentist’s careers in the long run. 

As a dentist, it is imperative to protect yourself against liabilities that may arise from dental negligence by acquiring dental malpractice insurance. This coverage plays a crucial role in meeting your financial needs and protecting your practice, assets, reputation, and employees when a patient files a dental malpractice case against you. Below is essential information about dental malpractice insurance. 

What Is Dental Malpractice Insurance and its Coverage?

Dental malpractice insurance is professional insurance coverage that protects healthcare providers from incurring financial losses on injury claims filed against them due to medical negligence from the practice. It helps dental professionals avoid covering the liabilities from their pockets. This coverage is usually necessary because injury claims can be huge and can affect the practice operations due to financial losses in the long run. 

What are the Common Dental Malpractice Claims?

There are different dental malpractice claims that a patient can sue you for negligence when you deviate from the required ethical standards in the healthcare sector. 

Knowing the dental malpractice claims is imperative to help you make informed decisions when a patient sues you for negligence. Below are the most common dental malpractice claims. 

• A dentist using too much force on a young patient 
• Removing teeth that don’t need to be removed 
• A broken dentist instrument inside a patient’s tooth
• Misdiagnosis, infections, delayed treatment
• Not using the suitable anesthetic
• Dental issues resulting from a broken jaw, broken tooth, and extractions
• Improperly sterilized or non-sterilized dental tools 

It is worth noting that some claims occur more frequently than others. This can lead to negligence claims when you least expect it. Having dental malpractice insurance can save you a lot of headaches and financial losses. It may also be suitable to hire an experienced Dental Contract Lawyer to provide you with a dental contract review for your practice. 

Who Needs Malpractice Insurance Coverage?

Dental malpractice coverage is essential for dentists, dental hygienists, dental or dental hygiene students, and dental entities. So it is basically for anyone directly interacting with patients to provide dental care because they are susceptible to dental malpractice claims. Whether full-time, part-time, a volunteer, or a beginner in dental practice, you may need dental malpractice insurance. 

What Does Dental Malpractice Insurance Cover?

Dental malpractice policy covers different claims based on various factors such as the type of insurance company, damages incurred by the patient, and the severity of the matter. If a patient sues you for malpractice, you may need to pay them for the damages incurred whether the claim bears any truth or not. Below are the types of damages you may need to pay the patient. 

• Compensatory and punitive damages
• Arbitration costs 
• Attorney and court fees
• Settlement costs
• HIPAA violation fines 

Malpractice Consultation

If you are experiencing any doubts about dental malpractice, it is best to consult an experienced dental attorney such as Chelle Law for dental associate employment contract review services.

Cost of Insurance Policy?

The cost of dental malpractice insurance depends on various factors listed below.

• Whether the patient suffered physical pain
• Whether the dentist can work on the injury and correct it
• The dentist’s professional background
• The seriousness of the damage caused
• Whether the injury affects the patient’s future activities such as speaking and chewing. 

It also depends on the policy type, how old your practice is, your location, and the purchase policy amount. For instance, a newly established dentist may pay lower rates within the first five years of operations. 

It is best to analyze your practice needs and choose the right dental malpractice coverage. You can also work closely with an insurance agent to take you through their policies, thus, making informed decisions before signing up for the policy. 

The insurance company will use various parameters such as your personal claims history and state requirements to determine your yearly premiums and tailor the right coverage for your practice while also spreading risks for the entire coverage period.

What Should You Look for in a Carrier for Your Dental Malpractice Coverage?

Insurance Provider 

You need to factor in so many things when looking for an insurance provider for your dental practice. With multiple dental malpractice carriers around you, it is imperative to take your time and search for an insurance company that can meet all your needs and expectations.

Look for the best provider that offers quality services and good customer care. The provider should have in-depth experience in the field and should be willing to show you how dental malpractice coverage works. Check the company’s claim procedures, premiums, and risk management programs for supporting dental practices. 

You can check the carrier’s website and social media pages to know about them before committing to their services. It is also best to ask other dentists for referrals from other dental professionals for reputable insurance carriers who can give discounts and offer emotional support to defendants. 

Contact Malpractice Lawyers

If you’d like to know more about dental malpractice insurance, we can help. Chelle Law has experienced attorneys who can take you through the process and offer you legal advice.

Get a Professional Dental Contract Review from an Experienced Arizona Lawyer 

If you are looking for dental contract review services for your practice, it is imperative to hire an experienced dental lawyer to guide you through. Chelle Law has experienced lawyers who can help you with contract review for your dental practice. Contact us for effective contract review services for your dental practice. 

Claims Made Insurance for a Dental Associate Explained | Same as Occurrence Claim for Dentists?

What is claims made insurance for a dentist?  Every dentist needs a malpractice policy while they’re practicing. And there are two common types of malpractice insurance: claims-made and occurrence-based. Claims-made policy means a policy must be in effect when a claim is made. If you’re an employee and you leave an employer, there is a gap in between the last patient you see for that employer and then the last day they sue you. That’s the statute of limitations. And generally, it’s two years in most states; it varies from state to state. And there are also exceptions for when minors become adults and that type of thing.But let’s just use two years as an example. If someone has two years to sue you, then if you had a claims-made policy, you need an additional policy that covers that gap and that’s called tail insurance. If you have a claims-made policy, you need tail insurance. An occurrence-based policy just means a policy must be in effect when the incident occurs. No tail insurance is necessary for an occurrence-based policy. Now, the main difference between the two is cost. An occurrence-based policy is about a third more expensive per year than a claims-made policy. And then after a claims-made policy ends and you must purchase tail insurance, tail insurance is about twice what your annual premium was. So, if you had a $3,000 annual premium and you had to pay for tail insurance under a claims-made policy, it would be a $6,000 payment, depending upon who’s responsible for it, that would have to be paid.

What is Tail Insurance for a Dentist? | Malpractice Insurance for Dentists

What is tail insurance for dental malpractice coverage? This is one thing they usually don’t teach you in dental school. Still, if you are a dentist, you will need malpractice insurance. You need to be aware of different types of malpractice insurance, and you may have to pay for it. First, the employer should pay for your annual premium. The annual premium is the amount needed to be paid to ensure you each year. And that’s how it works. Every year you pay a premium, and then you’re insured for that year. There are two common types of malpractice insurance coverage for a dentist.

How Much Does Tail Insurance Cost for a Dentist?: How Much is Tail Malpractice Insurance?

How much does tail insurance cost for a dentist? First, let’s talk about when you would need tail insurance, and then we’ll talk about how much it costs. There are two common medical malpractice policies for dentists, and that’s either occurrence-based or claims made. Under an occurrence-based policy, you need a policy in place when the incident occurs. Tail insurance is not necessary. Under a claims-made policy, a policy has to be in effect when the claim is actually made. It’s possible you terminate a contract, you leave an employer, but there’s still going to be a statute of limitation. A period that somebody could sue you from malpractice and in most states, it’s two years.There are exceptions, but I’ll just say for these purposes, it’s two years. Tail insurance would be a policy that covers the gap between when you leave an employer and then the last day that somebody can sue you. Most places require tail policy to be at least two years at most. In the employment contract, it’s going to state who is responsible for tail insurance if you have a claims-made policy. If it doesn’t say that, then you need to figure it out and make sure that language is inserted before signing the agreement. In the agreement, it will have a section that states that the employer will provide the underlying annual premium, it’s how much it costs to insure you on a yearly basis. And then usually, it will state what type of policy that they utilize, and if it is a claims-made policy, who’s responsible to pay for tail insurance.

Occurrence Based Insurance for a Dental Associate Explained | Different From Claims Made for Dentists

What is occurrence-based malpractice insurance for a dentist? If you are coming out of training and just graduated from dental school, you probably haven’t had to think about dental malpractice insurance before. Still, when you sign your new employment contract, there will be language about who pays for the underlying coverage. And then potentially must pay for coverage after the contract terminates. There are two common types of malpractice insurance for dentists. You have occurrence-based coverage and claims-made coverage. Let’s go through both of those, and then we’ll talk a little more in-depth about occurrence-based coverage. A claims-made policy means a policy must be in effect when the claim is made.

General Liability Insurance for a Dentist

One is occurrence-based coverage, and the other is claims-made. In an occurrence-based policy, tail insurance is not necessary. It just means a policy must be in effect when the malpractice occurs. The other coverage is called claims-made. In that scenario, tail insurance is necessary because it states that a policy must be in effect when the claim is made. If you leave an employer, someone could sue you one or two years later, and if you didn’t have a tail policy, you would not be covered even though it happened two and a half years ago. 

Let’s kind of dive into the cost of these types of things. Suppose you have a claims-made policy, which the vast majority of dental associates will have after the contract ends, for whatever reason. In that case, it’s terminated, or it just ends, and it’s not renewed, or maybe someone is in breach of contract. Still, for whatever reason, once the contract terminates, you’ll have to get a policy that covers the gap between the last patient you see and the last date that you can be sued.

Which Malpractice Insurance are you Going to Purchase?

For most states, it’s two years. There are some exceptions for people who are no longer minors. And it’s usually from the date you either knew or should have known of the malpractice event. It’s certainly possible that someone may not even know that malpractice occurred for a year or two. And in that scenario, that’s how the dentist can be sued after the fact. So, you’d have to purchase a tail policy, also called gap insurance or extended reporting, but it’s mostly known as tail insurance in the industry. You’d have to purchase that before the end of your current contract, which would be for a set amount of time.

So, you can get a one-year tail coverage, two-year, five-year, or unlimited. Obviously, the longer the tail, the more expensive it is. Still, most policies will cover somewhere between three to five years because people figure that’s far off enough to cover any claim that could be made. Now, as far as cost goes, the tail is generally about twice what your annual premium is. If your annual premium is, let’s just say, 3000 a year, then your tail cost would be around 6,000. The shorter you’re with the employer, maybe down to 1.5 times what your annual premium is. Whereas if you’ve been there a very long time and want an unlimited tail, it could go up to 3 times your annual premium. But a good rule of thumb is it’s about twice.

Get a Professional Dental Contract Review from an Experienced Arizona Lawyer 

If you are looking for dental contract review services for your practice, it is imperative to hire an experienced dental lawyer to guide you through. Chelle Law has experienced lawyers who can help you with contract review for your dental practice. Contact us for effective contract review services for your dental practice.