I couldn’t agree more.

As a provider, you should have assurances that you’re protected beyond your temporary assignment, even if your locum tenens firm changes their insurance carrier or goes out of business.

Many locum tenens/staffing agencies offer claims-made coverage.  Locum Leaders offers occurrence coverage, which provides more comprehensive protection.

Claims-made policies, according to Kern, “offer only temporary coverage, which expires unless it is either renewed or continued through the purchase of extended reporting coverage, a ‘tail.’”

With occurrence malpractice insurance, the coverage trigger is whether the incident in question took place during the policy effective dates.  That means you don’t need to worry about tail coverage or insurance carrier changes or whether the staffing agency will maintain coverage for your prior activities into the indefinite future.

If you decide to work with a staffing organization that only offers claims-made coverage, it is in your best interests to know the details of the tail coverage. Are the limits sufficient? Is the tail coverage shared by a large number of doctors? Will coverage cease before the statute of limitations expires?  These are all important questions to ask.