Colorado Medical Malpractice Insurance

• Most Common Limits of Liability: $1 million/$3 million
• Major Malpractice Insurers:
  • COPIC Insurance Co.
  • The Doctors Company
  • Lexington Insurance Co.
  • Medical Protective Co.
  • Continental Casualty Co.
• Cost of Medical Malpractice Insurance: Moderate

Colorado has enjoyed a stable and moderate medical malpractice climate for the past few decades. Rates are moderate, with premiums for specialists like obstetricians coming in at about $50,000 per year. Prior to medical liability reforms in the 1980s, this was not the case. However, the Centennial State was able to pass comprehensive tort reform, including damage caps, which has helped keep Colorado rates down. The state also has a variety of carriers competing for physicians’ business.

Colorado passed major tort reforms in 1988 with the Health Care Availability Act (HCAA). This act created a $1 million overall cap on malpractice awards, with a $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages (raised to $300,000 in 2003). The HCAA also established periodic payments for future damages and created procedures and rules of evidence in medical malpractice cases. The HCAA withstood a constitutional challenge in 1993, when the Colorado Supreme Court found that “the concerns that prompted the General Assembly to pass the HCAA, as expressed in the declaration of intent as well as the legislative history of the act, reasonably support the passage of the act.” This judicial stamp-of-approval on the state’s damage-cap legislation created an actuarial predictability that allows medical malpractice insurers to offer the moderate premium rates that Colorado physicians enjoy.

Additional Colorado reforms include the requirement for plaintiffs to file a “certificate of review” within 60 days of service of the lawsuit on the defendant, a measure intended to reduce frivolous lawsuits. In 2003, Colorado passed a physician apology statute, which allows physicians to take responsibility for a poor outcome and provide an apology, but prevents anything said in the apology from being admitted in court. In the same year, Colorado passed a law limiting vicarious liability, meaning that a physician practice or hospital, while liable for its own negligence, cannot be held liable for the negligent acts of its employed physicians.

• Damage Caps? Yes, total damages are limited to $1 million; noneconomic damages are limited to $300,000.
• Patient Compensation Fund? No
• Apology Law? Yes, statements and gestures expressing apology, fault, sympathy and general benevolence can be made to a patient or a patient’s relative or representative.
• Collateral Source Reform? Yes, Colorado requires that benefits form collateral sources be disclosed and used to reduce recoverable economic damages, not including any amount paid by the plaintiff to secure the benefit.
• Periodic Payments? Yes, periodic payments are mandatory for awards with future damages greater than $150,000; for amounts of $150,000 or less, application of periodic payments is discretionary.
• Joint Liability Reform? Yes, defendants are proportionally liable for only their share of negligence, unless they deliberately conspired with others to commit the act.
• Limits on Plaintiff Attorney’s Fees? No

Overview

Medical malpractice rates in Colorado are moderate, and have been holding steady or falling in recent years. Reforms to the Colorado medical liability system have helped keep rates down, as have the number of insurers in the state.

Get Historic Rates

By combining our efforts with those of the Medical Liability Monitor – the nation’s leading independent source of Medical Liability Insurance news, as well as the political, legal and risk management issues that affect the healthcare industry – we’ve published historic rate data for every county in the Centennial State. You can view all the rates by completing the three simple steps on the left of this page. You’ll find the insights offered by this information invaluable when making your decision on your medical malpractice insurance coverage and carriers. This is only one of the many reasons that Cunningham Group Insurance has become the preferred online source for Colorado physicians, healthcare professionals and medical groups looking to find the best coverage and lower their medical malpractice insurance rates.

Coverage by Colorado County

Rates do not vary across the 64 counties of Colorado. Physicians practicing in El Paso County near Colorado Springs or in the City and County of Denver will enjoy the same low premiums as the rest of the state.

Colorado Medical Society
DORA Division of Insurance
Colorado Medical Board
Colorado Society of Osteopathic Medicine
Health First Colorado
All MD Colorado Healthcare Defense Attorney Listing