Telemedicine and Telemedicine Liability Coverage
We have not recently talked about telemedicine liability coverage on this blog. First, what is telemedicine? According to the American Telemedicine Association, telemedicine is defined as, “…the use of medical information exchanged from one site to another via electronic communications to improve patients’ health status.” More specifically, there are many different kinds of services that can be offered via telemedicine, including: referral to a specialist, patient consultations, remote monitoring of patients, and medical education. While telemedicine can provide a lot of benefits to patients, including increasing access to care, physicians need to be wary of providing this kind of care and need to take appropriate measures to reduce their telemedicine med mal risk.
Do you provide telemedicine? Do you need telemedicine liability coverage?
Telemedicine is rarely covered in a traditional physician malpractice insurance policy. And, for better or for worse, not all malpractice insurance carriers offer telemedicine liability coverage. Also, some insurance companies may not offer riders to an existing policy to cover potential telemedicine liability issues and a separate policy may be needed. Finally, with little case law history to review, telemedicine malpractice risk is still largely unknown. It has been our experience that physicians have underestimated the risk associated with telemedicine and we advise physicians to move forward cautiously.
Teleradiology is one of the most common forms of telemedicine we see. Rates for this kind of coverage vary based on the state the patients are from (what state the physician is reviewing slides from) and how many hours per week the physician is working. Although it is a low liability position/job, it still has its own traps and pitfalls that physicians need to be aware of. We’d be happy to explain them to you.
MyMedicalMalpracticeInsurance.com knows which insurers write telemedicine liability policies in your area, and we’re prepared to get you competitive quotes and the coverage you need.
