It is important for physicians and surgeons who wish to practice in the state of Kansas, to understand that medical malpractice insurance is different and more complex than it is in most states. In most states, physicians have many different choices and can choose to place their medical malpractice insurance coverage with the carrier of their choice.
In part one, of the “How Kansas Medical Malpractice Insurance Works” blog series, we discussed how the state works in conjunction with admitted carriers to provide coverage for all licensed physicians. Part two of this blog series explains the basics on how physicians can get medical malpractice insurance coverage in Kansas if they are unable to get coverage from the admitted carriers.
Types of Kansas Medical Liability Insurance Carriers
The Kansas Department of Insurance will only allow fully admitted carriers to provide the basic coverage ($200,000/$600,000 limits) for Kansas resident physicians. An admitted carrier is a medical liability insurance carrier that is licensed and regulated by the department of insurance in their respective state.
The Kansas Healthcare Stabilization Fund (HCSF) provides the second layer of coverage to bring the physicians limits of liability of up to $1,000,000/$3,000,000. This is an important factor in that it rules out many of the medical malpractice insurance carrier options that physicians of other states have access to; such as Risk Retention Groups or the “A” rated carriers of the non-admitted, non-standard market; such as surplus lines insurance carriers.
These types of medical liability insurance carriers in other states provide coverage options for physicians and surgeons that have non traditional practices, have had a significant amount of claims, or have had a medical license probation or suspension that bring them out of the standard market.
The Kansas Availability Plan for Kansas Medical Malpractice Insurance
The solution in Kansas for the physician who cannot get medical malpractice insurance coverage through the standard admitted carriers is met through what is called the Kansas Availability Plan (KAP). The Kansas Availability Plan is a fully admitted state carrier and is written on Kammco paper. The Kansas Availability Plan will provide medical malpractice insurance coverage for any full-time Kansas resident physician or surgeon that can not get coverage through the other standard, admitted physician malpractice insurance carriers.
Two declinations are required from available standard carriers with an application to receive a quote. This means that a physician must apply for coverage at two different standard admitted medical malpractice insurance carriers, and those carriers must decline to offer the physician coverage. As can be expected, and it is congruent with other non-standard medical liability insurance carriers, the premium tends to be higher. There is also a different set of rules that apply to the Kansas Health Care Stabilization Fund charge. The rates for funded physicians, insured through the Kansas Availability Plan, are based on a percentage of what the Kansas Availability Plan is offering instead of the traditional rate factor of physician specialty and retroactive date.
Kansas Department of Insurance rules states that any admitted medical malpractice insurance carrier and the Kansas Healthcare Stabilization Fund will provide coverage for all medical acts of a Kansas resident physician. In other words, a medical liability insurance carrier can NOT exclude coverage for medical acts that a physician does in a moonlighting position, different medical facility than their primary medical office, or work the Kansas resident physician does in contiguous states. There typically is no additional charge applied by the Kansas Health Care Stabilization Fund for work done in surrounding states except for the state of Missouri. With Missouri medical malpractice insurance, the fund charges an additional 25 percent for every Kansas resident physician that has an active Missouri medical license.
The above information is just a few of the complexities that a physician must address in securing appropriate medical malpractice insurance coverage with and in the state of Kansas. Kansas medical malpractice insurance is more complex than most states and requires an expert to be sure that a physician is compliant with the rules and regulations outlined by the Kansas Department of Insurance. eQuoteMD can assist a Kansas resident or non-resident physician with the necessary forms and an understanding of its coverage and complexities for medical malpractice insurance.
