Medical Malpractice Insurance FAQ
Answer: Yes Teladoc has Medical professional liability insurance, sometimes known as medical malpractice insurance.
Teladoc also carries a separate line of professional liability insurance specifically covering expert medical opinions.
In addition, Teladoc carries Commercial General Liability Insurance and Technology E&O and Cyber Liability Insurance.
Answer: Our malpractice insurance policy is written to cover the entire family of Teladoc Health, Inc. affiliates, globally (collectively referred to herein as “Teladoc”).
In the future as we create additional legal entities we will add them to the insurance policy upon incorporation.
Answer: Our medical professional liability insurance policy protects our employed and contracted physicians and other licensed health care professionals (e.g. nurse practitioners and physician assistants) (collectively referred to herein as “Health Workers”) from liability associated with wrongful practices resulting in bodily injury, personal injury such as mental anguish, medical expenses and property damage, as well as the cost of defending lawsuits related to such claims.
Our insurance policy covers us for any “medical professional injury” that results from acts or omissions in the providing of or failure to provide “healthcare professional services” only if the injury is caused by a “medical incident” that results from “health care professional services” that are performed as part of Health Workers’ duties with Teladoc.
The insurance policy covers all telemedicine and telehealth activities that Teladoc performs provided that such services are delivered remotely (via telephone, video, or otherwise virtually). In most situations, the Teladoc policy ‘sits on top’ of any primary insurance our healthcare professionals carry and will provide coverage in excess of the primary coverages or when primary coverage is not available.
Teladoc policy does not cover face-to-face in-person clinical care (e.g. onsite clinics) or work outside of, or on behalf of anyone other than, Teladoc.
Answer: We carry medical professional liability insurance with umbrella coverage. Together, these offer $6 million per incident and $9 million annually in the aggregate.
Our expert medical opinion E&O coverage offers $10 million per incident and annually in the aggregate.
Our Technology E&O/Cyber Liability Insurance provides no less than $15 million per incident and annually in the aggregate.
Some lines of insurance may have higher limits in order to meet certain local or specific contractual requirements.
Answer: Yes. We believe that, with respect to the medical malpractice coverage, the combined per incident limit of $6 million of professional liability and umbrella coverage, in addition to any primary coverages carried by Health Workers, adequately protects the people who work for us.
With respect to our other lines of coverage, by working with experienced insurance professionals, we have carefully evaluated the risks and have reasonably determined we are adequately covered on these lines as well.
Answer: Yes. Having provided tens of millions of consultations, we have had complaints and have even been named in a very small number of lawsuits. In relation to the scope, breadth, and volume of services we provide, the number of lawsuits and demand letters is phenomenally low.
Answer: All physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and any other licensed health-care professional, employed by Teladoc are covered by our policy.
Answer: Yes. Our policy also covers independent contractors for the professional healthcare services they provide on behalf of Teladoc.
Answer: We have a claims-made policy. Teladoc does not have an occurrence-based professional liability policy.
All Health Workers who work for Teladoc are covered for any claim brought forth from an incident that occurred during their provision of care on behalf of Teladoc; as long as the incident happened during their engagement for services provided for Teladoc, and provided Teladoc’s claims-made policy remains in effect.
Example:
Assume Physician A was employed by Teladoc from January 1, 2020 through September 30, 2020. On February 1, 2021, a claim is filed against Physician A and Teladoc relating to alleged negligence in an encounter that occurred on March 1, 2020 for services performed for Teladoc Healthcare. Is Physician A insured?
Yes. Since the alleged claim occurred within the periods of employment and the services were provided for Teladoc this claim would be covered by the insurance policy even though the provider is no longer working for Teladoc.
Answer: No. Teladoc does not currently purchase individual Tail coverage.
Our Medical professional liability policy does not require us to purchase individual Tail coverage when someone leaves Teladoc. While individual claims-made policies usually necessitate the purchase of individual tail coverage, Teladoc holds a single, corporate claims-made policy that is renewed continuously.
Therefore, individual tail coverage is neither necessary nor possible when someone leaves Teladoc. Employees and contractors are covered for healthcare work performed for Teladoc even if the claim is received after the employee or contractor ceases to work for Teladoc, because Teladoc corporate policy remains in effect.
Teladoc intends to purchase tail coverage for no less than 3 years if we are acquired or if we decided to discontinue our business.
Answer: Yes. Health Workers will be covered for all work performed for Teladoc even after they have terminated their employment or contract.
Health Workers who terminate their employment or contract will continue to be covered after their last day. Coverage is limited to any work performed for Teladoc.
Work performed for a new employer would not be covered.
Coverage will be provided regardless of whether the Health Worker resigned or was terminated involuntarily.
Answer: Yes as long as it was unintentional.
Practitioners should be ensuring they are licensed in the jurisdictions in which they are rendering services, which is generally understood to include the jurisdiction in which the patient is located when receiving care there. Certain jurisdictions have loosened these restrictions recently due to the pandemic, but this loosening may only be temporary.
There is an endorsement on the policy that provides coverage for claims if the provider inadvertently renders or fails to render Professional Services via a telemedicine platform to any patient in a state or jurisdiction outside where the healthcare professional does not hold a current license. This cannot be intentional or systematic, however.
Answer: The policy does not cover the following:
- Disputes over timely completion or alteration of medical records
- Fraud, abuse or non-compliance with the rules or regulations of Medicaid or Medicare or other applicable government health plan
- Substance abuse by the physician