AANA Insurance Services Policy Coverage Benefits: Much More Than Malpractice Protection

While AANA Insurance Services offers some of the very best malpractice insurance protection available, our policies also provide other features and coverages* beyond malpractice coverage alone. Here are highlights of some of those:

• Substitute Coverages – If you are unable to work for any reason (vacation, illness, jury duty, etc.) but are still responsible for providing anesthesia services during your absence, another CRNA/nurse anesthesiologist can substitute for you on your policy. Substitute coverage is available to anyone with a full-time, part-time, or 500-plus hour moonlighting policy. Full-time policyholders can use a substitute for up to 90 days over the policy period. For part-time and 500-plus hour policies, 45 days is the maximum. There is absolutely no charge for this coverage. The only requirement is that the CRNAs/nurse anesthesiologists who are working as your substitute must complete an application before they start to work on your behalf.
• Administrative/Disciplinary Hearings – Should you ever have to appear at an administrative hearing, or in front of a licensing authority such as a board of nursing regarding your professional services, you would have coverage for expenses such as attorney’s fees for legal services including pre-hearing discovery and investigation costs, and charges for attorney’s general services.
• Deposition Representation – Should you be required to give a deposition for a claim you are not a party to, this coverage will pay for your attorney’s fee when you receive a subpoena for documents or your testimony arising out of your professional services.
• Military Leave of Absence – If you have one of our policies and you are called up for military service, you can put your policy on “hold” for the duration of your deployment. There is no charge for this feature and no premium is charged to you for the duration of your deployment.
• Defendant Expense – This coverage will reimburse you for expenses such as travel, food, lodging, and loss of earnings when you are required to attend a trial, hearing, or proceeding as a defendant in a covered claim.
• Information Privacy (HIPAA) – Coverage is provided for costs, expenses or fees resulting from the investigation and defense of a HIPAA proceeding with respect to the management and unintentional transmission of confidential health information. For this policy, a “HIPAA proceeding” is defined as any federal proceeding alleging any breach of the responsibilities, obligations or duties imposed upon a healthcare provider under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).
• Assault – This coverage will pay for damages to your property and your medical expenses resulting from an assault or battery upon you while you’re providing your professional services.

If your employer provides your malpractice insurance coverage, you might want to consider purchasing your own policy to supplement the coverage provided by your employer. AANA Insurance Services developed a policy specifically for that reason. In most cases, your employer’s policy will rarely provide any of the coverages described above. Other than the substitute coverage, our supplemental policy provides every coverage listed above and we’ve seen regular utilization of the deposition coverage and the administrative/disciplinary hearing coverage.

Based on a recent closed claim study, the average legal expense for deposition coverage was $3,152, and the average legal expense for administrative/disciplinary hearing coverage was $2,989. When you consider how affordable the supplemental policy is, it is certainly a wise investment for CRNAs/nurse anesthesiologists who depend upon their employers for their malpractice coverage. And, that doesn’t even account for all the other benefits related to the supplemental policy.

To learn more about the policy options available through AANA Insurance Services, or to get a quote or apply for coverage, please visit AANA Malpractice or call our office at 800-343-1368. We welcome the opportunity to be of service.

*Based on state departments of insurance restrictions, these coverages may not be available in all states.

This article was previously published in the September 2018 issue of AANA NewsBulletin. The AANA NewsBulletin ceased publication in July 2020.