If a physician switches medical malpractice insurance carriers, it is customary for the new medical malpractice insurance carrier to provide “prior acts” coverage for the physician. This means that the new medical malpractice insurance carrier uses the same retroactive date as the previous medical malpractice insurance carrier so the physician’s coverage is seamless. Now, any claim which arose from “prior acts”– when the physician was insured with the prior medical malpractice insurance carrier — will be covered by the new medical malpractice insurance carrier. This action eliminates the need for the physician to purchase a “tail” policy from the first medical malpractice insurance carrier upon cancellation of their policy.
