PRODUCT: CRNA professional liability insurance

COMPANIES: Nurses Service Organization, CNA

BEST RATING: Coverage is written on CNA paper, which carries a rating of A (Excellent).

AVAILABILITY: Coverage is available to individuals directly and open to brokers.

FOCUS: The advanced nurse industry includes four professional segments, according to David Griffiths, senior vice president, Nurses Service Organization (NSO): nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) and midwives.

When NSO, an Aon brand, started back in 1976, it focused on providing insurance solutions to registered nurses. In 1992, the company expanded its offering to include nurse practitioners, and later added clinical nurse specialists to the mix as well.

Now, NSO is expanding with its exclusive carrier CNA to bring the same type of customized professional liability coverage to CRNAs, rounding out its product offering to cover “three of the four advanced practice nursing professions,” Griffiths says. “As nursing professionals take on a larger role in the U.S. health care system, we saw this product as an opportunity to provide a solution.”

Besides MedPro, CNA is the only nationwide admitted carrier in the U.S. CRNA professional liability space—and the company brings niche experience from a former partnership with the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA).

The downside of that product was that “in order to gain access, you had to be a member of AANA,” Griffiths explains. “With the departure of that relationship, we’re now able to offer CRNAs coverage without requiring them to be a member of the association.”

According to Griffiths, what distinguishes NSO’s “robust product” is its 40-year legacy. “The product itself is building off the nurse and the nurse practitioner coverage we already have,” he explains, adding that NSO already covers more than half a million nursing professionals.

In addition to standard coverages like professional liability, personal injury and medical payments, the NSO/CNA policy includes cosmetic procedures coverage, including dermal fillers, laser hair removal, permanent cosmetics, collagen injections and more; assault coverage, which reimburses for damage to property and medical expenses—including workplace violence counseling—if the insured is the victim of a violent action at work; and First Aid expense coverage. Note: Some of these coverages are dependent on state approval.

On the legal side, the policy provides access to a defense attorney, with a defendant expense benefit which reimburses the insured for lost wages and covered expenses when they are required to attend a trial, hearing or proceeding as a defendant in a covered claim. It also covers defense of licensure and disciplinary charges if the insured faces a complaint from their state licensing board.

Importantly for CRNAs who are self-employed or perform additional work outside the hospital environment, coverage is 24/7 and portable, meaning it applies to incidents that occur both on the job and after hours. Coverage also remains in force even if the insured changes jobs or enters a period of unemployment.

NSO also offers a 50% “part-time moonlighting discount” for CRNAs who provide professional services in a self-employed capacity or outside a hospital environment, Griffiths says.

While many of those features have become standard in the nursing and nurse practitioner world, “they’re usually add-ons in the CRNA space,” Griffiths points out. “They’re included in our policy.”

UNDERWRITING: Coverage is available in all U.S. states except Kansas, New Mexico and Wisconsin, on an occurrence or claims-made basis. Professional liability limits are $1 million/ $3 million, with the exception of Florida ($250,000/$750,000). Limits vary for other coverages.

Griffiths adds that NSO and CNA have also streamlined the application process to make it easier for insureds. In the nurses professional liability space, “typically it’s a multi-page application, and carriers ask for a lot of information that’s either not pertinent or not necessarily leveraged in the actuarial analysis,” he points out. “Our application is a lot simpler.”

For example, many CRNAs work out of multiple locations. But instead of requiring that information, NSO’s application simply asks for the insured’s residence and moves forward from there.

MINIMUM PREMIUM: Varies by state or county based on losses and exposure.

TARGET: CRNAs.

COVERAGE TERRITORY: Nationwide.

CONTACT: Nurses Service Organization, 1100 Virginia Dr., Suite 250, Fort Washington, PA 19034; 800-701-1986.

Jacquelyn Connelly is IA senior editor.