Beneficial article regarding additional insureds by KAMMCO.
Insurance Policy Q&A
By Stacy Moorhead CPCU, AAI, ARM
Health Care Facilities Manager
Question: Are employed nurses covered under our professional liability policy?
Answer: The Kansas Health Care Provider Insurance Availability Act (The Act) was passed in 1976 and has allowed Kansas to enjoy a favorable malpractice climate for many years and has even been referenced in support of our current tort reform by the Supreme Court. K.S.A. 40-3401* includes certain professionals and facilities as defined healthcare providers and requires compliance with the Health Care Stabilization Fund (HCSF). In 2015, legislative efforts were made to include nursing facilities in this statute with the thought that coverage may be easier to obtain, and nursing facilities would be assured of continued tort reform protections.
For nursing facilities, this now means purchasing the required coverage limits and selecting one of the HCSF coverage limits. Professional liability insurance coverage required by and provided by the HCSF must be written in a manner that applies solely to the defined healthcare provider, i.e., the licensed facility. Coverage limits may not be reduced or eroded by paying claims for any other party, such as the nurses or other employees of the facility. This sometimes causes unease amongst the employed providers who would otherwise have no coverage if individually named in a claim for professional healthcare services.
KAMMCO’s solution is to make available a blanket automatic limit of coverage just for the employees, students, and volunteers of the facility. Coverage is provided for those individuals not separately required to comply with the HCSF, and it applies to those services rendered while at your facility operating as an employee, student, or volunteer. This coverage cannot be used to moonlight in other facilities. The policy continues to apply to those services rendered by past individuals, thus, covering past, present, and future employees, students, and volunteers for services rendered at the facility. Tail coverage does not become an issue until the coverage is terminated by the facility. This can be confusing to some employees who expect a declarations page with their name on it, but since this blanket shared coverage limit is provided by an endorsement to the facility policy, there is no personalized individual policy form available to any one employee.
If you have questions about this coverage or any other insurance questions of KAMMCO, please contact Stacy Moorhead at 800.232.2259 or smoorhead@kammco.com.
*”Healthcare provider” means a person licensed to practice any branch of the healing arts by the state board of healing arts, a person who holds a temporary permit to practice any branch of the healing arts issued by the state board of healing arts, a person engaged in a postgraduate training program approved by the state board of healing arts, a medical care facility licensed by the state of Kansas, a podiatrist licensed by the state board of healing arts, a health maintenance organization issued a certificate of authority by the commissioner, an optometrist licensed by the board of examiners in optometry, a pharmacist licensed by the state board of pharmacy, a licensed professional nurse who is authorized to practice as a registered nurse anesthetist, a licensed professional nurse who has been granted a temporary authorization to practice nurse anesthesia under K.S.A. 65-1153, and amendments thereto, a professional corporation organized pursuant to the professional corporation law of Kansas by persons who are authorized by such law to form such a corporation and who are healthcare providers as defined by this subsection, a Kansas limited liability company organized for the purpose of rendering professional services by its members who are healthcare providers as defined by this subsection and who are legally authorized to render the professional services for which the limited liability company is organized, a partnership of persons who are healthcare providers under this subsection, a Kansas not-for-profit corporation organized for the purpose of rendering professional services by persons who are healthcare providers as defined by this subsection, a nonprofit corporation organized to administer the graduate medical education programs of community hospitals or medical care facilities affiliated with the university of Kansas school of medicine, a dentist certified by the state board of healing arts to administer anesthetics under K.S.A. 65-2899, and amendments thereto, a psychiatric hospital licensed prior to January 1, 1988, and continuously thereafter under K.S.A. 2015 Supp. 75-3307b, prior to its repeal, and K.S.A. 2019 Supp. 39-2001 et seq., and amendments thereto, or a mental health center or mental health clinic licensed by the state of Kansas. On and after January 1, 2015, “healthcare provider” also means a physician assistant licensed by the state board of healing arts, a licensed advanced practice registered nurse who is authorized by the board of nursing to practice as an advanced practice registered nurse in the classification of a nurse-midwife, a licensed advanced practice registered nurse who has been granted a temporary authorization by the board of nursing to practice as an advanced practice registered nurse in the classification of a nurse-midwife, a nursing facility licensed by the state of Kansas, an assisted living facility licensed by the state of Kansas or a residential healthcare facility licensed by the state of Kansas. “Healthcare provider” does not include: (1) Any state institution for people with intellectual disability; (2) any state psychiatric hospital; (3) any person holding an exempt license issued by the state board of healing arts or the board of nursing; (4) any person holding a visiting clinical professor license from the state board of healing arts; (5) any person holding an inactive license issued by the state board of healing arts; (6) any person holding a federally active license issued by the state board of healing arts; (7) an advanced practice registered nurse who is authorized by the board of nursing to practice as an advanced practice registered nurse in the classification of nurse-midwife or nurse anesthetist and who practices solely in the course of employment or active duty in the United States government or any of its departments, bureaus or agencies or who provides professional services as a charitable healthcare provider as defined under K.S.A. 75-6102, and amendments thereto; or (8) a physician assistant licensed by the state board of healing arts who practices solely in the course of employment or active duty in the United States government or any of its departments, bureaus or agencies or who provides professional services as a charitable healthcare provider as defined under K.S.A. 75-6102, and amendments thereto.
