Liability insurance for Healthcare

Where malpractice ends and general liability begins.

Start with a guide

These guides connect the coverage decisions below; use the questions to drill into a specific rule.

Industry guide · 2026 edition

Professional Services Insurance: The 2026 Playbook

Professional services businesses should start with the liability created by their advice, designs, recommendations, or deliverables—not with a package label. This playbook maps the professional-liability, general- liability, cyber, and management-liability decisions to the work you do, the contracts you sign, and the continuity terms that can decide whether a later claim reaches a policy at all.

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Questions by coverage line

Professional Liability

All Professional Liability questions →

Do I need malpractice tail coverage? Only if you are leaving a claims-made policy without something else covering your prior acts — that is the entire test. Occurrence policies have the tail built in. For employed physicians the practical question is who pays for it, and the AMA's advice is to settle that in the employment contract, not at resignation.
Do I want claims made or occurrence malpractice? If occurrence coverage is offered for your specialty and market, it is the simpler buy — tail coverage is built in, so changing jobs or retiring costs nothing extra. Claims-made works just as well on one condition: who pays the tail must be settled in writing before you sign, not negotiated at departure.
What is the difference between professional liability and malpractice insurance? No — professional liability and malpractice are usually overlapping names for liability arising from professional services, not two universally separate insurance products. “Malpractice” is the profession-specific label used most often for medical and legal negligence; E&O/professional liability is the broader category. The actual form, insured profession, allegations, and law control.

Coverage mechanics for Healthcare

Policy mechanics, exclusions, certificates, and claims questions live on our sister publication: Healthcare on isthiscovered.org.