Nurse Insurance in California

If you have a commercial lease for a clinic or office, your landlord will likely require you to purchase general liability insurance. This is typically the first policy purchased by small business owners, including nurses.

General liability insurance protects your business from expenses associated with mishaps that cause bodily injury or property damage. It covers your legal defense costs if a patient trips over a loose rug in your practice and sprains their ankle, or if a nurse sits on a patient's glasses and they break.

It also covers advertising injuries, such as copyright infringement. However, general liability insurance for nurses does not cover defamation or invasion of privacy, as that's considered a breach of duty in regard to patient care. In this case, it's covered by malpractice insurance.

California healthcare networks, hospitals, and healthcare facilities often require nurses to carry a medical malpractice insurance policy, also called a professional liability insurance policy. You may need to show proof of coverage, or your employer might provide it for you.

Even when your employer provides nursing malpractice insurance, you should consider buying your own policy. Employer policies often provide limited coverage, and focus on their own interests if a case goes to court. When you purchase a policy, you can choose your limits and gain peace of mind knowing your interests will be represented.

This policy pays for legal defense costs related to mistakes, oversights, and other instances of professional negligence. Breaches of patient confidentiality are also considered a malpractice claim. That includes invasion of privacy, such as a lawsuit from a patient who is unhappy to discover you posted a photo of them on social media without their permission.

Nurses can secure coverage for other specialized risks as part of their professional liability/malpractice coverage, such as:

• License defense coverage
• Biomedical defense coverage
• HIPAA defense coverage
• Sexual misconduct defense coverage
• Telemedicine coverage

In California, state law doesn't mandate malpractice insurance for nurses, though it's required for doctors who work in outpatient surgery.

California state law requires nursing practices that have employees to provide workers’ compensation insurance, which covers medical bills for work-related injuries and occupational diseases. This policy is also recommended for sole proprietors, as health insurance can deny claims for injuries related to your job.

Workers' comp provides disability benefits to offset lost wages for California workers who are disabled or recovering from a job-related injury, such as a strained back caused by lifting a patient. Policies usually include employer's liability insurance, which covers legal costs if an employee sues their employee over an injury.

State law requires commercial auto insurance for any vehicle owned by a business, including a nursing practice. This policy covers property damage and medical bills resulting from an accident. It can help pay for vehicle theft, weather damage, and vandalism, depending on the coverage options you choose.

All California vehicles must have the following car insurance, at minimum:

• $30,000 for injury/death to one person
• $60,000 for injury/death to more than one person
• $15,000 for damage to property

Nurses often drive their own cars to visit patients in their homes. Because personal auto insurance won't cover work-related driving, you'll need hired and non-owned auto insurance (HNOA) in this situation, or if you rent or lease a vehicle used for business. You can often add this coverage to your general liability policy as an endorsement.