How long do I have to decide whether or not to purchase tail coverage?
Some carriers could provide 30 days, while some provide 60 days after the physician has left the group to decide whether you’d like to purchase tail coverage. If you’re a sole-proprietor or are the Practice Manager of a group that assumes the cost of tail for departed physicians, then by all means, take your time to make a determination within the allotted period. You might need this time to establish appropriate financing or to figure out whether a future employer could be taking on this responsibility.
BUT… if you are a medical practice and there is no employment agreement stipulating that the practice needs to take on this cost, the practice is still obligated to inform the departed physician of the available option to purchase tail coverage. We recommend you establish a policy where you document such offering to the individual, and if at all possible, before the physician has left the practice. Attempting to contact such individual by mail or phone after the individual has left to go practice elsewhere may be ineffective. The last thing you want to find out a year down the road is that the departed physician has been served a demand letter while he was working at your practice, and he is claiming that he was never offered tail insurance. Guess who might get stuck with the bill?
