Oklahoma Medical Malpractice Insurance

Physicians train long and hard to learn to make the right decisions for their patients. But that training doesn’t include any familiarization with the process of selecting your Medical Malpractice Insurance in Oklahoma. Fortunately, MyMedicalMalpracticeInsurance.com has specialists in Oklahoma ready to help you through this process, and acquire the best possible coverage for you and your practice. With our access to all the top medical malpractice insurance companies in Oklahoma we can make them bid competitively for your business. That will result in you receiving quotations for better terms and lower rates. After advising thousands of physicians, healthcare professionals and medical groups, we are ready to help you find the best coverage available to protect you and your practice.

Why Oklahoma Physicians choose My Medical Malpractice Insurance:

• We’ll provide you with multiple Medical Malpractice Insurance quotes, to your specifications, from the leading Medical Malpractice Insurers in Oklahoma.
  
  
• We’ll provide all the available physician discounts: Risk Management, Claims-free, New to Practice.
  
  
• We’ll include Prior Acts Coverage in your policy, so it won’t be necessary to purchase separate tail coverage.
  
  
• Your policy will be tailored to fit your specific needs by our veteran liability specialists.
  
  
• We’ll provide you with access to our free Practice Tools, such as our Online Patient Satisfaction Survey System, our Certified Professional Healthcare Risk Manager (CPHRM) on staff and many other tools to help you manage your practice efficiently.
  
  
• Teaming with the Medical Liability Monitor -- the nation's leading independent source of Medical Liability Insurance news as well as the political, legal and risk management issues that affect the healthcare industry – we’ve published historical rate data for every city in the Sooner State. You’ll see that the insights offered by this information will be invaluable when making your decisions on your medical malpractice insurance coverage and carrier. That’s just another reason why MyMedicalMalpracticeInsurance.com has become the preferred online site for Oklahoma physicians, healthcare professionals and medical groups looking for ways to lower their medical malpractice insurance rates and find the best terms.
  
  
• Click and request your free Oklahoma Medical Malpractice Insurance Quote today.

Medical Malpractice Insurance for Doctors in Oklahoma

Medical malpractice insurance premiums are moderate in Oklahoma, and due to strong tort reform legislation passed in 2009 and 2011, premiums look to get even more affordable in the future.

The modern era of Oklahoma tort reform began during the medical liability insurance hard market of 2003, when medical malpractice insurance rates were skyrocketing across the country and the number of companies offering malpractice coverage began to shrink. In Oklahoma, specifically, rates jumped by 30 to 60 percent between 2002 and 2003. In response, then-Gov. Brad Henry appointed a medical malpractice liability task force, which was charged with the duty of finding solutions to the growing burden on Oklahoma’s healthcare community. The task force was comprised of

representatives from the medical community, nursing home industry and legal profession. It was from this work that the Oklahoma legislature developed the Affordable Access to Healthcare Act with the intent of deflating the high cost of malpractice insurance and conversely increasing its citizens’ access to healthcare.

The Affordable Access to Healthcare Act, or SB 629, was designed to improve the availability of healthcare services, lower the cost of medical malpractice insurance, ensure fair compensation for legitimate claims and improve the cost-effectiveness of the state’s medical liability system. At the heart of the bill was a $350,000 cap on non-economic damages for obstetric cases as well as those that originated in the emergency room and a requirement that the plaintiff present an affidavit from a qualified expert stating he or she believes negligence occurred.

The affidavit requirement of the Affordable Access to Healthcare Act compelled the affiant to attest that the plaintiff reviewed his or her claim with a qualified expert, acquired a written opinion from the expert and concluded the claim is meritorious. If the plaintiff does not submit this affidavit at the time of filing the action, the court must dismiss the lawsuit without prejudice.

Of course, the most potent aspect of the Affordable Access to Healthcare Act was its $350,000 cap on non-economic damages for obstetric cases as well as those that originated in the emergency room. This is because the most costly adverse medical events often originate with these specialties, and thusly, pay the highest medical liability insurance premiums. The law did leave an exception in which the cap can be pierced for cases involving wrongful death.

Ultimately, both the affidavit requirement and the cap on non-economic damages for obstetric/emergency room cases were deemed unconstitutional by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which essentially neutered the 2003 reforms. The affidavit requirement was overturned in 2006 because the court considered it a “special law” that was prohibited by the Oklahoma constitution because it treated medical malpractice cases differently than all other negligence cases; the non-economic damage cap was overturned for similar reasoning because the court noted it only applied to certain torts.

Following the 2006 and 2008 Supreme Court blows to the efficacy of the Affordable Access to Healthcare Act, many Oklahoma physicians were leaving the state for nearby Texas, whose tort reforms were approved by ballot initiative and viewed as inviolable to court challenge.

Acknowledging the physician exodus as a threat to Oklahomans’ access to healthcare, and having learned from tort reforms previous defeats in the court system, then-Gov. Henry and the state legislature once again visited medical liability tort reform.

After much political wrangling, the legislature produced the Comprehensive Lawsuit Reform Act, or HB 1603, which was intended to curb frivolous lawsuits, reduce court costs and cap all non-economic damages. The law required all physicians to carry at least $1 million in insurance coverage, reinstated the certificate of merit requirement (now for all civil liability lawsuits) and capped non-economic damages at $400,000 (unless the case is deemed an “exceptional circumstance”). Lawmakers argued that the cap on non-economic damages would equate to lower medical professional liability insurance rates because insurers would not have to build “enormous” reserves to cover “jackpot” settlements and awards. Then-Gov. Henry called the legislation “perhaps the most comprehensive tort reform measure in state history.”

Two years later, after the sweeping Republican electoral victories of 2010, newly-elected Gov. Mary Fallin directed the state legislature to revisit tort reform as a means to spur economic growth in Oklahoma. Most significant to the 2011 reforms was the strengthening of the cap on non-economic damages. The new law reset the cap at $350,000 and only made room for piercing the cap if the defendant acted in reckless disregard to the rights of others, acted with gross negligence, acted fraudulently and/or acted with intentional malice. By restricting when the cap on non-economic damages can be pierced, the law offered insurers even greater stability than the 2009 law, which allowed much greater (and more vague) room for piercing the cap.

Because the state of Oklahoma enacted several, strong tort reforms in the last few years, one can expect medical professional liability insurance rates to continue decreasing in the near future. This is why it is crucial to a physician’s business success to employ an experienced medical malpractice insurance broker who can shop his or her coverage in order to get the best possible coverage at the best possible rate.

Click to request your free Oklahoma Medical Malpractice Insurance quote.

All Medical Liability Monitor rate data is protected under United States Copyright Law. The rate data may not be reproduced in whole or part without permission. Contact the editor at Medical Liability Monitor for more information.

OKLAHOMA
Physician Medical Malpractice Insurance Rates

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

2000

Request a Free Medical Malpractice Insurance Quote in Oklahoma

Physicians Liability Insurance Co.

COUNTY	INTERNAL MEDICINE (% change since last survey)	GENERAL SURGERY (% change since last survey)	OB/GYN (% change since last survey)
Entire state	$3,189 0%	$12,275 0%	$16,608 0%

2001

Request a Free Medical Malpractice Insurance Quote in Oklahoma

Physician Liability Insurance Co.
(Occurrence Coverage)

COUNTY	INTERNAL MEDICINE (% change since last survey)	GENERAL SURGERY (% change since last survey)	OB/GYN (% change since last survey)
Entire state	$3,189 0%	$12,275 0%	$16,608 0%

2002

Request a Free Medical Malpractice Insurance Quote in Oklahoma

Physicians Liability Insurance Co.
(Occurrence Coverage)

COUNTY	INTERNAL MEDICINE (% change since last survey)	GENERAL SURGERY (% change since last survey)	OB/GYN (% change since last survey)
Entire state	$3,317 4.0%	$12,766 4.0%	$17,272 4.0%

2003

Request a Free Medical Malpractice Insurance Quote in Oklahoma

Physicians Liability Insurance Co.
(Occurrence Coverage)

COUNTY	INTERNAL MEDICINE (% change since last survey)	GENERAL SURGERY (% change since last survey)	OB/GYN (% change since last survey)
Entire state	$4,312 30.0%	$16,596 30.0%	$22,454 30.0%

2004

Request a Free Medical Malpractice Insurance Quote in Oklahoma

Physicians Liability Insurance Co.
(On 7-1-04, all occurrence coverage terminated and was converted to claims made, with retroactive dates of 7-1-04. Insured's with more than four years continuous coverage with PLICO are paying mature premiums shown. The 2003 PLICO rates are occurrence rates)

	INTERNAL MEDICINE (% change since last survey)	GENERAL SURGERY (% change since last survey)	OB/GYN (% change since last survey)
Entire state	$7,403 71.7%	$28,494 71.7%	$38,553 71.7%

GE Medical Protective

COUNTY	INTERNAL MEDICINE (% change since last survey)	GENERAL SURGERY (% change since last survey)	OB/GYN (% change since last survey)
Entire state	$11,050 79.4%	$35,455 108.7%	$40,392 93.7%

2005

Request a Free Medical Malpractice Insurance Quote in Oklahoma

Physicians Liability Insurance Co.

COUNTY	INTERNAL MEDICINE (% change since last survey)	GENERAL SURGERY (% change since last survey)	OB/GYN (% change since last survey)
Entire state	$11,990 62.0%	$46,054 61.6%	$63,058 63.6%

Medical Assurance Co. (ProAssurance)

COUNTY	INTERNAL MEDICINE (% change since last survey)	GENERAL SURGERY (% change since last survey)	OB/GYN (% change since last survey)
Entire state	$11,000 0%	$36,425 0%	$51,680 0%

Medical Protective

COUNTY	INTERNAL MEDICINE (% change since last survey)	GENERAL SURGERY (% change since last survey)	OB/GYN (% change since last survey)
Entire state	$14,918 35.0%	$47,865 35.0%	$54,531 35.0%

2006

Request a Free Medical Malpractice Insurance Quote in Oklahoma

Physicians Liability Insurance Co.

	INTERNAL MEDICINE (% change since last survey)	GENERAL SURGERY (% change since last survey)	OB/GYN (% change since last survey)
Entire state	$11,990 0%	$46,054 0%	$63,058 0%

Medical Assurance Co. (ProAssurance)

COUNTY	INTERNAL MEDICINE (% change since last survey)	GENERAL SURGERY (% change since last survey)	OB/GYN (% change since last survey)
Entire state	$11,760 6.9%	$39,294 7.9%	$55,814 8.0%

Medical Protective

COUNTY	INTERNAL MEDICINE (% change since last survey)	GENERAL SURGERY (% change since last survey)	OB/GYN (% change since last survey)
Entire state	$14,677 -1.6%	$50,980 6.5%	$55,667 2.1%

2007

Request a Free Medical Malpractice Insurance Quote in Oklahoma

Physicians Liability Insurance Co.

	INTERNAL MEDICINE (% change since last survey)	GENERAL SURGERY (% change since last survey)	OB/GYN (% change since last survey)
Entire state	$11,990 0%	$46,054 0%	$63,058 0%

Medical Assurance Co. (ProAssurance)

COUNTY	INTERNAL MEDICINE (% change since last survey)	GENERAL SURGERY (% change since last survey)	OB/GYN (% change since last survey)
Entire state	$11,760 0%	$39,294 0%	$55,814 0%

Medical Protective

COUNTY	INTERNAL MEDICINE (% change since last survey)	GENERAL SURGERY (% change since last survey)	OB/GYN (% change since last survey)
Entire state	$14,677 0%	$50,980 0%	$55,667 0%

2008

Request a Free Medical Malpractice Insurance Quote in Oklahoma

Physicians Liability Insurance Co.

	INTERNAL MEDICINE (% change since last survey)	GENERAL SURGERY (% change since last survey)	OB/GYN (% change since last survey)
Entire state	$11,990 0%	$46,054 0%	$63,058 0%

Medical Assurance Co. (ProAssurance)

COUNTY	INTERNAL MEDICINE (% change since last survey)	GENERAL SURGERY (% change since last survey)	OB/GYN (% change since last survey)
Entire state	$11,760 0%	$39,294 0%	$55,814 0%

Medical Protective

COUNTY	INTERNAL MEDICINE (% change since last survey)	GENERAL SURGERY (% change since last survey)	OB/GYN (% change since last survey)
Entire state	$14,677 0%	$50,980 0%	$55,667 0%

2009

Request a Free Medical Malpractice Insurance Quote in Oklahoma

Physicians Liability Insurance Co.

	INTERNAL MEDICINE (% change since last survey)	GENERAL SURGERY (% change since last survey)	OB/GYN (% change since last survey)
Entire state	$11,990 0%	$46,054 0%	$63,058 0%

Medical Assurance Co. (ProAssurance)

COUNTY	INTERNAL MEDICINE (% change since last survey)	GENERAL SURGERY (% change since last survey)	OB/GYN (% change since last survey)
Entire state	$11,760 0%	$39,294 0%	$55,814 0%

Medical Protective

COUNTY	INTERNAL MEDICINE (% change since last survey)	GENERAL SURGERY (% change since last survey)	OB/GYN (% change since last survey)
Entire state	$14,677 0%	$50,980 0%	$55,667 0%

2010 coming soon.
To find the most current medical malpractice insurance rates in Oklahoma, contact Mike Matray at the Medical Liability Monitor. MyMedicalMalpracticeInsurance.com has negotiated an excellent rate for all of our users, mention our site, and you can receive the Medical Liability Monitor at a low promotional price.