Plastic surgery and physician-led aesthetics
Reconstructive surgery, cosmetic surgery, injectables, energy devices, anesthesia, and facility ownership can require separate classifications.
The Doctors Insurance Agency
Medical malpractice insurance is all we do.
We are a boutique, specialized agency for physicians and physician groups. We help physicians understand your policy behind the premium: the work insured, the limits available, the dates that matter, and the terms that can change a claim. Our family includes physicians, so this work is personal.
Start with the coverage decision in front of you.
Choose the practice, career, or policy question that best matches the decision you need to make.
Start your first attending job or moonlight
Check the policy type, tail terms, limits, and start date before you sign or begin work.
Read the first-job guideChange jobs or leave a group
Check your current policy, tail duty, prior acts coverage, new work, and final coverage date.
Read the group-exit guideOpen or buy a practice
Insure the clinicians, services, entities, and locations before the first patient visit.
Read the practice-opening guideAdd a clinician, location, or service
Tell the carrier what changed before the new person, place, or procedure starts.
Choose a change guideReview a renewal or carrier
Check the practice facts, policy terms, filed rate inputs, and decision date.
Read the renewal guideSell, close, or retire
Plan the final coverage date, tail, records duties, entity changes, and proof of coverage.
Choose an exit guideA malpractice quote is a policy comparison, not a price list.
Read the application, quote, declarations, policy, and endorsements together. Each describes a different part of the insurance decision.
Read the policy review guide- 01 Who and what your policy covers
- A useful comparison starts with the actual clinicians, entities, locations, procedures, and facilities that need protection.
- 02 When your coverage starts and ends
- Effective dates, retroactive dates, reporting provisions, prior acts, and tail terms can decide which policy may respond to earlier care.
- 03 What your policy costs and pays
- Price matters, but so do limits, exclusions, defense treatment, settlement terms, and the carrier's requirements for the work described.
Understand what a policy limit does - and does not - answer.
A medical malpractice policy and a household asset plan answer different questions. Policy limits affect available insurance for covered claims. Ownership, debt, exemptions, and guarantees can create separate exposure.
Read the asset exposure guide- 01 A stated limit is only the starting point
- The policy defines the claim, aggregate, defense expenses, deductible or retention, and any excess layer.
- 02 Asset questions sit outside your policy form
- The answer depends on the asset, its owner, existing debt, applicable law, and the type of claim.
- 03 A personal guarantee creates debt outside malpractice coverage
- A malpractice policy does not pay debt owed under a personal guarantee.
Learn your policy terms before you need them.
Med-Mal 101 explains what a malpractice policy can cover, when a claims-made policy may respond, how limits and defense costs work, and why a quote needs more than one price.
Apply the numbers to your own decision.
Each tool uses rates and factors taken from public California filings.
California rate explorer
Compare filed base rates by carrier, specialty, and territory.
Use the rate explorerFiled rate comparison
Compare the same specialty and territory across available filed-rate datasets.
Compare filed ratesTail cost estimator
Apply filed tail factors to the filed base premium for a specialty and county.
Estimate a tail costClaims-made or occurrence comparison
Compare the timing and cumulative cost pattern of two policy forms.
Compare policy formsRenewal timeline
Calculate review dates from a renewal or coverage start month.
Calculate review datesTail responsibility checklist
Follow the policy owner, tail clause, departure condition, written offer, and acceptance deadline.
Use the tail checklistMatch your policy to the work you actually perform.
Specialty, procedures, sites, staff, entities, and call duties can change the class, quote, terms, and coverage questions a physician should ask.
Orthopedics
Spine, trauma, hand, joint, call, assistants, and facility ownership can change the carrier class.
Dermatology
Medical dermatology, Mohs, surgery, pathology, injectables, lasers, and retail operations need separate descriptions.
Gastroenterology
Gastroenterology care can involve separate policies for the physician, facility, anesthesia provider, and pathologist. Advanced procedures can change the physician's class.
Specialty-specific programs, endorsed by the societies that set the standard
See what your county actually files.
Public California rate filings show what carriers charge by specialty and county. Use them to get a sense of what you would pay where you practice.
Southern California
Four filed carrier manuals group Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, and Imperial counties differently. Each practice location must be matched to the applicable carrier table.
San Diego County
Four filed carrier manuals assign San Diego County to different rate groups. The specialty class, work locations, procedures, entities, and policy dates complete the comparison.
Los Angeles County
Los Angeles and Orange counties share a territory in four filed carrier manuals. A valid quote comparison also matches physicians, facilities, entities, procedures, limits, and policy dates.
Orange County
Orange and Los Angeles counties share a territory in four filed carrier manuals. Outpatient facilities, clinicians, entities, procedures, and added locations still affect each quote.
Riverside County
Riverside changes territory relative to Orange under two filed carrier manuals and stays with it under two. Locations, clinicians, facilities, and services still determine the quote.
Imperial County
Imperial County shares a filed territory with San Diego under three carriers, while MIEC separates them. Physician roles, facilities, mobile work, entities, and dates still shape each quote.