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California market

Four filed carrier systems group Los Angeles with Orange County.

The two counties share the same territory in these manuals. Each practice still needs its own class, limits, locations, and coverage terms.

A Southern California landscape extends from the Pacific coast through mountains to desert

Compare four carrier territory systems

Each carrier assigns Los Angeles County inside its own filed territory system.

Carrier Los Angeles County treatment Counties in the same filed group Filing record
TDC Territory B Kern; Los Angeles; Orange; Ventura The Doctors Company, California Rate Pages, Edition 10/14, p. CA-R-1; CDI filing DCTR-129531290, approved 2014-08-07
MedPro Area 1 Los Angeles; Orange; Riverside; San Bernardino MedPro SR-CA-III-4 / RT-CA, Edition 07/01/13; CDI filing 13-3635 / SERFF MDPC-129010877, approved 2013-08-07
NORCAL Territory 4 Los Angeles; Orange; Ventura; Kern NORCAL Mutual Insurance Company, California Medical Professional Liability Insurance Underwriting Manual, 08/01/2015 (corrected copy), pp. 7-11; CDI filing 14-7766;14-7767 / SERFF NCMC-129678275, approved 2015-09-28
MIEC 1.900 relativity Los Angeles; Kern; Orange; Riverside; San Bernardino Medical Insurance Exchange of California, Countrywide Underwriting Manual - HPL (Rev 2-1-2023) with California State Exception Pages; CDI filing 20-4143 / SERFF PERR-132594120, approved 2023-02-07, effective 2023-02-01

Filed base rates for ten specialties

The values use mature claims-made rates at $1 million per claim and $3 million annual aggregate. MIEC values are calculated from its filed formula. The other values come from the mapped manual rows.

Specialty TDCMedProNORCALMIEC
Internal Medicine $8,274$15,498$11,059$13,693.30
Family Practice (No Surgery) $9,158$12,960$11,765$13,693.30
Psychiatry $6,741$9,015$7,647$5,477.32
Anesthesiology $12,128$16,343$12,942$19,170.62
Emergency Medicine $23,742$33,810$22,354$30,809.92
General Surgery $41,775$47,335$39,178$49,295.88
Obstetrics & Gynecology $49,804$56,350$51,179$65,043.17
Orthopedic Surgery $34,021$33,810$37,061$41,079.90
Plastic Surgery $29,738$33,810$31,178$49,295.88
Neurosurgery $68,380$78,890$72,945$130,086.35

The full comparison also lists the class mapping, manual date, and filing reference.

Open the filed rate comparison

California Department of Insurance filings 14-4043, 13-3635, 14-7766/14-7767, and 20-4143 place Los Angeles and Orange counties in the same geographic rate group. The filed rate table therefore applies across both counties, while physician class, procedures, facilities, entities, limits, and policy dates remain practice-specific.

Compare the physician list, procedures, facilities, entities, prior work, limits, and policy dates before you compare premiums.

These Los Angeles County cities share one carrier territory

Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank, Torrance, Long Beach, Culver City, and the San Fernando Valley are in Los Angeles County. The four manuals on this page do not use a separate physician territory for each city.

A move from Pasadena to Beverly Hills can keep the same territory. It can still add a lease, procedure room, device, staff, facility contract, or legal entity. Check the application and policy notice terms for required disclosures before care begins.

A clinical change inside the same building can require notice, an application, or an endorsement under the applicable policy. A new surgery suite, recovery area, infusion room, imaging service, or laboratory relationship can affect coverage without a new street address.

Compare the county groups

The Doctors Company places Los Angeles and Orange in Territory B. MedPro places both in Area 1. NORCAL places both in Territory 4. MIEC applies its 1.900 geographic rate multiplier to both.

Riverside County produces a different result. MedPro and MIEC keep Riverside with Los Angeles. The Doctors Company and NORCAL place Riverside in other groups.

San Diego County changes the geographic input in all four systems. Each quote therefore needs its own county and carrier-specific territory; one carrier's label does not interpret another carrier's quote.

Record every physician role

A Los Angeles physician can have an office, hospital privileges, surgery-center cases, call duties, a medical-director role, and outside consulting work. Record each role separately.

For each role, include:

  • Legal employer or contracting entity.
  • Professional entity that bills for care.
  • Work location and facility type.
  • Specialty, procedures, and supervision duties.
  • First and last work dates.
  • Policy that must cover the work.
  • Retroactive date or occurrence policy period.

This record can show work that appears under a group policy, individual policy, and facility contract. It can also show a gap between two coverage periods.

Use the exact facility name

A medical campus can contain a hospital, physician group, ambulatory surgery center, imaging company, laboratory, and management company. These operations can share a brand and address, but they can have different legal names.

The contract, public record, privileges, and certificate of insurance should use the same legal facility name. The ownership and billing records must also show whether the physician owns part of the facility and which entity bills for the professional service.

For outpatient surgery, list anesthesia, recovery, staff, emergency transfer procedures, and the facility's license, certification, or accreditation. The physician policy and facility policy cover different insured operations.

Confirm the specialty class before you compare price

The filed table includes ten mapped specialties. Each carrier still selects a class from the physician's actual work.

Plastic surgery with elective cosmetic procedures can receive a different class from reconstructive work. Orthopedics with spine surgery can differ from orthopedics without spine surgery. Cardiology with catheterization can differ from office cardiology.

The quote should classify all disclosed hospital and office procedures, including devices, drugs, imaging interpretation, pathology, and supervision. Keep the carrier's written class description with the quote as evidence of that classification.

A low premium in the wrong class does not provide a valid comparison. Correct the class before you select the policy.

Check the insured people and policy limits

The clinician roster should connect every physician, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, nurse, technician, surgical assistant, contractor, and temporary clinician with an employer and work location.

Then check how the policy limits apply. One group policy can share an annual aggregate limit across physicians, advanced practice clinicians, and the entity. Another policy can provide separate limits.

An additional insured can have less coverage than a named insured. The declarations and endorsements together show the status and limit available to each person and entity.

Report each new outpatient service

An existing practice can add a clinical service without changing its public name. Applications and policy notice provisions can require the service details.

For aesthetic work, list each injector, drug, laser, energy device, surgical procedure, location, supervising physician, and professional entity.

For infusion, list the drugs, patient selection rules, monitoring, emergency equipment, and response procedures. For weight-loss or hormone care, list prescribing, compounding, laboratory review, follow-up, and telehealth states.

Before the service starts, check the policy's notice and approval terms. When disclosure is required, include the people, equipment, contracts, and facility information in the same submission.

Review every new location

Collect this information before the first patient visit:

  1. Legal address and first patient date.
  2. Entity that signs the lease and entity that bills.
  3. Clinicians and services at the location.
  4. Facility type and required license, certification, or accreditation.
  5. Equipment, drugs, imaging, laboratory, and recovery functions.
  6. Contracts that require specified limits or additional-insured status.
  7. The policy-required notice response, written confirmation, or issued endorsement.

When the policy requires an endorsement, an email that says the carrier noted the location is not the issued policy change. Check the final policy schedule or endorsement.

Equivalent quotes require the same practice facts

Each quote should use Los Angeles County, the same physician class and procedures, the same clinicians and entities, and the same limits and policy form. Only then does the filed table support a meaningful carrier comparison.

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