03/24/2026    Joseph Borreggine, DPM

Why does an insurance company require high limits of liability for providers who are being credentialed? (Allen M. Jacobs, DPM)

“Long-term care facilities are a tough class to
get coverage in…”

If you do not need to change malpractice insurance
away from the standard market, then be aware that
the sentence above may apply and affect the
ability to obtain malpractice and/or the cost of
annual premiums when considering providing foot
care services in long term care facilities such as
nursing homes.

This statement also highlights the potential
issues when considering servicing nursing homes
and long-term care facilities. Standard
malpractice carriers involved with the podiatric
profession do not traditionally have significant
concerns regarding this type of foot care
practice. This is probably accurate. But most may
not have heard about this situation that may arise
if switching malpractice carriers for whatever
reason.

Upon further investigation, one may discover that
malpractice insurance carriers have identified a
history of significant number of liability claims
against long-term care facilities due the high-
risk News nature of the patient population.
Despite the presence of malpractice insurance for
doctors providing services in these facilities,
legal action can still be pursued and include not
only the facility, but the physician, surrogates,
and physicians employers as well.

Additionally, the liability limits for physician
providers in these settings may need a mandatory
limit of liability of $1 million/$3 million. This
can be particularly true in certain instances
based on employment contracts and/or agreements
with large group providers. Therefore, this may
create a limitation and restrict the ability of
certain number podiatric providers to work in
these long-term care facilities. This decision can
be based on prior claim history which could
eliminate their ability to be employed by groups
specializing in foot care services in long-term
care facilities.

If there are any other insights or experiences
from PM News readers who may have encountered or
are knowledgeable of similar situations just
explained while attempting to become providers in
these place of service settings it would be
greatly appreciated.

Joseph Borreggine, DPM, Fort Myers, FL

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