Non-Practicing Extensions in Professional Liability Insurance Policies

When Do They Apply?

Non-practicing extensions provide extended reporting periods under claims-made professional liability policies—for no charge and for an unlimited duration—under three circumstances as follows.

• When an insured dies.
• When an insured retires.
• When an insured becomes permanently disabled.

An extended reporting provision (ERP) in a claims-made policy allows an insured to report a claim(s) to an insurer after a policy has terminated, provided the claim(s) was the result of an act that took place while the policy was in force. (In addition, under some, but not all ERP provisions, the insured is permitted to report "incidents" to the insurer that have the potential to produce claims in the future. This topic was addressed in another IRMI.com article entitled "Does the Discovery Provision Apply During the Extended Reporting Period?")

Why Are They Necessary?

If an insured has had professional liability coverage written on a claims-made basis throughout the course of his or her career, it will be necessary to continue coverage even after he or she is no longer practicing. This is because under claims-made policies, for coverage to apply, a policy must be in force on the date when a claim is made against the insured. Given the long-tail nature of claims against professionals, it is not uncommon for claims to be made many years after the allegedly wrongful act took place. Accordingly, even if a professional ceases to practice, he or she must continue purchasing coverage to avoid gaps because claims are often made many years after an act has taken place. Figure 1 illustrates this concept.

One-year extended reporting periods are generally priced at 75 percent to 150 percent of the expiring annual premium. Extended reporting periods of longer duration are of course, more expensive. For example, Great American Insurance Company (whose lawyers professional liability policy is quoted in Figure 2, below) charges 185 percent of the expiring premium for a 2-year ERP, 225 percent for a 5-year ERP, and 300 percent for an ERP of unlimited duration. Indeed, given such prices, it is apparent that the cost-free nature of ERPs made available by means of non-practicing extensions confer a substantial benefit upon insured professionals.

Where Are They Found?

Nearly all non-practicing extensions are contained within four lines of professional liability insurance. Specifically, those written for:

• Physicians
• Attorneys
• Accountants
• Architects & Engineers

Although non-practicing extension provisions are found within the forms written for a few other professions, the vast majority of such provisions are offered by insurers writing these four lines of coverage.

What Do They Cover?

As noted above, non-practicing extensions in professional liability policies provide ERP coverage at no cost—and for an unlimited duration—in the event that an insured dies, retires, or becomes permanently disabled.

Retirement Coverage. Such coverage applies under two conditions. First, the insured must have reached a specific minimum age, generally 55, but under some insurers' forms the minimum age requirement is 60. Second, the insured must have been a policyholder with this particular insurer for at least the 5 previous years.

Permanent Disability. It is advantageous if a policy's definition of "disability" is as liberal as possible. For instance, some insurers define disability as the inability to perform any duty pertaining to the practice of the profession covered under the policy. In contrast, others insurers' forms consider a professional disabled if he or she can no longer perform a chosen specialty, a definition that is preferable. Thus, under the former definition, a surgeon whose hand was partially paralyzed would not be disabled because he or she could still teach in a medical school, whereas under the latter definition, disability would indeed apply because he or she would no longer be able to perform surgical operations.

A representative non-practicing extension appears in Figure 2. Note that the policy's definition of "disability" is also a favorable one for the insured, because the inability to engage in the practice of law—rather than in the insured's legal specialty—is considered "disability" for the purposes of eligibility for liberalized ERP coverage.

Concluding Thoughts

Non-practicing extensions are important considerations, especially when choosing between professional liability policies written for physicians, attorneys, accountants, and architects & engineers. This is especially true when an insured is contemplating retirement within the near future. And even if retirement is not in the immediate offing, the benefit that accrues in the event of unforeseen death or disability is similarly meaningful.