Nevada Approves Malpractice Insurance Premium Rate Increase

Nevada Insurance Commissioner Alice Molasky-Arman has approved a 14.8% overall premium rate increase effective Friday for the Medical Liability Association of Nevada, a not-for-profit company established in May 2002 to provide medical malpractice insurance for physicians in the state, the Las Vegas Sun reports. The malpractice insurance premium rate increase -- the first overall increase since the MLAN formed -- will raise an estimated $3.9 million for the association. Anesthesiologists in the state will have the lowest increase in malpractice insurance premium rates at 5.8%, and orthopedic surgeons who do not perform spinal surgery will have the highest increase at 30.2% in Clark County and 42.8% in the rest of the state. MLAN board Chair Bob Byrd said the number of malpractice claims filed in the state has decreased in recent years, but he added that the severity of the claims might have increased. He also said that malpractice insurance premium rates in the state have begun to stabilize (Ryan, Las Vegas Sun, 7/5).