MROCC
Medical Review Officer Certification Council
INSURANCE COVERAGE
Most MROs are also clinicians and have medical liability (malpractice) insurance for their clinical work. This insurance is expensive for full-time clinicians, particularly those who perform procedures and care for patients in urgent/emergency settings. Relatively inexpensive insurance is available for physicians who provide primarily nonpatient care services. ACOEM offers access to discounted insurance of this type for its members.
Few if any medical liability insurance policies explicitly state that they cover MRO work. When applying for insurance, the MRO may include a brief description of what he or she does as an MRO as well as other activities for which he or she is seeking coverage. Because there have been few suits against MROs, there has been limited experience in coverage of MRO work by medical liability insurers. In theory, medical liability insurance should cover MRO-related claims because MRO work is a core part of occupational medicine practice and is defined by federal regulation as a service that can be performed only by a licensed physician. In practice, the MRO may want an errors and omissions policy for coverage against claims deemed nonmedical, such as violations of constitutional rights and unwarranted interference with employment. If the MRO works as an employee, the employer is liable to have such coverage for the organization and its employees.