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Insurance for physician offices — what to carry, and what it costs

Published 2026-06-11 · by Brokly

Class 8832 covers more than physician practices — state class lists also assign dentists, chiropractors, optometrists, outpatient clinics, and medical labs to it — so the rates here are class-level, while this page's guidance is written for physician offices (NAICS 621111).

Direct answer: insurance for physician offices starts with workers’ comp — required in nearly all states — with 3 more coverages matched to the trade below. For a typical physician practice that’s ≈$250 to ≈$1.8k/yr depending on the state (filed rates $0.10–$0.96/$100 payroll, 2024).
Pick your state — the statute, modeled costs, and the full coverage guide ↓

What physician offices carry — at a glance

Workers’ comp is governed state by state — pick your state in the table below for the statute and the modeled cost. The rest is the trade’s exposure map.

Workers' compensation

Covers medical care and part of lost wages when nurses, medical assistants, and front-desk staff get hurt on the job.

Typically covers

  • Medical bills for a work injury, at rates the state sets
  • Part of the injured employee's lost wages
  • The employer too: covered employees generally can't sue over the injury

Typically doesn’t

  • Injuries outside work
  • Independent contractors, in most states
  • Lawsuits that get around the can't-sue trade-off — that's the employer's liability part of the same policy
Required in nearly all states≈$580/yrtypical physician practice · median stateCosts by state →
Medical malpractice

The coverage for the clinical work itself — seven states mandate it to practice medicine, and Colorado and Florida require financial responsibility that insurance can satisfy.

Typically covers

  • Claims that care fell below the professional standard
  • Legal defense — often the largest cost even when a claim fails
  • What hospitals and networks routinely require for privileges

Typically doesn’t

  • Non-clinical injuries at the office — that's general liability
  • Employee injuries — that's workers' compensation
  • Intentional misconduct
Required if…When it's required →
General liability

Waiting-room slips and other premises injuries become claims against the practice — a different claim, and a different policy, from the clinical work.

Typically covers

  • Injuries to customers, visitors, and other third parties
  • Damage your operations cause to someone else's property
  • Legal defense for covered claims

Typically doesn’t

  • Your employees' injuries — that's workers' compensation
  • Mistakes in professional advice or design — that's professional liability
  • Redoing your own faulty workmanship itself
Worth a lookWhat it covers →
Cyber insurance

Patient records make even a small practice a regulated data holder — HIPAA's breach duties arrive with any compromise, and the EHR going down stops the schedule.

Typically covers

  • The fallout of a hack or data breach — notifying customers, restoring data and systems
  • Claims from customers whose data was exposed
  • Often the income lost while systems are down

Typically doesn’t

  • Physical damage to property — that's commercial property
  • Tricked-into-wiring-money losses on many forms — social-engineering coverage is its own add-on
  • Breaches at your vendors, unless the policy extends to them
Worth a lookWhat it covers →

Exact terms live in the policy — these are the typical boundaries.

Sources: NAIC — Small Business Insurance (retrieved 2026-06-11) · Wisconsin Statutes §655.23 — health care liability insurance (as of current statutes, retrieved 2026-06-11) · Texas Department of Insurance — Commercial general liability insurance (retrieved 2026-06-11) · NAIC — Cybersecurity topic (as of last updated 2024-05-09, retrieved 2026-06-11)

Workers’ compMedical malpractice · benchmark comingGeneral liability · benchmark comingCyber insurance · benchmark coming

What workers’ comp costs a typical physician practice

Modeled annual premium for each state’s most common physician practice size, from that state’s own filed rate and observed payroll. All 51 states: rates & costs →

Least expensive states

Most expensive states

Modeled — not quotes: each figure prices that state’s most common physician practice size band from the state’s own observed payroll (CBP 2023), so dollar order can differ from rate rank.

Pick your state — what’s required there, and what it costs

Every linked state has the full guide: what the law requires there, the coverages that fit, and modeled costs — built from 179,781 physician offices across 38 states (CBP 2023).

† state-fund jurisdiction — workers’ comp is purchased through the state, not a private market. Unlinked states lack a published rate or a defensible business-size cohort.

Sources: Oregon DCBS workers' compensation premium rate ranking study, June 2025 (calendar-year 2024 rates) (as of calendar year 2024, retrieved 2026-06-04) · US Census County Business Patterns 2023, state file (Offices of physicians (NAICS 621111)) (as of 2023, retrieved 2026-06-05)

Frequently asked questions

What work does class 8832 cover?

Physician-office work is NCCI class 8832 (Physician & Clerical) — the '& Clerical' is part of the class design, so receptionists and billing staff are rated in the same class as the clinical team rather than split out separately.

Why does my state matter so much?

Workers’ comp is state law — the employee threshold that triggers it, the rates, and the market structure all differ by state. That’s why every state above gets its own guide.

Someone asked me for a certificate of insurance — what is it?

The one-page proof your coverage exists — landlords, general contractors, and client contracts ask for it routinely, and it’s often the reason physician offices buy insurance in the first place. Certificate of insurance, explained →

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