Nurse Malpractice Claim Report

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Nurse Professional Liability Claim Report: 5th Edition

NSO, in collaboration with underwriting partner CNA, has released the 5th Edition of the Nurse Professional Liability Claim Report. This report highlights the top professional exposures facing nurses, including professional liability claims and license protection matters, as well as case studies, analysis and insights. 



Highlighted Key Findings

Rising home healthcare claims. Malpractice claims involving home healthcare nurses now average $301,031 – a 39.3% increase since the 2020 dataset, and account for 21.7% of all nurse malpractice claims, the highest share of any nursing specialty.
Nursing specialties with the most claims. Home healthcare, adult medical and gerontology (limited to practice in an aging services facility) nurses all saw an increase in the number of closed claims and account for 45% of the total closed claim distribution. While only representing 4.5% of closed claims, aesthetics/cosmetics nurses saw their share of claims double since the 2020 dataset.
Key allegations. A majority of nurse professional liability claims involved treatment/care allegations (56.2%). The second most frequent category of allegations involved patients’ rights/abuse/professional conduct claims (18.2%). 
License protection trends. The average payment per license defense matter increased by 18.3%, from $5,330 in the 2020 dataset to $6,304 in the 2025 dataset. Professional conduct complaints had the highest distribution of all license protection closed matters in the 2025 dataset, at 38%.
LPN/LVN claim differences. While licensed practical nurse/licensed vocational nurse claims represented only 8.6% of claims in the 2025 dataset, their average total incurred ($293,507) was 36.2% higher than RNs.  

Risk Control Strategy Spotlights

  • Protecting Your License
  • Documentation – Coming soon!
  • Artificial Intelligence – Coming soon!
  • Technology in Nursing – Coming soon!
  • Liability for Charge Nurses – Coming soon!
  • Well-being and Mental Health – Coming soon!

Additional Nursing Resources

Archives

NSO Learning Center

More insights from some of the best minds in nursing.



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The presentation will focus on providing strategies for advanced practice nurses to defend their professional license.

Defending Your License: Strategies for Nursing Professionals

In 2017, more actions were taken against nursing licenses in the U.S. than there were malpractice claims.  

-National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB)  

Nurse Webinar: Using Malpractice Claims Data to Identify Risks in Nursing Practice

Learn about key findings from NSO and CNA’s new report, Nurse Professional Liability Exposure Claim Report: 4th Edition: Minimizing Risk, Achieving Excellence

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