A Comparative Analysis of Nurse Practitioner, Physician Associate, and Physician Malpractice Risk

Candello, CRICO’s national medical malpractice data collaborative, analyzed over 135,000 cases from 2012 to 2021 to assess risk related to the growing number of nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician associates (PAs). The study found no increase in the proportion of malpractice claims involving NPs and PAs, and no significant difference in risk compared to physicians. However, cases involving multiple providers were more likely to result in payment and had higher average payouts.

First Published – June 01, 2025

Related To: Claims, Nursing, What's My Risk

Full-text Citation

Higden J, Tremont H, Paskavitz M. A comparative analysis of nurse practitioner, physician associate, and physician malpractice risk. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. 2025 Jun 1;37(6):323-326. doi:10.1097/JXX.0000000000001119

Latest News from CRICO

Get all your medmal and patient safety news here.

Inform Safer Medical Oncology Practice with Lessons from Medical Malpractice Claims

News

The primary goal of analyzing claims from CRICO’s national Candello database was to identify the association between safety incidents in medical oncology practice and systems failures rather than individual provider remediation and to inform potential redesign solutions.

Characterizing Malpractice Cases Involving Emergency Department Advanced Practice Providers, Physicians in Training, and Attending Physicians

News

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s emergency department experts collaborated with CRICO patient safety experts to co-author this study that was published in the Academic Emergency Medicine journal.

Teleradiology Medical Malpractice Cases

News

Candello Member

This June 4, 2024, podcast by RSNA, features Dr. Francis Deng, a Diagnostic Neuroradiologist and Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins University, who interviews CRICO’s Dr. Adam Schaffer about the characteristics of teleradiology medical malpractice cases.

An Analysis of Medical Malpractice Claims Against Medical Oncologists from a National Database: Implications for Safer Practice

News

CRICO experts collaborated with oncologists from subscriber institutions Lahey Hospital and Medical Center and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to research and co-author this study that was published in the Journal of Healthcare Risk Management.

See more news items

A Comparative Analysis of Nurse Practitioner, Physician Associate, and Physician Malpractice Risk

Full-text Citation

Related CRICO Posts

Latest News from CRICO

Inform Safer Medical Oncology Practice with Lessons from Medical Malpractice Claims

Characterizing Malpractice Cases Involving Emergency Department Advanced Practice Providers, Physicians in Training, and Attending Physicians

Teleradiology Medical Malpractice Cases

An Analysis of Medical Malpractice Claims Against Medical Oncologists from a National Database: Implications for Safer Practice

About CRICO

CME Opportunities

Patient Safety & Claims