Articles: emergency-medicine.
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We evaluated the effects of Emergency Medicine (EM) residency training, EM board certification, and physician experience on the occurrence of malpractice claims and indemnity payments. This was a retrospective review of closed malpractice claims from a single insurer. Outcome measures included the occurrence of claims resulting in indemnity, indemnity amounts, and defense costs. ⋯ EM residency-trained physicians account for significantly less malpractice indemnity than non-EM residency-trained physicians. This difference is not due to differences in the average indemnity but is due to significantly fewer closed claims against EM residency-trained physicians with indemnity paid. This results in a cost per physician-year of malpractice coverage for non-EM residency-trained physicians that is over twice that of EM residency-trained physicians.