Standard group LTD may not protect physician income properly.
Generic occupation definitions, capped benefits, often-low base salary inputs, and procedural structures significantly under-insure relative to actual specialist pay.
For MSOs & Physician Groups
Disability insurance for physician groups and MSOs, without creating another HR project.
Hollowtree helps healthcare organizations offer physician-focused disability coverage to W-2 and 1099 clinicians, with enrollment strategy, communication, payment infrastructure, and clinician support handled end to end.
- Built for W-2 and 1099 clinicians
- Five competitive coverage options
- Enrollment support from kickoff
- Proceeds without HR involvement
Why this matters
A real disability insurance program is a recruiting tool, a retention tool, and a protection tool.
In a market with too few physicians and fierce competition for talent, disability coverage is one of the few benefits high-income clinicians actually evaluate. Done right, it's a differentiator. Done generically, it's invisible.
Recruit.
Better benefits attract better talent. A disability insurance program designed for 1099 clinicians signals that your organization understands what high-earning specialists need — and that gives you an edge in recruiting.
Retain.
Disability coverage shows your 1099 clinicians that you're invested in their financial wellbeing — not just their billable hours. That kind of commitment builds loyalty and reduces turnover.
Protect.
Without meaningful coverage, clinicians face significant income loss and financial instability if they can't work. Hollowtree manages the entire process — communication, enrollment, and ongoing support — so your team doesn't have to.
The Coverage Gap
Your clinicians may be underinsured — and it may be hurting recruitment.
Many MSOs and physician groups rely on traditional group LTD or leave clinicians to find individual coverage on their own. Both fail high-income clinical professionals — especially 1099 clinicians, locum tenens physicians, anesthesiologists, CRNAs, and other specialists whose income and work structure don't fit standard benefit models.
1099 clinicians are often excluded from employer-sponsored benefits.
Independent contractor populations rarely fit traditional payroll deduction benefits, leaving a meaningful share of your clinical workforce without an employer-supported coverage path.
Individual DI is hard for clinicians to navigate alone.
Underwriting can take months, pricing varies wildly, and most clinicians don't have the time or expertise to evaluate one-off contract language carrier by carrier.
What we do
A group DI program built for distributed clinical workforces.
Step 1
Coverage Strategy.
Hollowtree helps structure physician-focused disability coverage, including five competitive options where available, sized to specialty income realities.
Includes guaranteed-issue paths where clinicians qualify — coverage without medical underwriting.
Step 2
Enrollment Infrastructure.
We provide a mobile-optimized enrollment experience and payment workflows that support payroll, distribution, and 1099 deduction.
Step 3
Clinician Communication.
Targeted outreach across email, SMS, direct mail, voicemail, and live support — designed to reach distributed clinical workforces.
Step 4
Ongoing Support.
We handle clinician questions, consultations, enrollment follow-up, and support workflows so HR does not become the help desk.
Guaranteed Issue Option. For qualifying populations, we structure programs with a guaranteed-issue path — meaning clinicians can access coverage without medical underwriting. That's something most professionals can't get on their own.
Proof
Proof from a national MSO rollout.
A national anesthesiology MSO with 1,500 clinicians, including 800 eligible full-time 1099 contractors, had no disability coverage and no infrastructure to offer it. Hollowtree ran the enrollment campaign, communication, education, payment setup, and clinician support — without requiring the MSO's HR or operations team to manage the process.
21%
Enrollment
5×
Industry Average
4 wks
To Launch
0 hrs
HR Time Required
Clinicians completed enrollment in under six minutes through a mobile microsite, and Hollowtree handled 100% of inbound support.
Read the MSO Case StudyThe Case for Acting Now
Most groups we speak to are unaware of how much their team values quality disability coverage.
49%
of healthcare employees will leave their job in the next 12 months over a lack of benefits
51%
of healthcare employers say benefits play a significant role in talent retention
84%
of organizations believe benefits help them recruit top talent — the highest percentage ever reported
If you're ready to explore how disability insurance can support your 1099 clinicians, we'd welcome the conversation.
Who this fits
Designed for the realities of physician employment.
Each of these audiences faces a different business problem. Hollowtree shapes the program around the workforce, not the other way around.
MSOs with 1099 clinicians
Offer a coverage path for the contractor population that legacy benefit programs aren't reaching.
Physician groups with high-income specialists
Close the income protection gap that standard group LTD opens for surgeons, anesthesiologists, and procedural specialists.
Locum tenens companies
Differentiate on benefits in a market where physicians weigh assignments by total comp, not just rate.
Healthcare staffing organizations
Reduce churn by offering coverage that travels with the clinician across assignments and geographies.
Groups transitioning W-2 to 1099
Maintain a consistent benefits story when a portion of the workforce moves to contractor status.
Organizations competing for scarce specialists
Use a credible, well-communicated DI program as a recruiting and retention signal — not a deck slide.
Why group, not individual
Individual coverage alone leaves too much to chance.
Option A — Individual DI alone
Individual DI alone
- Clinicians must source coverage themselves
- Medical underwriting can take months
- Coverage decisions happen one person at a time
- No organization-level visibility
- Low participation without structured outreach
Option B — Recommended
Hollowtree group DI enrollment
- Centralized program strategy
- Guided education for clinicians
- Enrollment campaign managed by Hollowtree
- Payment workflows supported
- HR and operations lift minimized
Want to see the rollout mechanics? If you want the operational details, see how Hollowtree runs clinician disability enrollment from campaign setup through employee support.
This is not another benefits project for HR.
Hollowtree owns the parts that typically break: communication, education, enrollment follow-up, payment workflows, and support. Your team does not need to become experts in physician disability insurance or manage one-off clinician questions.
What Hollowtree owns
- We help define the eligible population
- We support plan design and carrier coordination
- We build the enrollment experience
- We run the communication campaign
- We answer clinician questions
- We support ongoing enrollment for new joiners
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Hollowtree designs and operates physician-focused disability insurance programs for MSOs, physician groups, locum tenens companies, and healthcare staffing organizations. We handle plan design, carrier coordination, mobile-first enrollment, payment workflows, and clinician support — covering both W-2 employees and 1099 contractors under a single program.
Standard group long-term disability uses generic occupation definitions and capped benefits that systematically under-insure high-income specialists like surgeons, anesthesiologists, and CRNAs. Hollowtree programs use specialty-aware occupation language, specialty-sized benefits, and up to five competitive coverage options built specifically for physician income realities.
Yes. 1099 clinicians are excluded from most employer-sponsored benefits because they don't fit traditional payroll-deduction infrastructure. Hollowtree's enrollment platform supports 1099 deduction, payroll, and direct-pay workflows so contractor populations get the same coverage path as W-2 staff.
For qualifying populations, Hollowtree structures programs with a guaranteed-issue path — clinicians can secure coverage without medical underwriting. That's something most physicians can't get when sourcing individual disability insurance on their own, where underwriting can take months and outcomes vary by carrier.
One reference rollout — a national anesthesiology MSO with 1,500 clinicians and 800 eligible 1099 contractors — went from kickoff to full launch in four weeks with zero HR hours required. Actual timelines depend on population size and plan structure, and we don't promise four weeks for every engagement.
In the MSO rollout referenced on this page, voluntary enrollment hit 21% — about five times the industry average for voluntary disability programs. Clinicians completed enrollment in under six minutes through a mobile microsite, and Hollowtree handled 100% of inbound clinician support.
No. Hollowtree works alongside existing brokers and benefits advisors, and broker-of-record relationships are protected. We focus on coverage strategy, enrollment execution, communication, and clinician support rather than displacing existing partnerships.
Hollowtree owns enrollment strategy, communication campaigns, education, payment workflows, and ongoing clinician support. The MSO referenced on this page contributed a single introductory email; everything else was handled end to end. The program is designed to add coverage for your clinicians without adding another project to your HR backlog.
Bring physician-focused DI to your workforce — without adding another HR project.
Hollowtree will show you how a disability insurance program could be structured, communicated, enrolled, and supported for your clinical population.
15-minute review • No HR involvement to start • Broker-of-record protected