The threshold varies by state: Louisiana requires workers’ comp with just one employee (La. R.S. 23:1035), North Carolina and Georgia at three employees, Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee at five employees, and Florida at four employees for non-construction (one for construction). Medical offices typically cross these thresholds at the two-provider/three-MA/one-front-desk staffing level.
Sole-proprietor physicians are generally exempt from covering themselves but must cover W-2 employees; 1099 contractors (locum tenens) do not count toward the threshold but must show their own coverage.
