As a medical doctor, your main goal is to help your patients. Independent physicians have offices to run as well, they also have the additional responsibility of ensuring their office is competent, comfortable and welcoming. Medical practices need to account for patients, employees and suppliers. Maintain your medical practice's smooth operations and safety protocols by staying updated on the business insurance available to suit your particular practice’s needs.
Private medical practitioners should be on the lookout for knowledgeable insurance agents with experience insuring the medical field. With the right insurance, you have the means to shield your practice, your employees, and your clients so you can grow exponentially with little risk and take your practice to new levels.
In addition to employee benefits such as group health insurance, this article features four "must-have" types of coverage for medical practitioners.
General Liability Insurance
General liability is fundamental to all small companies, particularly as a doctor. Whether you own your own building or lease it, General Liability Insurance is a “must have”. Coverage includes:
Premises Liability: Premises liability is a component of commercial general liability insurance, covering your patients or visitors to your office who sustains an injury while on your property. It will pay for medical care expenses and other financial loss suffered when your found to be legally liable for the injury. An example of this would be if you had an electrical cord running across a hallway and a patient tripped and fell over it. Third party property damage is also covered, if a patient's property is damaged by your operations at the office due to your negligence. Think of the example above, when the patient fell over the electrical cord, they dropped their phone and it cracked. The damage sustained is covered under this insurance.
Products Liability: As a healthcare provider, it's possible that you sell medical or health-care related products as part of your overall patient services. Products sometimes turn out to be defective at a later date, and those defects may pose a danger to your customers. If someone purchases your products and later incurs injuries as a result of the products, or the product damaged their property, they might sue your medical office. Products liability assumes liability for compensation associated with product damage or injury.
Advertising Injury Liability: This protection, also included in general liability can also pay for damages or liability resulting from copyright infringement, and it can pay for your legal defenses in such covered incidents.
Medical Malpractice Insurance
For medical practices, medical malpractice insurance is an absolute requirement. Otherwise known as professional liability insurance, it safeguards medical professionals from liability when they face a lawsuit from a patient for errors or omissions in the providing of medical care. If your patients claim loss or injury following your doctor 's failure to perform his or her job correctly, medical malpractice insurance can cover the costs of settlements and lawsuits.
You probably have concerns about the cost associated with this type of protection. Expenses associated with malpractice protection depend on two factors:
- Your primary medical specialization.
- Your geographical location.
- Years of practice
- Prior losses
Commercial Property Insurance
You'll most likely need practice financing prior to beginning your medical practice. Practice financing loans can help obtain:
- Equipment.
- Furniture.
- Medical supplies.
- Other crucial fixtures.
However, if a natural disaster or a burglary occurs, how will you replace the items you lost? That's where commercial property insurance comes in. Property insurance is a form of insurance that protects the property and personal property in the event of a loss caused by:
- Fire
- Hurricane.
- Explosion
- Riot, Civil Commotion or Vandalism
- Lighting
- Volcanic action
- Falling objects
- Weight of snow, ice or sleet
- Sinkhole collapse
- Vehicles or Aircraft
Possessing your own office building, expensive medical equipment, furnishings, office computers, or printers, makes commercial property insurance a necessity for the success of your business.
Cyber insurance
This is a relatively new kind of insurance (in the last 10-15 years) but it is fast becoming a major requirement, especially for smaller businesses that may think they're not at risk for hackers. Quite the opposite really, small businesses are at bigger risk of being hacked due to their limited technology resources to prevent such acts. Cyber insurance can cover first part damage such as damage to your operating system as well as for liability for lawsuits arising when patient data is compromised or exposed.
The other types of insurance doctors need
Commercial auto insurance
If an owner or employee turns to company or personal vehicles for almost any work-related purpose, such as handling deposits, delivering samples, or picking supplies up, the practice will be liable if an accident occurs. Safeguarding your practice via a commercial auto insurance policy can save the tense situation. One way to prevent needing it is by using couriers, taxis, or ride share services.
Commercial Umbrella
Your commercial umbrella insurance will offer extra protection with additional limits for losses in excess of your underlying general liability, auto liability or employer’s liability limits.