For medical practices, malpractice insurance is essential but does not necessarily cover every potential problem that may arise. Physicians should familiarize themselves with the other various types of insurance available, be it medical or business-related. Once familiar, physicians should consider the related risks and determine if additional insurance is needed to protect the profitability of their practices.
Available Medical Insurances
Because employee allegations of discrimination, wrongful termination and sexual harassment do happen in the workplace, human resource malpractice insurance is provided to give coverage to physician owners of practices, human resource managers, and the employees accused of committing the offenses. The basic level of insurance covers damages awarded to employee-plaintiffs. Additional coverage is also obtainable to cover legal defense fees.
In today's world, the theft or disclosure of sensitive patient data is a frequent occurrence. The release of private information can be the result of accidents, such as computer system failures, or intentional acts committed by either employees or non-employee hackers. In addition to the normal coverage for damages and legal fees, misappropriation of sensitive patient information insurance provides affected patients help recovering from the incidents by restoring impaired credit.
Available Business-Related Insurances
Misappropriation of assets occurs when an employee steals or embezzles property or money, often through accounts receivable or accounts payable. Employee theft insurance protects a practice against such times. Physicians are recommended to have $100,000 of coverage minimum. However, the insurance carrier and the physician should work together to determine what level of coverage is required to minimize the risk of misappropriation of assets by employees as this will differ from practice to practice.
Insurance protection is required for practice-engaged vehicles. Traditional insurance coverage is appropriate for when the practice owns vehicles specifically used by the physicians and employees to carry out business responsibilities. However, when employees use their own vehicles to run errands, pick up medications, etc. for the practice, non-owned auto insurance is necessary to protect against injury to an employee or third party. For non-owned auto insurance, the coverage limit is normally $1 million and covers only specific business use of personal vehicles. Physicians choosing to obtain such vehicle insurance should ensure their employees are familiar with the terms of coverage.
When practices are small and the physician is unable to work due to problems such as a disability, overhead expenses such as payroll, rent, and utilities continue to be incurred. Business overhead expense insurance is available to provide the needed cash flow to pay for said overhead expenses, usually for one to two years. This way, the practice is able to continue operating. Physicians should know though that these insurance policies typically have a 30- to 90-day waiting period between the start of the disability and the first benefit payment.
Some claims against a practice may possibly exceed the coverage limits provided by policies carried by said practice. Umbrella protection insurance specifically exists to protect a practice against such claims and may often fill in coverage gaps of other policies. Umbrella protection normally provides coverage ranging from five million to ten million dollars.
A practice would not be successful without the physicians and other employees who bring in significant revenue. To take care of these individuals, key employee coverage insurance is available. This consists of life insurance and disability insurance policies created to cover the lives and working abilities of essential personnel.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
