Even if there hasn’t been any maltreatment or mistake on the part of the healthcare practitioner, disagreements can result when physicians’ and patients’ expectations do not line-up. So, it ought to come as no shock that healthcare providers commonly cope with lawsuits. In such cases, professional liability insurance will help safeguard you, your business and its assets.
However, professional liability insurance is specific to your actions as a healthcare provider. It doesn’t pertain to general business-related costs that might result while running a healthcare practice.
Some Reasons for General Business-Related Insurance
- Harm to business property, like costly diagnostic and medical equipment.
- Business interruptions. For instance, if you’re unwell and can’t work.
- Employee theft of assets, including medical supplies, pharmaceuticals or cash.
- General liability matters, like third-party damage or injury on your business grounds.
Types of Small Business Insurance for Healthcare Providers
- Property insurance. When you initially started your practice, you almost certainly invested a lot of time and money in obtaining the correct medical supplies, furniture and other indispensable equipment to make your practice appealing to patients. However, if a natural disaster took place, how would you replace these things? This is where property insurance comes in. It reimburses a practice if the property used in the business is lost or damaged as the result of everyday perils, such as fire or theft. Property insurance protects both the tangible building and personal property, including items such as office furniture, computers, medical equipment and supplies that are essential to the practice.
- Workers’ compensation coverage. Workers’ compensation is a category of small business insurance devised to safeguard your employees. In all states except Texas, workers’ comp is required if you have more than a certain number of workers. If an employee is injured during the performance of job-related tasks or on your practice’s premises, workers’ comp can help cover costs for damages related to medical costs.
- Business interruption insurance. Depending on your practice’s location, it may be more susceptible to natural disasters such as hurricanes or tornadoes. If such a catastrophic event takes place, it’s most likely that your practice’s operations will be interrupted. To assist your practice in getting back up and running, you need to purchase business interruption insurance. The coverage is separate from property insurance in that it protects incomes lost due to a disaster-related shutdown of a business or the need for structural rebuilding of the practice. However, this type of policy can be joined with a property insurance policy – this bundling is known as a Business Owner’s Policy.
- Practice overhead insurance. If you were not able to practice medicine owing to an injury or long-term illness, hopefully, you’d purchased individual disability insurance. Even though this is a type of protection you should clearly have in your possession, think about your practice. If you’re out of the office due to illness, who will tend to your patients? Practice overhead insurance steps in if you’re out of the office for the time being because of a disability. It helps cover particular expenses including utility bills, rent, salaries, taxes and other office costs. Don’t jeopardize your income or control of your practice due to an injury or long-term illness.
- Commercial auto coverage. If you utilize commercial automobiles as part of your practice, this insurance will help safeguard from damages associated with car accidents. Subject to how the policy is fashioned, it could cover everything from medical payments to uninsured motorist coverage.
- Cyber liability insurance. Businesses of all kinds and sizes encounter cyberthreats, such as the leaking of confidential patient information, compromised data, identity theft, computer viruses or phishing rip-offs. Any of these cyberattacks can contain destructive consequences for a small practice. Hackers could help themselves to a practices’ capital and wreck the owner’s credit. Worse still, they may well acquire access to confidential patient information, wreaking havoc on those individuals’ lives and sullying your practice’s reputation. A cyber liability policy may make the distinction between recuperating from a cyberattack and losing everything you’ve worked so hard to bring about.
How to Select the Right Coverage for Your Practice’s Needs
The number of small business insurance policies for healthcare practices isn’t far-reaching. Actually, it’s pretty generalized. The exact policy you require will rely on a variety of factors exclusive to your practice, including the types of services provided, the number of patients, number of employees and size of practice. Even the business’s physical setting could make a difference.
When deciding upon what policies your practice requires, it’s safest to check with an insurance specialist with a focus on healthcare. A qualified insurance professional can help decide what supplementary insurance you may need to safeguard your practice. The goal is to evaluate the amount of risk your practice encounters – and to prepare appropriately. This is fundamental risk mitigation in any business environment, irrespective of the industry. An insurance professional can also help you simplify your insurance coverage. For example, they can counsel on business owner extensions planned to help safeguard both the healthcare practice owner and the healthcare practice itself in one policy.
Medwave provides credentialing and medical billing to a large diversity of medical providers.
