4 Reasons Why You Need Professional Liability And Malpractice Insurance For Your Medical Practice
All professions come with their own set of risks. Since insurance can be its own headache, it is good to know which insurances are best for your practice’s needs. While all liability insurance has the same goal — they’re not created equal, and they can cover different things. Liability insurance is meant to keep you in business should a mistake happen that impacts a patient.
Why Professional Liability and Malpractice Insurance For Medical Practices?
You are highly regarded in that you have specialized training to help patients with their medical needs. Since patients — and in a Vet’s case, VCPRs — are relying on you to provide them with quality care, you have a high standard to uphold.
Mistakes always have the risk of happening — small or large.
All healthcare professionals should have insurance. After all, you are only human and can overlook something, provide the wrong medication, or pair a symptom with the wrong diagnosis.
Legal Requirements – Some states require healthcare professionals to have Professional Liability or Malpractice Insurance; the practice you work for may have you carry your own insurance as well. While insurance is pretty important to have (even without the legal requirements,) this gives you that extra nudge to get it.
Peace of Mind for Patients – Patients could ask to confirm that you have the proper insurance in place before they decide to hire your services. A responsible healthcare professional is going to make their patients feel more comfortable by having the right safety nets in place. This is especially true if the same type of medical provider down the street is unable to provide their proof of coverage directly for their patients.
Legal Representation – Having the proper insurance protection pays for your legal representation to help defend yourself with a case. Lawyers cost a lot of money. Liability and Malpractice Insurance policies can help you have great legal representation by having coverage, which can be more than what you would be able to pay for out of pocket.
Lawsuit Costs – Medical professionals can end up being sued for more money than they may ever make. Due to the high emotions that come with medical mistakes, you could be sued for thousands. Insurance can help you with a tight situation should it ever happen.
What triggers a claim on your Malpractice Insurance Policy?
Medical Malpractice claims made policies are issued one of two ways:
- An Incident Trigger
- An incident trigger happens the moment you report a bad outcome to your carrier they become responsible for any future claims based on this incident.
- A Written Demand Trigger
- You may know of a bad outcome and report it, but your carrier will not accept responsibility for a claim until a written demand for money or a lawsuit has been made.
An incident trigger form should always be considered first because a written demand trigger may force you to live with a known incident and remain with your current insurance company for years to avoid a gap in coverage. Your carrier could significantly raise your rates or change coverage forms with the possibility of a written demand or while waiting for the Statute of Limitations to pass.
Done Desk helps you predict where risks may arise and help you manage your compliance tasks — providing you peace of mind and protection for the business you worked hard to build. Using our network of providers, our experts with our sister company Practice Secure can find and negotiate a tailored coverage plan that brings extreme value and protects the revenue of your unique practice by making informed decisions on your risk management plan.
Let’s discuss your practice’s unique needs, and explore your options!