Buying Malpractice Insurance 101

top tips for buying the right coverage

Are you less than excited about researching what malpractice insurance to purchase? Not really sure what you should be looking for? Are you confused by the terms and amounts? Have no idea what any of the legal speak means? How much should you buy? What if you are changing companies?

Buying insurance can be really confusing and it’s one of those foundational choices that you make at the beginning of your career when you don’t know what you don’t know.

Listen in as Rachel and I cover every detail of buying your insurance. This hour could save you SO much money!

today’s guest

RACHEL SCHUMONT, ATTORNEY, OWNER AT COUNSEL FOR WELLNESS

My name is Rachel and I am an attorney that specializes in legal issues that affect your business. 

I began my legal career as a litigation attorney in Northeast Florida but after years of working in a courtroom I felt drawn to another passion and chose to spend a few years teaching vinyasa yoga in Southern California. While teaching, I quickly learned how little yoga teachers understood about their businesses and worked to educate yoga teachers on the nuances of their businesses and help them identify areas where they could limit their liability. From there my business grew and expanded to include other areas of health and wellness. Through my practice, Counsel for Wellness, I work with acupuncturists, dietitians, movement and fitness instructors, health coaches, and others in the wellness field to establish business entities, review and negotiate contracts, get solid legal documents in place, and address any other legal issues that arise along the way.

My experience has been that many business owners put off getting their legal affairs in order because they believe it to be overwhelming or time-consuming. With Counsel for Wellness my goal is to make your legal issues accessible so that you can focus on growing your business and caring for your people. 

you’ll learn

• Malpractice insurance is a special type of professional liability insurance that's just for a health care provider.

• Professional liability insurance covers you if someone states you did something wrong in your professional capacity.

• More specifically, malpractice insurance covers healthcare providers if there is an incident where a patient is injured or dies. That coverage means financial coverage. It covers the costs and expenses associated with the patient's injury.

• Business liability insurance also called general liability insurance, provides coverage for injuries or damage that someone claims that your business caused that aren't necessarily related to your health care services. An example would be someone falling while in your office.

• License Defense is utilized if your license is being challenged due to a complaint filed at the state level.

• Nose coverage covers you for incidents that happen before you had your insurance coverage in place.

• Tail coverage covers you for when you are terminating your existing policy coverage, but you could still get a claim for malpractice down the road.

• Per Claim , also called per occurrence is the limit that the insurance company will pay per incident during the term of your insurance policy. 

• Aggregate limit is the total amount that the insurance company will pay for multiple claims over the course of your policy term.

• A lawsuit is a claim or an action that’s brought before a court of law for a decision to be made.

• Negligence is failing to exercise the care towards others that a reasonable or prudent person would do in the same or similar circumstances.

  • Did you breach your duty of care?

  • Causation

  • Damages.

• Factors to take into account when choosing a policy:

  • Amount of coverage based on your personal assets.

  • Can you keep your business afloat if you get sued?

  • Are all modalities covered?

  • Vicarious liability. (Errors your employees make.)

• Places Acupuncturists are most at risk.

  • Negligence

    • Know the state law standards of practice. Act within scope of practice and duty of care that is owed.

  • Data security and HIPAA. Protecting data.

  • Disclosing info to 3rd party w/o consent.

  • Failure to take reasonable measures to protect your patient’s electronic records.

  • Disclosing too much information in violation of the minimum information necessary standard.

call to action

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