16 July 2017

Types of Business Insurance Necessary for a Doctor

While your primary job as a doctor or family practitioner is caring for your patients, you also need to run your office and manage a long list of responsibilities. Along with ensuring your office is safe and comfortable for patients, you must manage suppliers, employees and distributors. One of the most important things that determines your success is making sure you don't neglect to protect yourself. Following are the types of business insurance you need to make sure your office runs smoothly and you are protected in case of injury or a lawsuit.
General Business Liability Insurance
General business liability insurance is one of the most essential forms of insurance for any small business, including a doctor with his or her own office. This form of small business liability insurance will make sure your patients are safe and it will grow as your office grows, so additional offices or services will not require additional coverage. There are many types of business general liability insurance, including:
Premises Liability
This part of commercial business insurance makes sure your patients are taken care of. If someone gets hurt at your office, this insurance will pay for any costs they incur to receive treatment. It will also cover property damage, covering the cost of repairs if a patient's property is damaged at your office.
Products Liability
If you sell medical or healthcare products from your office as a part of your services, you need to be covered with products liability insurance. If someone buys a product from you and becomes hurt or injured in any way because of the product, they could sue your office. This insurance coverage will pay the damages and claims, as well as any liability or damages related to advertising mistakes and your legal defense costs.
Completed Operations
This type of coverage will protect your office from lawsuits arising after you have completed services or operations for patients. Once you have completed a service for a patient, that patient may then sue your office if he or she later develops issues as a result of the service. This coverage pays for settlements, damages and litigation costs.
Business Owners Policy
A business owners policy (BOP) includes many forms of commercial business insurance coverage and it may be customized to the unique needs of your practice. Common examples of coverage you can include in a BOP include electronic data, buildings and content, business income and extra expense and employee dishonesty coverage.
Workers Comp
You undoubtedly employ a number of people to help you run your office, and you must carry workers compensation coverage on all employees. This coverage will pay for medical expenses and other costs if your employees are hurt on the job, and they in turn surrender the right to sue you.
Malpractice Insurance
Finally, a form of commercial business insurance that no doctor can do without is malpractice insurance. As a doctor, you are at risk for making a professional mistake, and this insurance covers you from legal problems and settlements that arise from mistakes you make while providing medical service.