Speech Therapist Insurance: What Do You Need to Cover?
As a speech therapist, you know how rewarding it is to work closely with your patients. Your expertise helps adults and children work through intense challenges. With your guidance, patients can meaningfully change their lives for the better. However, working in any part of the medical field can bring the threat of a malpractice lawsuit. Even speech therapists need to ensure they have the right type of insurance to cover any incidents that may arise.
What kind of insurance do you need as a speech therapist? Your career involves a hands-on approach to problems that can cause patients great sensitivity. That makes you liable for issues that people in other fields don’t need to worry about.
Speech Therapist Insurance: What You Need
You put an immense amount of time and care into your patients. In your profession, you need care and security too. Having the right insurance can protect your assets and your reputation in the event of a mistake or a false accusation.
Here are the two types of insurance to consider:
Professional Liability Insurance
This type of insurance covers you and employees if a patient claims that there has been an incident of malpractice or negligence that caused them injury or financial repercussions. It can protect you in situations where your client argues that your services led them to experience a financial burden due to loss or damage to their reputation. This is also considered medical malpractice insurance when referring to medical professionals. Individual therapists need this type of insurance to cover their professional performance, advice given to patients and treatment plans.
General Liability Insurance
This type of insurance covers situations that can occur to any business owner. For example, if a patient injures him or herself on your property, general liability insurance can protect you from an expensive settlement. Without it, something as innocent as a child jumping on a swivel chair can turn into a financial nightmare for you. General liability also covers damage to property of others. This could refer to personal property a patient or visitor brings to your office or clinic that becomes damaged or if you accidentally damage something in a patient’s home where you are delivering home health care.
So, what, exactly, do these types of insurance cover? Why is it so important for you to have them?
Professional Liability Insurance
What Does It Cover?
Professional liability insurance puts a shield between you and the financial costs of a lawsuit in the event that a patient feels that your services caused them an unjust monetary expense. It covers:
- The cost of an attorney
- The cost of a settlement
- The cost of a judgment
- Other legal expenses
- License protection and board actions
Why Is Professional Liability Insurance So Important for Speech Therapists?
Speech therapy is a career that comes with a lot of liability. You are working closely with patients. Every individual has unique needs, which requires individual and varied treatment plans. Additionally, patients can become very attached to the expected outcome of your service, and very sensitive if their expectations are not met. In this context, the chances of a lawsuit are high compared with other professions.
What Kinds of Situations Might Lead to a Lawsuit?
Professional liability insurance covers claims that you made a mistake or were negligent while treating a patient. The claim could be that you provided your service ineptly or incompletely. It could be that you did not uphold your end of the contract between you and your client. It could also be that your work did not subscribe to industry standards.
Are You Legally Required to Have Professional Liability Insurance?
In some situations, yes. There are numerous state and employer requirements related to professional liability insurance, especially in the field of healthcare. At NOW Insurance, we can help you understand the requirements that apply to you and help you obtain the best policy.
Why NOW Insurance
Our professionals have over 20 years of experience in professional liability for healthcare professions. We understand the unique needs of your industry, and our policies are tailored to fit your requirements. We do not work with middlemen, insuring you directly so that you can benefit from our expertise.
General Liability Insurance
What Does It Cover?
While professional liability insurance is mostly concerned with financial damages that occur as a direct result of the services you provide, general liability insurance covers accusations of:
- Third Party Personal Injury
- Third Party Property Damage
- Advertising injury
Why Is It Important for Professionals?
Accidents happen. It is difficult to safe-proof a workplace 100%. In many situations, injuries occur through no fault of your own. Additionally, false accusations are always a real possibility. As a speech therapist, you are working with many people who visit your premises, and you might also provide on-site and in-home visits. In that context, there are all kinds of potential damages for which you might be held legally responsible. The right general liability policy follows you where you work.
What Kinds of Situations Might Lead to a Lawsuit?
General liability insurance is helpful in the event that someone gets hurt at your place of business or if their property is damaged. The accuser could be a patient. He or she could also be a contractor, vendor, someone accompanying a patient, or another individual.
Two Examples
The classic example for general liability insurance is a patient who slips on your floor and sues you, however, there are many other potentially costly scenarios. First, imagine that a parent brings his child to your office. While you are treating your patient, someone tips over the water cooler in your waiting room, and the parent’s laptop is destroyed. That parent might decide to sue you for the cost of replacing the laptop.
Second, imagine that you make an on-site visit to a client. While you are at that person’s home, you bump into a piece of artwork and damage the canvas. Your client might argue that you are responsible for the cost of the art.
Why NOW Insurance?
At NOW Insurance, we understand the importance of providing complete coverage for the work that you do. This means insuring both the services you provide and the environment where you perform your work.
We create our policies based on a wealth of experience working with both healthcare professionals and other commercial operations. Our knowledgeable staff is always ready to support you through the application process and claims submission. You can have confidence in our commitment to your coverage.
Consider Cyber Security Insurance
Technology has brought medical professionals amazing advances that can make the administrative elements of your work faster and more streamlined. However, it has also brought increased liability, and healthcare records are among the most valuable on the black market. That is where our cyber security insurance policies can help.
What Does It Cover?
You are at risk of potential losses stemming from the exposure of sensitive information. Social security numbers and credit card information are particularly vulnerable. Cyber security insurance has you covered in the event of a data breach to your system.
Why Is It Important for Speech Therapists?
As a speech therapist, you need to gather and generate information pertaining to your patients’ care. If you store their medical history in your electronic records, it is essential that you have insurance in the event of cybercrime. Ransomware is also on the rise. You or unsuspecting employees could be a victim of social engineering or a phishing scheme through innocent looking emails.
Speech Therapists, We’ve Got You Covered!
The Focus Is You
We are experts at working with healthcare professionals. We understand the importance of focusing on your patients and giving them the kind of quality care they deserve. We also know that the administrative and legal aspects of your work are incredibly complicated. With our speech therapist insurance policies, you can relax and know that we’ve got you covered.
Uncompromising Care for Caring Professionals
Our company stands out in the world of insurance for its driving values. We are completely committed to providing a high level of service that makes shopping for insurance less overwhelming. We insure you directly, which takes middlemen out of the picture. Best of all, our streamlined approach will give you more time to care for your patients.
Speech Therapist Insurance for You
Having the right insurance can make the difference between practicing smoothly and losing everything you have worked to build. Visit NOW Insurance to learn more about professional liability for therapists. To get a quote in under 3 minutes from our easy online application, visit us here.