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Veterinarian Insurance

Though dedicated to animal health, your profession still has inherent risks.

Veterinarian insurance to protect the pets and your business.

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As a veterinarian, you have a great deal of responsibility that stems from trust. Your customers bring their beloved companions to you to keep and make them healthier. However, as with any healthcare provider, the nature of your service carries built-in risks. Having the right coverage in place is essential.

Specialty coverage that goes beyond traditional insurance.

You are a healer. As a veterinarian, your goal is to heal the creatures who heel when commanded. Your customers bring their pets who they consider friends, companions, and even family members to you to keep them safe and healthy. There are many risks your practice faces and can be connected to the physical office, tools, instruments, or human activity. Every veterinarian needs the right insurance coverage.

Real world example of the risks veterinarians face.

No matter the reason, things can happen to bring your veterinarian practice from the picture of health to the critical list faster than a greyhound. Some big dogs don’t know their strength. They may not even be mean, aggressive, or attack to injure or kill another animal in your care. One moment could simultaneously end the life of someone’s best friend and end the viability of your practice. An expensive award to an expensive breed, with damages inflated by an expensive litigation lawyer, can put you in the jaws of a financial monster.

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Veterinary Office
General Liability
Risk Factor

Veterinary practices are susceptible to many risks, such as claims due to bodily injury, property damage, personal injury, and more.

Solution

General liability insurance is an absolute necessity for any practice. It provides broad coverage when you are deemed responsible and liable, and will also pay to defend any covered lawsuit or action, regardless of its merit. Additional limits are also available with a commercial umbrella insurance policy.

Cyber Liability Insurance
Risk Factor

The internet has spun a whole new web of liability exposures. E-commerce, social networking, cloud storage, and other technologies bring great benefits to large and small practices alike. But with these benefits also come challenges, including protection of privacy, data, and the financial information of your customers.

Solution

Cyber liability insurance protects your practice in the event of unauthorized access to electronic data or software within your network. It also provides coverage for spreading a virus, extortion, accidental release of personal identifiable information, and resultant damage caused by a lost or stolen laptop or other mobile device. This coverage is quickly becoming more and more important as you embrace technology to help run your practice.

Veterinary Malpractice / Professional Liability
Risk Factor

Veterinarians and licensed staff face a high risk of being sued by patients for such things as claiming a wrong diagnosis or treatment. All lawsuits must be defended, regardless of merit.

Solution

Professional liability insurance, commonly known as veterinary malpractice insurance, can help with the cost of legal expenses and other damages if a lawsuit is filed making allegations regarding errors in your work.

Business Income / Business Interruption
Risk Factor

What would you do if a fire impacted the operation of your practice? Or what if a pipe leak caused a system outage or extended downtime? These and other events can destroy your ability to treat patients and bring in revenue, which can have a major long-term impact on the viability of your practice.

Solution

Business interruption insurance compensates you for lost income if your practice cannot operate as normal due to damage that is covered under your commercial property insurance policy, such as fire or water damage. This type of insurance covers the revenue your practice would have earned, based on your financial records, had the incident not occurred. The policy also covers continuing operating expenses such as rent, electricity, and ordinary payroll.

Specialized Equipment
Risk Factor

Many veterinary offices unknowingly underestimate the costs associated with replacing medical equipment. It’s not uncommon to find out that there is not enough coverage to replace it, and sometimes it’s already too late.

Solution

With a business owners insurance policy (BOP), most office equipment is included as business personal property and would be protected in the event of a covered loss. For specialized, high-valued equipment, a separate policy may be required. Your agent or broker can help you to make that determination.

Workers’ Compensation
Risk Factor

If one of your employees receives an injury or becomes ill due to a work-related occurrence, you are required by law to have the proper coverage in place.

Solution

Workers' compensation protects your employees should a job-related injury or sickness occur during the course of employment. This coverage is required by law, so be sure that you understand your obligations.

Employment Practice Liability Insurance (EPLI)
Risk Factor

On average, it’s estimated that three out of five businesses will be sued by their employees. While there is nothing you can do to prevent someone from filing a lawsuit, you can limit the costs of defending a legal claim with proper insurance coverage.

Solution

Obtain employment practice liability insurance (EPLI) to protect your practice and its directors, officers, and employees from alleged employment-related acts such as wrongful termination, failure to promote, discrimination, and sexual harassment.

Commercial Umbrella
Risk Factor

What happens when your practice faces a large liability loss that exceeds the basic limit of your standard policy?

Solution

You should consider purchasing a commercial umbrella insurance policy which provides higher limits, typically between $2,000,000 and $10,000,000, and often broadened coverages. Coverage is extended over various policies, including general liability insurance, business auto, and directors and officers liability insurance.

Animal Bailee
Risk Factor

If your practice hospitalizes, boards, or transports animals, you can be held responsible for any number of things that can happen to the animal while it is in your care, custody, or control.

Solution

Animal bailee provides coverages for damages arising from causes unrelated to treatment. This can include fire, theft, escape, flood, or an attack by another animal.

License Defense
Risk Factor

More and more, people are reporting practices to their state licensing bureau for any number of reasons that are not related to the care you’ve given an animal. Defending these claims often requires representation by an attorney who has specialized knowledge in this area.

Solution

Responding to complaints against your veterinary license can be very costly. License defense coverage can help cover these costs. This separate coverage is necessary because this type of complaint is separate from lawsuits covered by malpractice insurance.

How veterinarian insurance can protect from these risks.

Regular business insurance wouldn’t help you when it comes to pet-related liability. Only a veterinarian insurance package, created specifically for your practice, takes into account the unique risks your business faces. You can get the standard types of coverages along with the special, pet-related coverages which are our specialty. All conveniently packaged to save you time, save you money, and get you back to the life of healing that you’ve chosen to devote your life to. Here’s what your policy could include:

  • Pays to repair or replace the building, including equipment, stock, and other related contents.
  • Covers business income and extra expenses based on actual loss of earning for up to a full year from the incident.
  • Protects your business against claims for injuries to your customers and others that arise from your products or operations.
  • Covers against claims related to pets and what happens when they are in your care.
  • Pays for the direct loss of animals that a client leaves in your care and perils for which you are not legally liable.

Get the coverage that’s made for your business instead of the coverage other insurers sell for generic, catch-all purposes. Let PetBizInsurance.com help protect you and your business with a veterinarian package insurance policy, contact us to discuss your coverage options.

Veterinarian Insurance - Smiling Veterinarian Holding Cat in the Vet Office

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