Private Practice Start Up: What Types of Insurance Do I Need? [Show Notes]

Key Concepts Addressed In This Video:

• Malpractice insurance for therapists
• Liability insurance for private practice
• Business insurance for mental health practitioners
• General liability policy for private practices
• Coverage options for new private practices
• Importance of insurance in healthcare businesses
• Choosing the right insurance policies for your practice
• Legal protection through insurance in private practice
• Understanding different types of professional liability coverage

Transcript

Note: This video is transcribed using AI therefore some errors have occurred in the transcription of this video.

hi guys so this is a quick pop in about professional liability insurance so three types of insurance you’re going to want to consider when opening your private practice are one malpractice for sure this is for if a client ever sues you for um negligence for for malpractice that you did something wrong for Abandonment for for anything right this is what malpractice will cover is that that legal piece of it um be sure to look into whatever practice you are thinking about purchasing to make sure that there is coverage for HIPAA how much coverage is given um it depending on the fields that you work in the population that you work in there are higher risk factors that might want getting kind of more detailed and a higher coverage if you work with generally very low risk populations such as those with kind of adjustment anxiety you might not need as High coverage but if you tend to work with populations say for example um uh um chronic mental and medical health anger substance domestic violence custody cases right those things tend to have more kind of legal pieces within just their treatment um not to say that they’re more likely to sue you but that there are more kind of opportunities for lawyers to be involved in those cases um so you might want to invest in some higher protection for those populations your insurance company that you’re kind of interviewing will ask you questions such as do you work with [Music] um adoption and fostering kind of policies do you work with um animals as a part of your assistance do you have a lot of student interns in your practice or or or managing other people those are all things that could potentially increase your professional liability rate so things to keep in mind and again every policy is different so it’s important to go through what works for you I have a basic policy through the nasw affiliate they used to call them nasw like Risk management or protection I think now it’s called prefera I’ll link it below so you can see what I use but s s Piers s colleagues what they use especially if you’re in a different field than social work um there might be something that is a bit more coverage for your particular kind of license and population but having malpractice in general is going to be very important the other thing that you’re going to want is cyber Insurance especially if you were doing Telehealth now this helps protect you if there’s ever a breach due to an electronic thing such as if your computer gets hacked or stolen um that is what that protects so malpractice is protecting anything that you have done right cyber is protecting kind of like the client record so to speak so that is also something to consider the third one is general liability so if you have a brick and mortar office you are going to want general liability for things like slip and falls right if someone comes to your office it’s snowy and they slip on the ice out front that is what general liability would cover if you have a Telehealth only practice you might not need it if you have a hybrid practice I would definitely have it if you were having people come to your home right or you’re going to their home I would definitely have it the only place where I would maybe contemplate not having it would be as if you are purely purely Telehealth you never have clients come to you you never go to them um that’s maybe the only time I would consider it but look at the policies see was what it covers it it might be worth it to have it from my experience all three of these policies are not very expensive at all I actually just renewed mine this week and I paid 212 dollars for the year right um so even if I added extra coverage to it I mean we’re looking at well under 500 for peace of mind they are a great resource for if you do have a question like oftentimes they have legal consultation available as part of the package that you’re paying for um there are usually limits to how much legal consultation you can have but when in doubt you ask them I know when I put my practice on on pause for maternity leave I reached out to them and asked them okay well what what do I need to do to make sure all my legal ducks are in a row while my business is closed and they gave me practical advice and recommendations on what needs to be done um to make that a smooth transition both for myself but also for the client so it’s definitely worth having um You probably will like need it it’s one of those expenses that you just have to kind of suck it up and do [Music] um hopefully you will never use it right but you’ll be very glad that you have it if you ever have to um so again this is short and sweet one the three main types malpractice cyber liability and general liability and I will link to the website of the one that I use below I’m not an affiliate I don’t get any facts it’s so I mean by all means do your research ask around I know different people that use different ones that are just as happy with theirs this just happens to be the one that I have used um mostly out of convenience nasw recommended it that is a big part of the organization that I belong to and participate in so I took their their word of math recommendation for kind of face value and I have been very happy with them I haven’t had any issues knock on wood hopefully it stays that way um and the price is extremely affordable so um it’s worked for me but it you find what works for you don’t be afraid to read the final print you should know what goes into it but you definitely want to make sure that you have something that covers yourself and what actions you’re doing or not doing right um that protects your equipment and HIPAA and phone and email and then also protects the client for the life accidents that can happen that are completely unrelated to anybody but can happen during office time the other thing you might want to consider that I don’t actually have on this slide but it’s it’s a little different than professional liability insurance but something that might be helpful from you from a personal standpoint now for many of us in private practice that means that from like a health insurance perspective we either have to pay privately or we are are kind of relying on a spouse significant other family member for that Insurance piece you might want to look into some type of disability insurance so this is different than your professional liability insurance this is purely for if you are taking some time off if God forbid medical emergency happens to you and you are out of work for x amount of time things like Affleck might be something to look into to give you that extra coverage because there’s a good chance that you are not going to be compensated by the state in any way because you are a self-employed individual every state is different please look into it for your state um but I know for myself when I went on maternity leave because I was in private practice and x amount of time outside of contributing to an agency kind of disability fund that I was not eligible to cash in on that even though I had paid into it for years working at the agency um it sucks but that’s Uncle Sam for you so what are you gonna do so just make sure you kind of consider that aspect to potentially or have kind of separate finances aside to protect yourself if if the unfortunate happens right again you hope to never be in those situations but that’s the whole point of insurance is too cover you if you are um so a little bonus tip it’s a little kind of liability insurance adjacent but something that you might want to consider okay

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Hello, I’m Alexandria Theordor, a life-first business strategies helping therapists create a private practice that prioritizes their personal life and values. My goal is to help you achieve the freedom to focus on what matters most: health, wealth, and relationships. Whether it’s through my consulting services or online resources, I’m here to provide the guidance and support you need to succeed in your business endeavors. My aim is to help you gain the confidence and knowledge necessary to launch your own profitable practice.

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