Veterinary hospitals face risks that can impact the bottom line and reputation with consumers
Veterinary businesses need specific protections that many other companies may not require. In addition to the risk of natural disasters, litigation, or worker injury that most companies face, veterinarians must also be ready to handle unfortunate situations like pet death, injury, or disappearance.
While specific coverages can help your veterinary business overcome location-specific problems, they also need general insurance to cover business interruptions due to property damage or customer injuries. When searching for business insurance for your veterinary practice, consider working with an insurance professional that understands all aspects of risk in vetmed.
Business-Owner Policy (BOP) / Package Policy
Business owners appreciate the value and convenience of a Business Owner’s or Package Policy because it combines many necessary coverage types. Policies include general liability insurance, commercial property insurance, business interruption insurance, and many more.
As a general-purpose policy for most business owners, a BOP is an excellent foundation for circumstances like client injury, loss of income due to business closure resulting from property damage, and protection from damage to your practice’s equipment and facility.
Worker’s Compensation
Veterinarians have to work with equipment that can be dangerous and animals that can be unpredictable. Worker’s compensation insurance can protect your business if an employee becomes injured at your practice during work.
Worker’s compensation insurance can also protect your practice if an employee becomes sick, loses wages, or perishes because of working at your facility.
Builders Risk & Construction Liability
If you plan to build a new facility, make leasehold tenant improvements, or remodel/expand an existing space, we highly recommend getting Builder's Risk and Liability for that project. Most Business-Owner Policies do not adequately insure or contemplate active construction operations.
Veterinary Professional Liability + License Defense
Veterinarians carry the animal’s life on their shoulders. Even though vets do everything they can to treat animals with the best care possible, unfortunate circumstances can still happen. Pet owners can sometimes blame a veterinarian for their pet’s failing health, even when the veterinarian is innocent. For this reason, when writing insurance for the business, we offer veterinary professional liability and license defense to help protect you and your business. **NOTE: we can provide vet professional to a hospital or corporate group, which includes all staff, but we do not provide individual veterinary professional policies.
Commercial Automobile
If you are providing off-site services or even running errands, appropriately title and insure the vehicles used in your business. Business Auto policies can not only cover owned autos of the business, but they can also help protect you even when an employee runs an errand in their car that results in property damage or bodily injury from an accident they cause.
Mobile Medical Equipment (Inland Marine)
Inland marine insurance is a special type of property coverage designed to protect property that is mobile. Whether you are 100% mobile or you have a brick-and-mortar practice that offers at-home care, inland marine can help cover losses to medical equipment damaged or destroyed in transit or at an off-site location.
Bonds
If you have employees at your veterinary clinic, you might be responsible for taking out a fidelity bond for compliance under the Employment Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). This bond will give your establishment coverage in the event of mishandling of funds or fraud regarding money that should be set aside for employee benefits packages.
Umbrella
An umbrella policy can increase the liability limits of your Business-Owner, Commercial Auto, and Employers Liability (workers comp) policies to protect your business if a liability claim exceeds the underlying policy limits. For example, if an employee caused an auto accident while running an errand in their vehicle that resulted in a $5.5 million problem, you could be financially responsible for any amount that exceeds your underlying limit of coverage. Get an umbrella today!
Learn About the Benefits of Business Insurance With Vetinsure
To find out more information about beneficial coverages that you should consider for your veterinary business’s insurance policy, contact Vetinsure. Vetinsure is a vet-centric organization that strives to help veterinary practices save money while still ensuring the practice has all of the coverage it needs. Vetinsure is strictly for veterinarians and does not provide pet insurance to pet owners.
Your business insurance should reflect the needs of your business. Call us at 800-272-1249 to discover if your veterinary practice has all of the insurance coverages that it needs.