Exploring Insurance Coverage: A Guided Tour of Your Policies

One of the most important decisions you will make as a dentist is selecting the right insurance coverage to protect yourself, your practice and your investment in your profession.

Be better informed to make that decision with useful tools to decode insurance terminology, details on how policies differ and tips to navigate your options.

Most dental professionals, especially new graduates, aren’t aware of the types of policies they need or the conditions and exclusions they contain. After all, you should be an expert at crowns and caries detection, not claims and coverage terms.

The Dentists Insurance Company is here to help policyholders like you be comfortable and confident when it comes to your policies and coverage. The following insurance basics are intended to aid you in understanding your policies. Know that you should always speak with a trusted expert about what insurance is right for your unique needs.

Understanding types of professional insurance

While the insurance needs of each dentist and practice may vary according to practice size, type, location and stage of practice, the following are the most common varieties of required and recommended coverage.

Professional Liability

What is it? Also known as malpractice insurance, this policy offers protection for legal obligations arising from claims of wrongful or neglectful practices for licensed dentists and their employees.

Who needs it? If you’re a dentist, you do! From working interviews through every stage of practice, dentist-centric coverage is necessary whether you are practicing part time, full time, volunteering, interviewing or just starting out in your career.

Professional liability is required for practicing dentists in some states, but not all of them. Regardless of state law, the best protection against harmful allegations is having professional liability coverage built for dentists. It’s an essential means of protecting your career, business and financial interests.

How does it protect you? One out of seven medical malpractice cases directly involve a dental practitioner, according to the National Provider Databank. These lawsuits can wreak havoc on your practice and financial health, regardless of the outcome of the case.

What to look for in your policy:

At TDIC, Professional Liability policies are designed with the unique needs of a dentist in mind. Claims are handled in-house by a team highly specialized in dentistry, and those claims are resolved quickly and efficiently.

Another important differentiator? TDIC Professional Liability policy rates are not based on number or types of procedures. This means you have the freedom to formulate treatment plans that are in your patients’ best interest, without worry or concern that any procedure recommended will increase the cost of your insurance premium. With many carriers that calculate premiums based on procedures, renewal requires cataloging types and numbers of procedures — which can impact your rate and slow the renewal process. TDIC offers streamlined renewals and empowers you to practice with confidence.

Additionally, TDIC’s policy covers the scope of practice, allowing you to safely keep pace with changes in clinical care. For example, you’re covered as you administer vaccines, as permitted by your state’s dental board.

Dental Business Liability

What is it? When explaining the difference between professional and business liability policies, it helps to think of professional liability as covering what happens in the treatment chair and business liability covering what happens when patients leave the chair. It offers protection from claims of nondental-related incidents such as slip-and-fall injuries, third-party property damage, advertising injury, hired and non-owned auto, along with fire and water legal liabilities.

Who needs it? If you own a dental practice or are a partner in one, this type of policy is considered essential for the financial well-being of your business.

While not required by law, many commercial leases do require tenants to carry general liability coverage.

It is recommended for protection of your financial and business interests regardless of what your lease requires.

How does it protect you? Dental business liability helps cover costly claims that can come up during normal business operations. For example, should someone suffer an accident on your business property, and you’re found liable for the injuries, the legal costs of defending your business, the medical expenses needed to treat the patient or passerby and the possibility of compensating the loss of income can add up quickly. Unless you have sufficient financial means to cover these expenses, your small business is at risk if you don’t have proper insurance coverage.

What to look for in your coverage: TDIC lowers the cost of a Dental Business Liability policy by bundling it with Professional Liability. Other insurers are known to offer it separately with a higher premium. Years of experience specializing in dental office claims means that TDIC can process claims efficiently with attentive, responsive service for dentists of every practice size.

Commercial Property

What is it? Commercial property insurance safeguards your investment in and reliance upon your practice’s physical assets. It protects the dental office and its contents, whether you own your business, building or both.

Who needs it? Any dentist who owns a practice should be protected by a business owner’s policy.

Although it’s not required by law, proof of commercial property insurance is almost always required by landlords. In other words, you will need this type of policy in order to sign and maintain an office lease agreement. Without it, you’re responsible for paying the costs to fix or replace your damaged business property — even if the damage was caused by another party.

If you own a building — regardless of whether you practice there or lease it — you also need to secure protection for the office structure, the general liability exposure that comes with ownership and the loss of income due to a covered property loss.

How does a policy protect you? You’ll be covered not only for damages to structures or equipment, but for the loss of dental practice income, accounts receivable, valuable papers, employee dishonesty and more.

What to look for in your coverage: Once again, the differentiator is a singular focus on dentists. Other carriers typically do not have a defined understanding of the specialized equipment invested in by dental offices, requiring the dentist to bear the burden of proof to provide replacement value in case of loss. TDIC has tools and expertise to accurately assess the replacement cost of an office, which means losses are handled smoothly and without additional effort on the part of the dentist.

In comparison to other insurers, TDIC Commercial Property policies have some unique features that make them more cost-effective with broader coverage. For instance, TDIC offers discounts for closed water lines and fire sprinklers.

What’s more, TDIC provides protection for up to 24 months of lost income due to covered practice interruptions, compared to the industry average of just 12 months.

Dentists practicing in states that have suffered an increase in wildfires will also be relieved to know that TDIC’s Commercial Property policy premiums are not rated based on area risk, unlike many other carriers.

Cyber Suite Liability

What is it? This type of policy provides tools for responding to and recovering from cyber incidents, with the range of coverage varying by insurer. At TDIC, Cyber Suite Liability goes beyond data breach. It covers the costs related to breach of information, unauthorized intrusion or interference with computer systems, damage to data and systems from computer attacks and related litigation. In most cases, general liability policies do not fully cover cyber incidents, so adding cyber coverage to your Business Owner’s policy is a good defense against the financial effects of cyberattacks.

Who needs it? Practices of every size need comprehensive cyber protection. Dental offices are particularly vulnerable businesses when it comes to cyberattacks due to handling both financial and sensitive HIPAA information.

How does it protect you? Cybercriminals are targeting dental practices with more frequent, complex cyberattacks.

Understanding the importance of protecting private dental, medical and billing information is paramount when structuring the appropriate coverage for a dental office. Due to sensitive patient information, dental offices are particularly vulnerable to cyberattack.

Recent studies indicate that while the average black-market price for an identity record is about $25, the price of a single electronic health record can be $400 or more, putting these records at particular risk.

Proactively adding cyber coverage helps protect your records, reputation and practice costs. The immediate cost of a data breach can be significant; the latent costs can be devastating without coverage.

What to look for in your coverage: Every state has laws that require businesses to notify consumers of data breach — as a minimum. Choosing a comprehensive, cyber-specific policy ensures you not only have the means to comply with the law, but also can protect your records and reputation while responding to and recovering from a broad range of incidents.

As part of TDIC’s risk management resources for policyholders, you have access to reference tools, guides and checklists for navigating cyber threats.

Workers’ Compensation

What is it? This policy covers employees’ workplace-related injuries and illnesses, providing medical care and compensation to employees hurt in workplace incidents.

Who needs it? In most states, a workers’ compensation policy is required by law for dentists who have employees. Coverage is mandated by each state and the wage and medical benefits vary by state.

How does it protect you? When an employee experiences a workplace injury or illness, a workers’ compensation policy provides required medical care and compensation for their lost income. It ensures your employees can connect to the benefits they need while you can access the resources you need to avoid interruption in practice operations.

What to look for in your coverage: Workers’ Compensation coverage is mandated by the state in which you practice. One advantage of acquiring your policy from TDIC is that it offers policies only to dentists, allowing premium prices to remain competitive since TDIC has no need to compensate for coverage of employees in higher-risk industries.

In most states, a workers’ compensation policy is required by law for dentists who have employees.

Employment Practices Liability

What is it? As an endorsement to your professional liability policy, Employment Practices Liability (EPLI) covers any civil damages, defense costs or settlements resulting from certain violations of labor laws brought against an employer by an employee, including discrimination, harassment or wrongful termination. Though sometimes confused with workers’ compensation, EPLI coverage protects you if a staff member or applicant files a claim against you, a different situation than when an employee is hurt on the job.

Who needs it? All dentists who lead teams, regardless of practice size, need protection in the event of a discrimination, wrongful termination, harassment or unfair treatment claim. While EPLI is not required in most states, it is highly recommended due to the costly nature of employment- related claims.

How does it protect you? With an average employment claim costing $75,000, this coverage for settlement, civil damages and defense costs is essential to protecting your financial well-being.

What to look for in your coverage: TDIC offers dedicated expertise in protecting dentists in their roles as employers. When you bundle your EPLI policy with a TDIC Professional Liability policy, special rates are available. Support and training offered by TDIC’s sharp analysts can help you mitigate risk and avoid costly claims.

Need to review, add or change your existing coverage? Contact TDIC for guidance choosing the right type and amount of insurance for your needs, along with support for updating your coverage as your practice changes.

Request a free, no-obligation quote online any time or call a knowledgeable agent during business hours.