Insurance for Virtual Care & Telehealth

Virtual care and telehealth may have sounded like a fantasy a year ago, but today, both are considered fully viable and accepted practices. 

Telemedicine has been emerging for a while. People have their reservations about virtually interacting with a practitioner, but 2020 was a time when they were forced to overcome them.

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Covid-19 put the telemedicine business into high gear, and virtual health visits are now at levels 38 times higher than before the pandemic. It’s not just patients that need to adjust either.

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This rapid growth has encouraged many to incorporate virtual care into their practice, which is a new territory to explore - both for patients and practitioners.

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Telehealth is a fairly vague term. Even if you only occasionally communicate with patients via text message, you may be technically practicing telehealth.

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Regardless of the health business in question, a properly established virtual care will require suitable virtual care insurance, telehealth insurance, and overall telemedicine insurance - and here is what you need to know about each.  

When we discuss insurance in regard to medicine, what’s the first thing to come to mind? Patient insurance, right?

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Whilst patient insurance is pivotal, we often overlook the fact that medical practitioners themselves need insurance, the same as any other business. A number of different lines of work can fall into the category of healthcare. Those that will need virtual care insurance include health or mental health service providers, such as general practitioners, therapists, pharmacists, etc.

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The same also applies to wellness professionals of all sorts as well. Yes, companies that offer wearable health-related tech, or even fitness and yoga instructors need proper coverage.

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The most common policies included in health technology insurance are:

• Medical Malpractice Insurance;
• Workers Compensation;
• Cyber Liability;
• Product Liability;
• Commercial General Liability;

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All practitioners and business owners should estimate whether they are properly covered by insurance. For the telehealth industry, this means accounting for certain unique aspects of telemedicine and virtual care.

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Professional Indemnity Insurance

Professional Indemnity insurance is a form of coverage that accounts for any professional mistakes your business, practice, or employees may make. This means that, if you or a company worker had given out advice or services that caused a client financial loss, professional indemnity policies will have their back and cover the monetary loss.

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Now you may already be seeing a problem with this broad definition - it doesn’t necessarily fit the healthcare industry!

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While Professional Indemnity insurance can cover a variety of things based on the line of work you’re in, for highly specialized fields such as medicine, there exists a specific type of PI insurance. For healthcare providers of any kind, including telehealth, this is medical malpractice insurance.

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Medical Malpractice Insurance

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If your business is providing any advice, information, or medical recommendations - a medical malpractice is the utmost desired policy to get, since a regular PI policy alone won’t cut it for your industry.

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Also known as Errors & Omissions insurance, or Professional Liability coverage, a medical malpractice policy covers situations specific to healthcare, where negligence or poor medical judgment can literally mean life or death.

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Workers Compensation

Most US states require businesses to purchase worker’s comp. This type of insurance is not only handy for a company to have but it is useful for its employees, their needs, and as a way to keep up a good work environment. Even when working online, work-related injuries for employees are very much a possibility. 

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Usually, this leaves employers responsible for paying the injured party’s medical bills, but also renders them short of a hand while the employee heals. Workers’ comp can cover anything from medical bills, necessary treatment, lost income, and even offer death benefits. Legal fees may also be covered; however, this will vary from one policy to the next.

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If you want insurance to financially protect you in the event an injured worker files a claim, make sure the employer’s liability is included in your chosen policy. Learn more about Workers Compensation (click here).

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Cyber Liability

Every technology-reliant business should invest in cyber liability insurance. The number of cyberattacks is increasing by the day and virtual care providers need to be ready to face this threat.

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Cyber liability can offer:

• First-party coverage - this policy protects against data breaches and malicious attacks on your software. It covers all financial losses sustained;
• Third-party coverage - if a company mistakes the results of a client due to, say, a data breach, this policy will cover the legal fees in the event of a filed suit;

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Since Virtual care professionals store a lot of sensitive client information on an online platform - cyber liability is a crucial policy to have in place. Learn more about Cyber Liability & Data Breach Insurance (click here).

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Product Liability

As mentioned, it’s not just practitioners that need to worry about telehealth insurance, but anyone dealing with technology in the healthcare industry.

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Product liability can cover both property damages and bodily injuries caused by a company’s product. In certain instances, you can be held liable even if you haven’t manufactured a product but simply sold it.

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Luckily, if you have proper telemedicine insurance, you won’t have to worry about paying lawyers, settlements, or compensations - product liability covers that as well.

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Commercial General liability

Commercial general liability is a basic and comprehensive form of coverage for any business. It protects you from third-party claims of injury or property damage resulting from your work practices.

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While telehealth is on the rise, most practitioners still have a physical office and practice telemedicine at the same time. This made CGL insurance an important policy to have in place.

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The cost of telemedicine insurance depends on multiple factors:

• The industry your business belongs to;
• The size, value, and location value of your business property;
• Any risk you may face;
• The amount of coverage you want;

For professional indemnity insurance, for example, telemedicine practitioners can expect premiums of $1,000+ a year with a $1 million limit, depending on their exact field of expertise. A good rule of thumb for insurance -- the premium is typically around 0.5% to 2% of your total annual sales.

You may also have a varied price in cyber liability insurance if you’re dealing with sensitive data and need tighter coverage and protection.

The Verdict

While telehealth remains a fairly novel way of practicing medicine, it’s growing by the minute and everyone - patients, service providers, as well as insurance companies - are adjusting. The way things are headed, telehealth is not only sure to garner more consideration insurance-wise, but perhaps even revolutionize the insurance industry itself.

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The process to get insurance is an easy and straightforward process. You get us the information we need to engage insurance providers and we'll supply the best possible quote(s). We're also real people that probably live in your city, and we value relationships, so meeting in person is always an option. At the end of the day, our job as brokers and advisors is to educate you on what everything means. It also helps us to understand your business and insurance needs, so we can get underwriter comfortable with quoting. We'll help you understand insurance and risk management practices, and be there for you as the business grows.

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Some traditional businesses can move through the process faster as a lot of underwriting is supported by artificial intelligence, but most policies today will be reviewed by an actual person. We have decades of experience working with the underwriters at each insurance company, and pitch your business to each of them. We work with and for you.

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The standard process to produce quotes for your business is as follows:

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1. Advisor Introduction: this can be a quick phone call, email, video conference or in person meeting. You'll decide if you enjoy the advisor and trust their advice. This is also where you'll be able to ask questions, provide information about your operation, and go over the process to get insured.
2. Data Collection & Underwriting: this is where you'll get into the fine details about underwriting questions and information that will be necessary to engage the insurance market. You'll be able to chose from filling out PDF's, going through our smart-form technology, or provide it all over the phone, email, or in person.
3. Quote Proposal & Review: once your advisor has the information needed for underwriting, they will work with the insurance market to produce quotes. This can take a day or up to a week, depending on the time and operation.
4. Finalize Coverage: here you'll decide the coverage to move forward with. Final steps include signed documents, payment, and selecting a specific start date.

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ADIVSOR TIP: Be prepared to spend 5-10 minutes with your advisor to break the ice and get the ball rolling. Once aligned, your advisor will create clear next steps and create a timeline for quotes. If your business is new, and has unique risks, then you should expect a little back and forth.

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Get in touch with your advisor, or send over the details digitally today.

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