Odds are, you went into the mental health professionals out of concern for the well-being of other people. That’s a beautiful thing, it really is. However, it also means you’ll be working closely with unstable people who are given to instances of irrationality.
In other words, you could potentially find yourself facing a lawsuit, even if you’ve done everything “by the book”. This is why mental health professionals need business insurance.
Liability issues come up every day. Finding the right business insurance for mental health practitioners is key to protecting your practice, as well as your personal assets. To this end, you’ll need general liability insurance and professional liability insurance.
Professional Liability Insurance
Professional liability policies provide coverage for emotional or physical injuries that may result from your advice or recommendations you made during a counseling session.
Dealing with the human mind opens you to personal perception. Further, people can sometimes relapse after treatments and loved ones can sometimes look for someone to blame in such circumstances.
The primary protection afforded mental health professionals by professional liability insurance coverage is errors and omissions insurance. This will provide you with an umbrella against claims of:
- Negligence
- Misrepresentation,
- Violation of good faith and fair dealing
- Inaccurate advice
General Liability Insurance
The main protections afforded mental health professionals under general liability insurance include:
- Property Damage
- Bodily Injury
- Personal Injury
Property Damage: Let’s say you’re visiting a patient’s home and inadvertently cause physical damage to an item of their personal property. One quick call to your general liability insurance carrier and the item is repaired or replaced.
Bodily Injury: A patient becomes distraught during a counseling session and those emotions manifest themselves in extreme physical behavior. During the incident, the patient trips over the coffee table in your office and suffers an injury. General liability insurance will fund their treatment and recovery. It will also protect you, should they decide to sue you for negligence.
Personal Injury: One of your assistants is overheard discussing one of your patients in public. The image they paint of the person is both exaggerated and considerably less than flattering. Word gets back to the patient, who is justifiably upset and files a lawsuit against your practice for defamation.
In this instance, the personal injury aspect of your general liability policy would cover the cost of your defense. It would also pay to settle the claim—up to your prescribed limits of liability.
As you can see, when it comes to the mental health profession, one can be suddenly swept up in situations not of their own making. Which, again, is why mental health professionals need business insurance.
Other risks you face include allegations of:
- Improper treatment
- Sexual impropriety
* Negligence
- Confidentiality Breach
- Patient suicide
- Incorrect diagnosis
- Failure to diagnose
- Breach of contract
People are wholly unpredictable and unfortunate incidents do occur. Protecting your practice with both professional and general liability insurance policies is simply the smart thing to do!
Even mental health professionals need a mental health support system. Think about it, they take in everyone else’s problems, they need someone to talk to also! If you are looking for help, then check out BetterHelp.com.