Dental

The Importance of Choosing the Right Dentist Office Insurance

Gerome was a talented dentist, and when he decided to go into practice by himself, he didn’t have problems finding a great staff. Gerome had many loyal patients and business was good for more than five years. However, one day a large storm hit the area, and he realized his dentist office insurance was not what he thought it was.

During summer in the Southeastern US, storms can appear without notice, and one Friday afternoon a sudden storm with torrential rains and high winds hit the region. It spawned a tornado which went over Gerome’s building and destroyed almost everything.

Gerome understood about insurance, and he had malpractice insurance and workers compensation for his staff. He also had sufficient general liability coverage. Yet, when it came to commercial building insurance, Gerome chose the wrong kind of insurance for his business because his coverage paid for the value of his commercial property and contents. It didn’t take into account the increased costs of replacing his structure. In fact, since Gerome bought the building, construction costs rose by more than five percent, so his replacement costs were more than $50,000 more than his insurance coverage.

This problem can easily be avoided when you make sure you have replacement cost coverage and not just coverage for the current value of your property. This is just one important thing to remember when you insure a dental practice.

What is Dentist Office Insurance?

Insurance for a dental practice is like insuring a medical practice or clinic. It’s important to make sure every risk factor of the business is covered. This includes patients, staff, and the commercial property. Even if you rent your building, you still need to make sure the contents are covered from losses.

• Who Should Take Out This Insurance?
• The following businesses should consider this kind of coverage for their practices:
• General practice dentists
• Dental clinics
• Oral surgeon practices
• Orthodontists

What Does a Typical Dentist Office Insurance Policy Cover?

If you run a dentist or healthcare practice, a standard policy should include:

• Commercial building coverage – this protects you from a wide range of natural disasters, including storms, winds, and other problems.
• Business Personal Property insurance – covers the contents of your building.
• General liability – every business needs protection against people getting injured on your premises.
• Malpractice – you never know when someone is going to claim that you or someone in your practice made a mistake or was incompetent. Even if you did nothing wrong, you need the protection that malpractice insurance has to offer.
• Workers’ compensation – even if you only have one person working for you, many states require you to have workers’ compensation coverage.
• Medical equipment – you may want to protect your equipment from breakdowns and power surges. Lightning is a common problem, and it can ruin all kinds of electrical and electronic equipment.

Dental Insurance Options

You may wish to consider these insurance options for your business:

• Employment practices coverage – protects you from wrongful termination and discrimination charges.
• Hurricane insurance – most policies don’t cover hurricane damage, or they have a separate deductible. Hurricanes can come inland many miles.
• Flood insurance – many properties in the Southeastern US are prone to flooding. If your place lies in a flood plain, you’ll have to take out flood coverage, and even if it doesn’t, it’s a good idea to protect your business from flooding.
• Bonding – can protect you from employee theft.
• Cyber insurance – if someone hacked your website or server computer, it could cause serious damage to your reputation. Your patients’ personal information could be compromised, and cyber insurance protects you from the expenses associated with a data breach.

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