Insurance agents help professionals and ordinary people get the insurance coverage they need. You might wonder if professional insurance agents need malpractice coverage themselves. They do, and we’ll explain policies every insurance agent needs, like errors and omissions coverage.
Yes, Insurance Agents Need Liability Coverage
Every professional insurance agent should have liability policies to protect themselves and their business. Professional liability insurance is especially important. An insurance agent who runs their own business will need basic business coverage, like a business owner’s policy, worker’s compensation, and cyber liability insurance.
Insurance agents offer advice and counsel to clients, but that counsel doesn’t always work out. When this happens, the client may seek retribution against the agent. Every insurance agent needs malpractice coverage for protection in these cases, primarily errors and omissions (E&O) insurance.
Errors & Omissions Insurance
E&O insurance is a specialized policy to protect the insured against the legal cost of errors not traditionally covered by standard liability insurance. Insurance agents are people, too, and can make mistakes in the counsel or recommendations of their clients. Errors that E&O covers include the following:
• Giving the wrong advice accidentally
• Missing a deadline
• Failing to recommend coverage
• Not explaining policy provisions
• Errors made by the agent, team, or subcontractor
• Inadequate work
If a client feels that any of these errors by their insurance agent cost them a substantial sum or payout from the insurance provider, they may file a malpractice claim to force the agent to make up the difference.
What Errors & Omissions Insurance Covers
If the claim falls under one of the protected acts in E&O insurance, the policy will cover most of the costs of defending the agent in court. That includes attorney fees, court costs, and unfavorable judgments or settlements up to the policy’s limits.
Judgments and settlements regarding liability and malpractice can reach hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, depending on the situation. Without liability insurance, the agent could be left on the hook for that payment themselves.
Conclusion
Now you understand why insurance agents need malpractice coverage and some policies the average agent needs. Baxter & Associates is a trusted malpractice insurance agency that connects professionals with suitable providers and can offer a liability policy. Learn more on our website or contact our staff to get started on a policy today.
Opening a medical clinic, like any small business, is a massive undertaking that’s difficult for many people—especially for those who know only the medical side of a practice. If you’re thinking of starting a medicine practice, our key tips below will help your clinic begin on the right foot toward becoming functional and profitable.
Obtain Funding
The first concern when building a medical clinic from scratch is securing the cash to get it up and running. Dollar amounts for how much a medical practice needs to get started depend on the situation and the practice itself.
There are two main considerations for securing funding: the startup costs, such as the medical and office equipment, and the initial operating expenses for overhead costs, staff, vendors, and more. It takes months or years for a medical practice to come close to earning a profit and generating a stable revenue stream. So until then, keeping the lights on will require additional funding. Unless you’re independently wealthy, the best way to secure funding is to get investors and loans from banks, and to do that will require a business plan.
Create a Business Plan
Like any other business, a key tip for starting a functional medicine practice is to create an informative and detailed business plan. A business plan acts as a pitch for banks and investors to secure funding and a roadmap for the medical clinic’s first couple of years of operation.
Most medical professionals launching a practice are more concerned about the medical side of the business. However, the operational and administrative side of things requires much of the thought and resources. There are many aspects of a business plan, so we’ll touch on some key elements below and how they relate to medical practice.
Executive Summary
The executive summary is the first section of a business plan and the first thing banks and investors will read. As the name suggests, this section is all the big ideas and plans of the other sections boiled down to a concise and attractive summary.
While it appears as the first section in the document, you should write it last to summarize the rest of the business plan accurately. The summary should be around a page or two long and feature the plan’s general information and best points, including who you are, what your practice offers, the competition, etc.
Problem and Solution
The core of any profitable business, whether a medical practice or a hot dog stand, is the problem and solution. What is the problem that the business is solving, and how will it solve the problem?
This section for a new medical clinic generally concerns the lack of specialty care in the practice area. For example, the problem may be that the aging population in such-and-such areas doesn’t have reliable chiropractic care within 50 miles, which this new chiropractic clinic will solve.
Target Market
Every business has a target market, which comprises the people the business will market toward and who will make up the core of its customer base. The target market section will relate to the problem and solution section. For example, if there aren’t enough gynecological or pediatric services in the area that a gynecology or pediatric clinic is proposing to solve, target market research will support the claim.
The target market section of a medical business plan should also include an ideal patient profile. This profile should include information like the patient’s income, health problems, where they live, their insurance, etc. It’s also wise to include a list of competitors for this target market and how this new practice will offer something different.
Marking and Sales Plan
After outlining the target market of the new practice, it’s time to explain how the practice will attract and retain this target market. A new practice has the disadvantage of not being known in the community and industry, so the marketing and sales plan is crucial for reaching the target market.
Will the clinic focus on direct mail campaigns or advertise more online? What areas will the advertising budget be most focused on and why?
Incorporate the Practice
Assuming you secure funding for your medical practice, it’s time to start the legal proceedings of starting the business, which include incorporating the practice. In many states, medical clinics can only operate as professional medical corporations, so it’s not much of a choice.
Incorporation provides many benefits to the owner—mainly, it protects the owner from personal liability for the business. So if it fails or faces problems, the business—not the owner—is liable. But owners who operate as medical professionals, like a chiropractor who runs their own clinic, would still be liable professionally for malpractice or negligence.
Invest in Quality Equipment and Staff
It may be tempting to cut corners regarding initial expenses and equipment to reduce costs at your new clinic. And while there are plenty of areas where you can make compromises, the equipment and staff are worth investing more money into for greater long-term value to the medical clinic. For example, for a chiropractic clinic, high-quality treatment tables and experienced chiropractors are well worth the investment over shoddy equipment and new staff.
New owners should also want to invest in experienced professionals for their front-office team, if they have one. An experienced front-office team will help clinic operators navigate the tumultuous waters of the first months and provide a clear delineation between the administrative and treatment side of the business.
Purchase Medical Business Insurance
Like any other business, a medicine clinic needs quality insurance coverage to protect management, employees, and the incorporated business. The following is coverage that every medical clinic requires:
General liability insurance
Business income insurance
Commercial property insurance
Workers compensation insurance
Medical clinics also have specialized insurance that caters to the unique circumstances of medical practices, such as medical malpractice insurance and medical office business insurance. Overall, quality insurance coverage is as critical to a business’s survival as the management and employees are.
Conclusion
We hope our guide on creating a medical clinic has been informative and helpful. If you’re starting a practice and need insurance coverage, Baxter & Associates can help you find medical malpractice insurance quotes that suit your business and situation. Contact our staff to learn more and find the right insurance policy for you.
Risk assessment is an integral part of insurance. Insurance carriers categorize potential policies by risk, affecting premiums, coverage, and all other parts of the policy. In this guide, we’ll examine the risk classifications for malpractice insurance, explain the elements of a successful malpractice lawsuit, and more.
How Risks Are Classified in Malpractice Insurance
When attaining malpractice insurance for an individual or group, the insurance carrier will place the policy into one of their risk categories. Below, we’ll highlight the main risk classifications for malpractice insurance and what they mean, so individuals can better understand their policy.
Preferred Risk
The best risk category for a policy to be in is preferred risk. A preferred risk individual or group policy is a medical professional or practice with a lower risk than average of filing a claim.
Medical malpractice liability Insurance providers use stats to determine these classifications—certain specialties and practices are more or less likely to be sued for malpractice than others. Examples of low-risk practices and professions include pediatrics, psychiatry, and general family practice. These aren’t guaranteed risk-free, but they come with the least risk statistically.
Standard Risk
As one could guess, the standard risk classification is the average risk for most malpractice policies. These individuals and groups are not significantly risky or low-risk and constitute the majority of medical malpractice policies.
Most medical professionals would fall into this category—typically registered nurses to physicians and specialists. But while an individual may work in a standard risk job, if they have a history of malpractice or prior lawsuits, they may be bumped into the impaired risk category.
Impaired Risk
Lastly, the policies considered the riskiest are placed in the impaired category. The insurance carrier considers an impaired risk to be an individual or practice that is riskier than the average but not such a liability that they’re not worthy of a policy.
Those that fall in the impaired risk category are typically those that work in specialties with the highest rate of malpractice claims, which include:
• Plastic surgeons
• Cardiovascular surgeons
• OB-GYNs
• Urologists
Surgeons are often classified as impaired risks because they’re common targets for malpractice claims.
The Elements of a Successful Malpractice Claim
Along with understanding the risk classifications, it’s also wise to understand the basic elements of a malpractice claim. For a malpractice lawsuit to be successful, it must prove four elements—a duty owed to the patient, a breach of that duty, injury caused by the breach, and damages.
These elements are sometimes called the four Ds: Duty, Dereliction, Direct Cause, and Damages.
Duty Owed to Patient
The first element that a malpractice lawsuit must prove is that the defendant had a duty of care to the patient (plaintiff). A primary physician has a duty to provide competent and careful treatment and diagnosis to the patient, and a surgeon has a duty to perform the surgery competently to the best of their abilities.
A patient who suffers injury can’t simply sue whoever they want to and expect them to be held responsible if they did not have a duty of care. This element is typically the easiest part of the malpractice suit to prove and is generally uncontested by the defendant.
Breach of Duty
Once the defendant’s duty of care to the plaintiff is proven, the lawsuit must also establish that there was a breach (otherwise known as dereliction) of duty. This element is much harder to prove as it must show the defendant deviated from their duty and failed to fulfill their obligations.
Examples of breach of duty include misdiagnosing a patient, prescribing the wrong type of medication, or making surgical mistakes. Since understanding the core duties of medical treatment requires a lot of education and skill, expert witnesses and testimony are typically needed to establish whether the defendant breached their duty.
Injury Caused by Breach
If the breach of duty is proven, then the case can move to prove that the plaintiff suffered an injury due to the cause of the breach. In medical malpractice, it’s not enough that there was a mistake, but it must be proven that the mistake caused harm.
A plaintiff may claim that a misdiagnosis caused injury, but the defendant may point to pre-existing conditions or other circumstances that caused the injury, not the breach of duty. In some cases, though, this element can be obvious—like if a surgeon leaves a surgical instrument in the patient (which happens more than you think), that’s a clear line from breach of duty to injury.
Damages
Lastly, the plaintiff must prove that damages resulted from the injury caused by the breach of duty. In some cases, a mistake was made and caused injury, but the damages weren’t significant enough to reward compensation.
Damages are placed into two groups: special and general. Special damages include lost pay or the cost of corrective surgery when needed. General damages are vaguer and include pain and suffering or loss of quality of life. If a malpractice claim can prove these four elements, they will likely be successful and be rewarded compensation or a settlement with the defendant.
The 4 Cs of Medical Malpractice Risk Reduction
Naturally, its in the best interests of medical professionals and practices to reduce risk as best they can. There are many strategies for reducing risk in healthcare, but the core elements are sometimes called the four Cs: compassion, communication, competence, and charting.
Compassion & Communication
Compassion is vital in developing the doctor-patient relationship and avoiding strife that can result in a malpractice lawsuit. One of the most common reasons patients and families pursue litigation is that they felt mistreated or disrespected by the individual—so if a doctor shows compassion and understanding, they’re more likely to receive it from patients and families if a negative result occurs.
Communication is also crucial in avoiding malpractice litigation. For one, proper communication with staff helps avoid mistakes like delayed diagnosis and incorrect prescription drug administration. Communicating with patients and families also helps them understand better what’s happening and why and makes them feel heard instead of ignored.
Competence & Charting
Of course, healthcare professionals must be competent if they want to avoid malpractice litigation. But competence also refers to physicians not going past their area of expertise—consulting with colleagues and referring patients to specialists when needed.
Lastly, charting (or documentation) helps to improve communication and is useful in potential litigation. For one, it provides a written record of everything that’s happened to the patient and gives healthcare professionals the most up-to-date information regarding the patient for quality and safe care.
Conclusion
If you’d like to learn more about medical malpractice liability risk for individuals and practices, our helpful staff is eager to answer all your questions and can help you find the ideal malpractice insurance policy for you.
When it comes to insurance, especially malpractice insurance, there are many aspects of the policy that the insured individual should be familiar with. One of the most important components of any insurance policy is the deductible.
Malpractice insurance deductibles are different than the typical deductibles found in other policies, such as those for home or car owners. Below, we’ll explain everything you need to know about malpractice insurance deductibles, from how they’re structured to the options available.
What Is an Insurance Deductible?
First, consider the basics of deductibles and insurance policies. Deductibles are common parts of many insurance policies, whether healthcare, homeowner’s, or auto insurance. An insurance deductible is the specified amount an insured pays toward their insured loss.
The deductible is a lump sum the insured pays the insurer if the policy and coverage are activated. To use the example of auto insurance, if the insured has a $500 deductible insurance policy and gets in an accident that causes damages in the amount of $5,000, the insured would be responsible for paying the $500 before the repairs can be made or reimbursed for $4,500 for the repairs minus the deductible.
Does Every Malpractice Insurance Policy Carry a Deductible?
While deductibles are standard on most homeowner’s and auto insurance policies, they’re not typical with malpractice and professional liability policies. Since malpractice insurance differs from other types of insurance and covers different costs, most policies don’t include a deductible.
Many policies will carry a deductible option, but it’s not mandatory unless the individual is joining a group malpractice insurance policy where the deductible is required. Those seeking individual malpractice insurance policies will likely have the option of having a deductible. And while the deductible may be a substantial lump sum, a higher deductible could mean lower premiums, so it is worth considering.
How Are Malpractice Insurance Deductibles Different?
Malpractice insurance is already quite different from other forms of insurance regarding deductibles, but they’re also structured differently. While deductibles for most insurance policies, like auto and home coverage, must be paid immediately to activate policy coverage, malpractice deductibles are slightly different.
Individuals looking for malpractice insurance have two options regarding deductibles—indemnity-only or indemnity and expense. Both deductible types are fairly common, but they do have distinct characteristics.
Indemnity-Only Deductibles
An indemnity-only deductible, otherwise known as loss-only, is a deductible that is only required when the insurance provider pays an indemnity. An indemnity is compensation for damages or losses agreed upon in a settlement or levied on the defendant by the court.
If there is no indemnity, where the claim is either dismissed or resolved in favor of the insured defendant, then the insured wouldn’t have to pay the deductible at all. An indemnity-only deductible is only required when a settlement is agreed to or the lawsuit is resolved.
Consent-to-Settlement Clause & Deductibles
Those with an indemnity-only deductible should also consider a consent-to-settlement clause in their insurance policy. A consent-to-settlement clause is a provision that requires the insurer to seek the insured’s approval before settling a claim. While this clause is common in many policies, it’s not standard and shouldn’t be assumed by the insured.
Those with an indemnity-only deductible would naturally want to consent to a settlement, as that’s when the indemnity-only deductible would activate and they’d have to pay a large sum. Without the clause, there’s an incentive for the insurer to agree on a settlement to resolve the claim and activate the indemnity-only deductible.
Indemnity & Expense Deductibles
The other type of deductible in malpractice insurance is indemnity and expense. While the deductible covers the indemnity—should any be paid—it also covers other expenses, like court and legal fees.
It doesn’t matter if an indemnity has been reached yet; most indemnity and expense deductibles are required immediately once the claim is filed. The indemnity and expense deductible is typically more common than an indemnity-only deductible if the policy has any deductible at all.
Which Malpractice Deductible Is Best for Me?
Choosing which deductible is best for you and your insurance policy will primarily come down to your preferences. Each deductible type has its advantages, as an indemnity-only deductible is paid only when the claim is resolved and may not be paid at all if the claim is dismissed or resolved in favor of the defendant.
However, indemnity-only deductibles are typically higher than indemnity and expense deductibles, which must be paid immediately to cover legal costs like lawyer and court fees. One type of deductible may also yield a lower policy premium, so you should carefully weigh each deductible’s pros and cons before deciding.
How Much Should I Pay for My Malpractice Insurance Deductible?
One of the most common questions that many searching for new malpractice insurance policies ask is how much they should pay for a deductible. The price of a malpractice policy deductible depends on numerous factors, including the individual’s risk factor. Some medical professions have inherently higher risk factors and are more likely to have higher premiums or deductibles for coverage.
Some malpractice deductibles are as low as $1,000, while some are as high as $25,000 or more. Keep in mind, a higher deductible typically means a lower premium and vice versa. Those shopping for a new malpractice policy should decide if they’re more financially capable of paying a higher monthly premium or greater lump sum for their coverage.
How Do I Find Suitable Malpractice Insurance?
If you’re ready to find a malpractice insurance policy that best fits you, Baxter & Associates can help. Baxter & Associates provides professional liability insurance for many medical professions, from CRNA medical malpractice insurance to group insurance policies for healthcare facilities.
Some examples of the medical professions we serve as malpractice insurance brokers include:
Doctors
Dental professionals
Podiatrists
Chiropractors
Nurse practitioners
Physician assistants and more
As a national insurance broker with decades of experience, we’ll help connect you with a policy that’s ideally tailored to your situation, whether you know exactly what you want or if need help finding the right policy. Contact our helpful staff at Baxter & Associates, and we’ll ensure that you’re sufficiently covered in the case of a medical malpractice claim.
Informed consent is one of the most fundamental principles of healthcare. If you plan on working in the industry or want to learn more, we explain what every healthcare worker should know about informed consent below.
Informed Consent, Defined
First, let’s define informed consent and why it is important. Informed consent is the communication process between the patient and healthcare provider—whether a surgeon, primary physician, or chiropractor—that leads to an agreement of permission for care and services, signed by the patient.
Informed consent is also a legal right for the patient or their picked surrogate to have autonomy and choice regarding their treatment and the potential risks involved. If the patient can mentally make their own decisions, medical treatment and services cannot be performed without their consent. Their consent must include full knowledge of the treatment and potential complications.
The Purpose of Informed Consent
Those who work in healthcare should know that informed consent satisfies a legal, ethical, and administrative compliance purpose for both the patient and healthcare provider.
Legal
Informed consent is typically a legal document that a patient signs that states they understand the treatment and risks involved and consent to it. For one, this protects the patient from assault, as the document is also binding—healthcare providers are not allowed to overstep the purview of treatment in the form unless in life-threatening, time-sensitive emergencies.
It’s also a form of protection for the doctor as it states the potential complications of the treatment or procedure. The patient states on the form that they understand and consent to such treatment. This signature doesn’t completely shield the healthcare provider from potential malpractice should complications arise, but it’s valuable documentation that shows the patient understood the potential risks.
Ethical
Informed consent also has a moral purpose—to protect the patient’s autonomy. Through legal court cases, an ethical standard has gotten crafted that guarantee’s a patient the right to have autonomous decision-making for their treatment if they have the mental capacity to make such decisions.
For example, the ethical purpose of informed consent is that a patient can refuse treatment or procedures based on religious grounds, like a Jehovah’s Witness refusing a blood transfusion and not having autonomy or mental capacity questioned. It also has the moral purpose of ensuring that the patient has the right to set their own goals for treatment, not the healthcare provider.
Administrative Compliance
As the informed consent process is typically finalized with the signature on a written document, it also has an administrative compliance purpose. The informed consent form is a written document showing both parties’ consent regarding treatment and complications.
This simple document provides safeguards to fulfill the legal and ethical purposes of informed consent we discussed.
The Origins of Informed Consent
While it may seem obvious now, informed consent was not a legally binding concept until the 1950s. The origins of the legal concept as we understand it today were born out of multiple malpractice cases in the early twentieth century from patients against providers, and a standard legal concept got crafted out of these decisions.
In one case, a patient agreed to undergo an ear operation, but after they got anesthetized, the doctor changed plans and operated on the other ear, causing hearing loss. The patient sued the doctor for changing plans without her consent. Other cases involving doctors unintentionally and intentionally misleading or withholding information from patients or even performing different procedures than agreed to helped create the legally-binding foundation of informed consent as we know it today.
Elements of Informed Consent
An informed consent form and agreement must incorporate a few elements to get deemed truthful and legally binding.
Patient Competency & Explanation of Risks
For one, the patient must get deemed competent to understand and make healthcare decisions. In cases of mental health ailments, the patient and the healthcare provider can scrutinize and challenge this element.
If deemed competent, the informed consent form must also provide a sufficient explanation of the treatment, its benefits, and the risks. This explanation of treatment is the informed element of the form—if the healthcare provider withholds or includes misleading information regarding the treatment, they’ve violated the patient’s informed consent.
Patient Understands & Authorizes Treatment
The patient or the appointed decision-maker for the patient must understand the treatment, its benefits, and its risks fully. In healthcare, this can be difficult with such complex terminology and treatments, but it’s paramount for providers to feel they’ve explained it in detail and informed the decision-maker.
Once the patient or decision-maker understands, they must authorize the treatment plan, typically with a signature. Without a signature on the form, the healthcare provider can get found to have violated patient autonomy and be legally exposed.
What Chiropractors Must Know About Informed Consent
Informed consent is also an essential part of chiropractic healthcare. Since chiropractic care is an alternative treatment to other methods like drugs or surgery, the patients who visit chiropractic clinics are typically enthusiastic and willing to receive treatment.
Even so, it’s paramount that chiropractors explain the risks and details of every treatment and receive written authorization for treatment via an informed consent form.
Chiropractic Malpractice Issues Arising From Informed Consent Violations
While the risks associated with chiropractic treatment are relatively low compared to other types of treatment, malpractice issues can arise from informed consent violations. The most common complication that occurs from spinal manipulation treatment is muscle soreness.
Muscle soreness may not seem like a big deal, but if it debilitates the patient enough to where they can’t work, or their quality of life gets reduced, they may seek compensation. And without a signed informed consent form explaining that muscle soreness is a potential complication of chiropractic treatment, a chiropractor could get left exposed to a malpractice claim.
Conclusion
This shows the importance of understanding informed consent and having malpractice insurance for chiropractors. Every chiropractor should be intimately familiar with the legal parameters of informed consent and have forms ready for every patient about to undergo spinal manipulation treatment.
If you’d like to learn more about informed consent or need to find malpractice insurance for yourself or your practice, Baxter & Associates can help you learn more about medical malpractice and help find a policy plan that fits your situation.
Informed consent is a part of the job that all CRNAs need to know. Below, we’ll explain the basics of informed consent, its elements, and how it relates to the duties of CRNAs.
What Is Informed Consent?
Informed consent is one of the fundamental ethical principles in modern medicine and guarantees a patient’s right to self-determination. The medical-legal concept of informed consent as we know it first came about through various court cases in the mid-20th century that stated patients have the right to informed consent.
Basically, informed consent is the communication process between the patient and physician that leads to an agreement or permission for care, treatment, or services. The patient (or their legal representative) has the right to obtain all the information regarding a procedure or treatment and the risks involved before treatment can begin.
What Are the Elements of Informed Consent?
First, the physician must identify an appropriate person to provide informed consent to if the client is incapacitated or mentally unfit to receive and act on the information. Then, the physician will describe the treatment or procedure and provide written materials when possible.
The physician will also describe the risks involved, give their professional opinion on the patient’s options, and answer any questions. The patient can ask questions and obtain a second opinion if they want. If the patient consents to the treatment, they (or their representative) will sign a written letter of informed consent stating their approval.
Can a CRNA Obtain Informed Consent?
While we’ve mentioned physicians obtaining informed consent, can CRNAs obtain it? Yes, a CRNA or nurse will often take on the task of obtaining informed consent. Still, the physician or anesthesiologist will typically be the one to explain the gist and details of the treatment and risks involved.
Usually, the CRNA is the one who returns to the patient later to obtain and witness the written informed consent and answer further questions from the patient. For many CRNAs, it’s one of the basic parts of their responsibilities.
What Are Considered Violations of Informed Consent?
Informed consent is also an area where malpractice cases can occur due to a perceived or real violation of the patient’s rights regarding it. CRNAs need to know that failure to obtain informed consent or withholding pertinent information regarding the treatment or procedure and risks is a significant form of negligence and malpractice.
The most common violation of informed consent is inadequately warning a patient of the risks associated with the medical procedure. If complications arise, it’s not uncommon for patients or their representatives to feel deceived or insufficiently informed regarding the risks. For this reason, CRNA malpractice insurance is essential for all CRNAs.
If you’re a CRNA that needs malpractice insurance, Baxter & Associates is here for you. We will help you find a plan that ensures you’re covered should a malpractice claim arise from an alleged breach of informed consent.
As the primary care professional for many Americans, nurse practitioners can be the targets of malpractice claims just as physicians. We’ll list some of the most common malpractice claims that target nurse practitioners, from diagnosis errors to prescription mistakes.
Failure To Diagnose
Most malpractice claims targeting nurse practitioners (NPs) involve the diagnosis in some way, with failure to diagnose being the most common claim. NPs often serve communities with few or no doctors, making them typically the first medical professionals a patient will see when experiencing symptoms of illness.
If an NP misses something during their initial evaluation or doesn’t order the right tests, it’s likely for serious illnesses like cancer or infection to go unnoticed until it’s too late. NPs serving these areas with few resources should be cautious regarding symptoms and diagnosis.
Medication Errors
Another common malpractice claim against nurse practitioners regards errors with medication. Prescribing and administering medication is one of the principal duties of an NP that they likely do frequently every day.
Errors with medication can come in many forms, from administering the incorrect medicine to prescribing medications together that cause an adverse reaction in the patient. These mistakes may seem simple, but they can cause significant harm or illness in patients, so NPs must diligently and cautiously prescribe medication.
Pain Management
One malpractice claim that’s becoming more common against NPs and other medical professionals concerns pain management. The opioid epidemic is a significant problem in US healthcare, which has shed light on the unethical practice of overprescribing opioids.
NPs are often responsible for prescribing opioids, so they can be the target of a malpractice claim if they knowingly prescribed opioids to an addict or overprescribed the drugs to a patient and caused an opioid addiction. While NPs aren’t typically the target of overprescription claims, the increased focus on this unethical practice affects NPs and physicians.
Improper Treatment & Care
Improper treatment and care is a vague term for the malpractice of a medical professional mishandling a patient’s condition. NPs are often responsible for the primary care for millions of Americans, so they can be held responsible if their condition worsens due to the NP’s diagnosis and treatment.
A claim of improper treatment can mean many things, but it’s often associated with providing the incorrect treatment or a treatment that carries an unnecessary risk to the patient. If it’s found that the treatment for a patient’s illness was too risky and caused significant harm or death, the NP can be found responsible.
There are many other claims against nurse practitioners, so NP liability insurance is critical for any practicing NP. If you’re a nurse practitioner needing liability insurance, Baxter & Associates can help you find the right insurance policy.
Even the best chiropractors and practices have bad days with frustrated clients. Below, we’ll offer tips for chiropractors to deal with unhappy clients respectfully without ruining the relationship.
Why Clients Complain
A good way to go about dealing with upset clients is to understand why they’re complaining. Clients often complain because they have high expectations—sometimes unrealistically high—but it shows that they believe in your skills and hope for good results.
Some clients will complain because they’re frustrated—progress has been slow, or their body isn’t responding how they hoped. We’ve all had those moments of pure frustration, and it’s often just another sign that they believe in the promise of the treatment plan. Sometimes, clients complain because they want to be heard and need to vent some of their frustrations.
How To Deal with Unhappy Clients
Keep in mind the most common reasons that unhappy chiropractic clients complain; the best tips we can offer to deal with these complaints are to be honest, patient, and respectful.
Be Honest
Sometimes, you or your staff will make mistakes, and it’s perfectly alright to be honest about them. If a staff member double-booked an appointment slot with two clients, there’s not much to do except own up to it.
Mistakes and disappointment are possible during treatment. Even with all the expertise and skills available, progress in the treatment plan won’t always be as fast or significant as hoped. If you’re deflecting blame or making excuses, you’ll appear untrustworthy to patients—it’s better to be honest about mistakes.
Be Patient
As mentioned previously, clients often want to vent their frustrations, so chiropractors must be patient. When a client is leveling a critique or grievance that may not be completely logical, it’s not wise to correct or interrupt them.
Hear the complaints patiently, take the lumps when they come, and offer honest feedback. Often, a complaint will go away or be retracted if the chiropractor is patient and the client feels they have been heard respectfully.
Be Respectful
A chiropractor should always be respectful of clients and their time. Perhaps the most common complaint is waiting time—it’s tough to maintain a tight schedule, but clients left waiting long periods feel disrespected.
Even if the client is upset, lodging a complaint, and not acting respectfully, you and your staff should still be as respectful as possible. If the client and the complaint are treated with respect, that’ll go a long way toward maintaining the relationship and loyalty of the client.
Sometimes, unhappy clients and complaints can turn into malpractice lawsuits. For those times, you’ll need a chiropractic malpractice insurance agency like Baxter & Associates. Contact us today, and we’ll help you find the ideal policy for you and your practice.
Does your chiropractic practice have a clear and thorough compliance program? If not, we’ll show you the basics of a compliance plan and how to make one for your chiropractic practice.
What Is a Chiropractic Compliance Plan?
First, what is a chiropractic compliance plan? A compliance plan is a formalized system of procedures and policies that help an organization or practice prevent, detect, and resolve conduct that government bodies and healthcare organizations have deemed unethical and illegal.
Basically, it’s a plan to keep an organization honest by holding itself and its employees accountable for unethical practices like fraud, waste, and abuse. Most healthcare providers are required to have a compliance program in place. However, even if your chiropractic practice isn’t legally required to have one, it is highly recommended that any practice that deals with insurance billing have a program in place.
Why Does My Practice Need a Compliance Program?
If you’re a chiropractic practice that isn’t legally mandated to have a compliance program, why should you have one? Why go through all the trouble?
Prevent Unethical Conduct
The principal motivation for an organization’s stringent and clear compliance program is to deter, detect, and resolve unethical practices. Unfortunately, unethical practices like fraud and abuse are rife in healthcare, especially with insurance billing.
But with an effective compliance program in place, practices can detect unethical conduct before it worsens and spreads, resolving it for the betterment of all parties. Simply put, a compliance program is the best way for a practice to ensure its employees behave honestly and reliably.
Shield Organization From Sanctions
When a healthcare provider like a chiropractic practice comes under scrutiny in the form of a records request or investigation, one of the first things authorities will examine is the compliance program. With a clear and useful compliance plan, a practice has a stronger defense against accusations of organizational wrongdoing.
Let’s say a legal authority finds an effective compliance plan at a practice where an employee committed insurance fraud. In this case, the authority is more likely to be lenient with discipline and isolate sanctions against the individual instead of the organization. So for a pure self-preservation motive, a compliance plan is integral to any chiropractic practice.
Establish Credibility
A compliance program helps create a more ethical and honest working environment for a chiropractic practice. This makes it a more credible organization in the eyes of peers, authorities, and partners such as insurance agencies. Credibility is essential for a practice to survive in an industry like healthcare, as your practice has a tremendous responsibility to patients and other healthcare organizations.
Furthermore, a compliance plan is helpful when finding chiropractic liability insurance. Insurance providers want to assume the least risk possible, so an enforced compliance plan bodes well for them.
What Your Chiropractic Practice’s Compliance Plan Needs
Now that you know why a compliance plan is important, we’ll explain what every chiropractic practice compliance plan needs and how you can make one for your practice.
Internal Audits
The first step in a compliance program is an internal audit to show that the chiropractic practice is identifying and improving compliance from within. It’s wise to start with an Office of Inspector General (OIG) compliance manual and review the work plan that helps organizations identify areas of concern.
After the initial audit, you should conduct internal audits and monitoring yearly at the chiropractic practice to identify any issues. If the same compliance infractions keep appearing from a certain source, the audits may have to be more frequent until they show the problems have been permanently resolved.
For the initial internal audit, consider hiring a compliance consultant who can provide professional expertise and show the organization the proper way of doing things.
Written Standards & Procedures
Once the initial audit is complete, the chiropractic practice will receive a report card that identifies areas of risk in the organization. To address these areas of risk, the head of the chiropractic practice and the compliance officer or committee will update the written policies and procedures of the practice.
Every organization must distribute these compliance policies and documents to employees. Ensure these policies are concise and easy to understand; dense and wordy policies are less effective. Basically, any employee or outsider should clearly understand what is compliant and what is non-compliant from these written policies.
Designated Compliance Officer
While some heads of chiropractic practices may deem themselves qualified, selecting someone other than the head of the organization as the designated compliance officer is wise. A compliance officer has many responsibilities, and the head of a chiropractic practice already has enough to worry about.
Some practices select a compliance committee to divvy the responsibilities among multiple people. For example, one person conducts internal audits, and another implements a training program.
You may also choose to hire an outsider as a compliance officer rather than hire within the company. This may provide added impartiality.
Employee Compliance Training & Education
Obviously, for a compliance plan to be effective, all employees must know and learn about the program. Every new hire should receive compliance training, and all current employees should undergo compliance reviews yearly.
It’s also wise to have focused compliance training for specific departments and roles, as different areas of the practice may differ in compliance requirements.
Outlined Actions to Violations
Within the written compliance standards, you should also outline responses to compliance violations. Essentially, if someone detects a violation, how should they report and investigate it?
Having the plan outlined with clear rules makes the process more straightforward and helps ensure honest and accurate investigations into violations. If a plan only identifies unethical violations with no recourse or further steps, it’s not an effective plan of action.
Reliable Lines of Communication
Communication is a vital aspect of any compliance program. If any employee sees a potential violation but does not have access to reliable lines of communication to report the activity, they are less likely to report it.
Having open, confidential, and non-retaliatory communication policies are crucial in detecting compliance violations. It’s also useful for employees to ask questions and clarify compliance rules without the threat of suspicion.
Disciplinary Standards
The written policy should include clearly-defined disciplinary actions regarding various violations and their severity—whether it be intentional fraud, negligence, or failure to report a violation.
Without clear ramifications for violations, employees may not take the plan seriously—and legal authorities may not either.
If you need further help conducting a compliance plan for your chiropractic practice, consider contacting our helpful staff at Baxter & Associates. We are here to provide your practice with the tools it needs to succeed.
Moonlighting is common in health care, especially among nurse anesthetists. It can be an excellent way to expand your skillset and increase your earning potential. If you’re a nurse anesthetist considering a second job, you should know a few things before moonlighting.
It Comes with Risks
Any type of moonlighting in healthcare can increase stress levels for even experienced nurse anesthetists. While moonlighting can be an excellent opportunity to earn extra income and gain experience, there are also drawbacks. Whether you’re a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) or a janitor, working two jobs can take a physical and mental toll that comes with risks.
Working as a nurse anesthetist inherently comes with risks— a CRNA’s performance can directly affect a patient’s health. Mistakes as a CRNA can have significant consequences, which is why CRNA malpractice insurance is even more crucial for those who moonlight at a second job.
You May Need Additional Insurance
Finding moonlighting jobs can be as easy as reaching out to a recruiter or talking to a friend. As a nurse anesthetist, you should already have professional liability insurance, but before moonlighting, you should know that your existing policy doesn’t automatically cover your second job. As we said, moonlighting brings additional risks, and while some policies may also cover a second job, some may strictly disallow it.
Before you start or consider moonlighting, look over the fine print of your insurance policy regarding moonlighting. Sometimes, you may need additional coverage for your second job, which can eat into any extra income moonlighting provides.
There Are Different Kinds of Moonlighting
Some aren’t aware that there are different types of moonlighting—internal and external—and the distinction could determine whether your malpractice policy covers your second job or not. Internal moonlighting is when a person takes a second job within the same facility as their primary position.
External moonlighting, as you may guess, is when a person takes a second job outside their primary position’s location. Some professional liability policies cover internal moonlighting but not external, so check your policy before deciding to moonlight.
Not Everyone’s Cut Out for It
Before moonlighting, every nurse and worker should understand that not everyone can handle the responsibilities of multiple jobs. While moonlighting in nursing is pretty common, that doesn’t mean every nurse can or should do it.
Nursing itself is a challenging profession, so adding another job on top of it can be too much for many people. Before deciding to moonlight, consider its effect on your ability to perform your primary position, your personal life, and your mental and physical health.
We hope our guide has helped you better understand moonlighting as a nurse anesthetist and its implications. If you need malpractice insurance or have questions about a policy, contact our expert staff at Baxter & Associates.
