As a dentist, you need to maintain an active policy for your professional liability insurance, which is also known as malpractice insurance. While there are many conflicting opinions on what type of policy is best or how much protection you need, there are some basics that are universal. Here is everything that dentists should know about professional liability insurance.
What Is Professional Liability Insurance?
Professional liability insurance for dentists is designed to protect you in the event that one of your patients makes a claim against you. For example, if a patient says that you made an error in the course of their treatment, your professional liability insurance policy can cover the financial burden associated with the lawsuit. Additionally, your policy can cover any of the legal fees necessary to defend you, even if the claim filed against you lacks evidence or is frivolous.
What Are the Types of Professional Liability Insurance?
There are three common types of professional liability insurance for dental professionals. The first is a claims-made policy. This type of policy will cover claims that occur during your policy period. The second type is known as an occurrence policy. This type of professional liability insurance policy will protect you against all incidents that happened during your policy period, even if the specific claim is filed after your policy expires. The third type is known as tail coverage, which can extend the amount of coverage that you have on a claims-made policy.
What Can Professional Liability Insurance Cover?
Even if you do everything correctly and maintain the standards of care that are expected today, you might still find yourself on the wrong end of a lawsuit from an unhappy patient. Unfortunately, the merit of a claim does not always matter when it comes to covering your costs. Professional liability insurance can help in a broad range of situations, including the most common types of claims made against dentists. According to the American Dental Association, these claims include:
- Incorrect crown or bridge placement
- Endodontics procedures
- Failure to diagnose
- Incorrect tooth extractions
- Prescribing the wrong drugs or dosages
- Dental anesthesia complications
- Orthodontic complications
- And more
How Will Your Policy Work?
Your professional liability insurance policy will provide you with coverage providing that you are licensed. To give an example, let’s consider a fictitious dentist named Mark. Mark is a practicing dentist, and he has a professional liability insurance policy that provides him with $1 million worth of coverage per occurrence and a $3 million limit of liability per year. One of Mark’s patients is experiencing complications after a dental procedure, and they have decided to file a malpractice lawsuit. Because Mark has $1 million worth of coverage per claim, he will have up to $1 million worth of protection against the specific claim.
Protect Your Business with APEX Reimbursement Specialists
Whether you’re interested in revenue optimization or looking for other services to boost your business, APEX Reimbursement Specialists is here to help. Contact our team today by calling (410) 710-6005. We look forward to working with you to make your practice a more profitable place.