Medical Practitioner’s Indemnity Insurance – Private Practice
Registered healthcare professionals working in private practice in Australia are required to hold medical indemnity cover that complies with the ‘PII Registration Standard’ set by the relevant board. The standards can be found at AHPRA.
Medical indemnity insurers must meet the minimum product standards that apply to all medical indemnity insurers as defined in the Medical Indemnity Act.
Medical Indemnity insurers in Australia include:
- Avant
- Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company (distributed by Tego Insurance)
- Guild Insurance Limited
- MDA National
- Medical Indemnity Protection Society Limited (MIPS)
- Medical Insurance Group (MIGA)
The insurance cover must include appropriate retroactive cover for otherwise uncovered matters arising from prior practice undertaken in Australia.
Entity Medical Malpractice – Medical Centres & Day Clinics
It is essential for owners and practice managers of medical centres and day clinics to understand ‘who’ and ‘what’ is covered under their medical indemnity insurance policy. One of the most common questions asked is ‘why does the practice need a practice entity policy, when each doctor holds their own medical indemnity ‘personal’ policy?
Some important information about a Doctors Medical Indemnity Insurance
- If you are a doctor practising by yourself with no other doctors, and you fully own the practice entity and employ a few staff who are always supervised, then a doctor’s personal policy might be sufficient. This type of practice could be described as the traditional solo GP practice, Dr Smith T/As Dr Smith Pty Ltd, who employs a nurse and a receptionist. Make sure you check with your medical indemnity insurers to check your practice and staff are covered under your own policy.
- If you practice with other doctors, rent rooms to others, don’t fully own the entity, have staff which do healthcare in their own right (eg cosmetic procedures), then the chances are a practice policy may be required to cover the practice’s medical indemnity exposures.
Medical Professional indemnity insurance
The insurance cover provided and premiums charged vary widely by insurer. For example some medical indemnity insurers provide ‘free’ or discounted practice policy with the doctor’s medical indemnity cover. While this may appear generous, this policy may only suit certain practice ownership structures.
It is essential for all medical professionals who are not certain if their practice entity needs its own practice cover, to contact your insurer or a specialist Medical Insurance Indemnity broker. A specialist insurance advisor will review your practice structure and if needed, provide you a Medical Indemnity Insurance Practice Entity quote.
This publication is general in nature and is not comprehensive or constitute legal or medical advice. You should seek legal, medical or other professional advice before relying on any content, and practice proper clinical decision making with regard to individual circumstances. Persons implementing any recommendations contained in this publication must exercise their own independent skill or judgment or seek appropriate professional advice relevant to their own particular practice. Compliance with any recommendations will not in any way guarantee discharge of the duty of care owed to patients and others coming into contact with the health professional or practice. Tego Insurance Pty Ltd is not responsible to you or anyone else for any loss suffered in connection with the use of this information.