Medical practices require a proactive and effective strategy to mitigate and control patient risk during all aspects of patient interaction. Medical practices should take steps to identify all potential factors that may create a risk to the patient or practice. By assessing and identifying these risks, a practice may mitigate or even eliminate many of these risks and exposures.
Risk Identification
- Structural/ Asset related risks which involve infrastructure, fixtures and equipment.
- Medicolegal risks, involving medical practitioners, health practitioners, nursing or other staff.
- Cyber related risks, which could lead to the loss of financial, taxation & patient sensitive records.
- Workforce-related and contingency risks where a practice may find themselves without enough staff or resources.
Risk Analysis and Evaluation
The next steps a medical practice should adopt after identifying the associated risks with the practice, is the assessment stage. The assessment stage helps in drafting a framework for covering different aspects of risk and ensuring an appropriate response plan is in place.
- Budget allocation to revamp the necessary infrastructure.
- Case analysis and lessons learnt whenever any incident occurs.
- Assessing consequences with regards to reputational and financial damage, in the event of a cyber attack.
- Staffing requirement analysis, which also involves an adequate back-up plan in case of an adverse situation.
Tego Understands the Need for Medical Practitioners to Identify and Address Risks
As medical indemnity insurance Providers in Australia, protecting our medical practitioners against undue risks is an essential part of our business. We are experts and keep our staff and doctors up to date on all medico-legal issues that may arise.
Risk Mitigating Measures
- Have adequate cyber protection mechanism to prevent any loss/damage to data or information stored in practice premise as well as effective mechanism to bring back lost data.
- Ensure all employment contracts have been reviewed by a legal practitioner to ensure they are up to date with the law and best practice.
- Make sure appropriate contracts and indemnities are in place with all stakeholders to safeguard your medical practice.
- Ensure you have up to date and fit for purpose insurance protection including medical indemnity insurance, cyber insurance, business insurance and liability insurance.
- Have a formal business continuity plan in place (and test it regularly) to determine business interruption requirements.
Tego Insurance – Expert Medico-Legal Advice
As medical indemnity insurance providers in Australia, we provide medical indemnity insurance, doctors indemnity insurance, medical malpractice insurance, medical practice insurance, and more. Your medical indemnity insurance comes with 24/7 medico-legal advice and support to guide you through the risks associated with being a Medical Practitioner.
This publication is general in nature and is not comprehensive or constitutes 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.