Psychologist Liability Insurance

As a psychologist, consider the following insurance coverages as part of your risk management strategy:

• Professional Liability Insurance: Also known as Errors and Omissions Insurance (E&O), this coverage protects psychologists against claims from clients alleging negligence, errors or misconduct in their professional duties. Suppose you asked your receptionist to organize a patient’s confidential dossier, including session recordings and personal health files. When booking their next appointment, the client notices your receptionist looking through their files and gets very upset with the unwarranted access to their information. Your patient could sue you for misconduct for breaching their privacy. In this case, Professional Liability Insurance may cover the legal fees and damages, including monetary judgments.

• Commercial General Liability Insurance (CGL): Commercial General Liability Insurance can protect many businesses, including psychology clinic owners, against common claims or lawsuits alleging third-party bodily injury or third-party property damage. Say you accidentally spill a hot drink over a patient during a discovery session; your client could sue you should they be injured. In this case, your CGL insurance may cover legal defence costs and medical costs.

• Commercial Property Insurance: This coverage protects your practice and the equipment you use to conduct your business should it be damaged or stolen. Examples of insured events are fire, theft or vandalism – your broker can take you through more of the events that this coverage would insure. Commercial Property Insurance could provide coverage if your practice was broken into and vandalized, for example. In this case, you could be covered for the cost to refurbish or repair the damaged equipment and the cost of securing your property.

• Cyber Insurance: Cyber Insurance provides financial coverage against cybercrime involving your technology systems and customer data, such as incident response and breach management fees. For example, a hacker successfully obtains sensitive patient information from your computer system. As a result, several patients sue for losing access to their private information. Cyber Insurance could cover the cost of damages and defence costs for the lawsuits against your practice.