Business/Rooms Insurance

This depends on a range of factors such as the sums insured, what policy sections you elect, the location of the rooms and the quality of the construction, fire protection and security.

Most leases will require a tenant to insure Public Liability and Glass Insurances and note the landlord on the policy. Please send us your lease document and we can review what insurances are required.

You also need to be aware many leases contain ‘indemnities’ making you liable for damage to the building – for example where a patient maliciously damages the rooms. You may not be liable at law for this, however you may be contractually liability. Again, please send us your lease and we can identify these issues and ensure you have a policy that protects you.

Often the financier will request a ‘certificate of currency’ for at least the value of the loan. They will also want to be noted as financier. Once we have your policy set up, we can email the financier a certificate.

Imagine your rooms are destroyed by fire, storm, a major theft or a burst pipe, or you can’t trade due to lost electricity supply… If you suffer lost revenue following these events (plus others) business interruption will cover your lost revenue and the additional costs you incur to get you back trading.

If you are reliant on your rooms to generate revenue, then you should have business interruption. Conversely, if you are a specialist and rent sessional rooms at a number of locations, you may not need business interruption cover as you can easily shift Monday’s patients to another of your sessional suites.

It’s important to understand your different risks in lost revenue. For example:

• Loss of revenue as a result of an accident to a key person = income protection
• Loss of revenue as a result of a cyber-attack shutting down your systems = cyber insurance
• Loss of revenue as a result of breakdown of key equipment or systems – specialist equipment breakdown policy.
• Loss of revenue as the practice or key doctor loses their registration, or credentialing at a key hospital = not insurable!

We recommend you go to our risk management page and think about your lost revenue risk in terms of set up a Risk Register to identify and manage your revenue risks.

Many insurers will require a basic level of protection. The best ‘risk’ for an insurer is a medical suite within a shopping centre or office building with the suite having no external access (i.e. someone must break in through the main building security first). If you are street frontage, aim for a minimum of deadlocks or shop-bolts on all external doors (where fire regulations allow), window locks and an alarm system (preferably a monitored system).

Ensure you abide by any fire regulations and have in place fire extinguishers and blankets as required. If you are leasing the rooms usually the landlord is responsible to maintain and test the fire requirements, but they will pass this cost onto you as an outgoing. Ensure you understand your obligations.

Many doctors first starting out in private practice do this. In addition to your medical indemnity, it would be wise to also hold public liability cover. For example, say you leave your bag on the floor and someone trips over it. If you have expensive portable equipment, you may also want to insure this under ‘portable equipment’. If you sign a room rental agreement, please check this carefully for any conditions, or send us a copy and we can review from an insurance risk perspective.