Veterinary businesses need specific protections that many other companies may not require. In addition to the risk of natural disasters, litigation, or worker injury that most businesses face, veterinarians must also be ready to handle unfortunate situations like pet death, injury or disappearance.
While specific policies can help your veterinary business overcome field-specific hardships, vets will also need general insurance to cover things like business interruption due to property damage or customer injuries that occur at the office. When searching for business insurance for your veterinary practice, be sure to consider every situation in which you mich need insurance coverage. Vetinsure can assist veterinarians in determining which business insurance policies they need.
Business Owner’s Policy (BOP)
Many veterinarians will appreciate the value and convenience of a Business Owner’s Policy because it combines three different types of necessary coverage. Business owners will receive general liability insurance, commercial property insurance, and business income insurance.
As a general-purpose policy for any business owner, a BOP is a great foundation. Policyholders of a BOP can expect insurance coverage for circumstances like client injury at your establishment, loss of income due to business closure resulting from property damage, and protection from damage to your practice’s equipment and facility.
Worker’s Compensation
Veterinarians have to work with equipment that can be dangerous and animals that can be unpredictable. Worker’s compensation insurance can protect your business if an employee becomes injured at your practice during work.
Worker’s compensation insurance can also protect your practice if an employee becomes sick, loses wages, or perishes because of working at your facility.
Veterinary Professional Liability
Veterinarians have the weight of an animal’s life on their shoulders. Even though veterinarians do everything they can to treat animals with the best standard of care possible, unfortunate circumstances can still happen. And people can sometimes place blame on a veterinarian where it doesn’t belong when it comes to their pet’s failing health. That's why we offer veterinary professional liability and license defense to help protect you and your business.
Inland Marine
Inland marine insurance is a special type of property coverage designed to protect property that is mobile. Whether you are 100% mobile or you have a brick-and-mortar practice that offers at-home care, inland marine can help cover losses to medical equipment damaged or destroyed in transit or at an off-site location.
Business Automobile
If you are providing off-site services or even running errands, make sure to properly title and insure the vehicles used in your business. Business Auto policies can not only cover owned autos of the business, but it can also help protect you even when an employee runs an errand in their own car that results in property damage or bodily injury from an accident they cause.
Bonds (ERISA, Surety)
If you have employees at your veterinary clinic, you might be responsible for taking out a fidelity bond for compliance under the Employment Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). This bond will give your establishment coverage in the event of mishandling of funds or fraud when it comes to money that should be set aside for employee benefits packages.
Umbrella
An umbrella policy can increase the liability limits of your Business-Owner, Business Auto, and Employers Liability (workers comp) policies to protect your business in the event that a liability claim exceeds the underlying policy limits. For example, if an employee caused an auto accident running an errand in their vehicle that resulted in a $2.5 million problem, you could be financially responsible for any amount that exceeds your underlying limit of coverage. Get an umbrella today!
Builders Risk & Construction Liability
If you plan to build a new facility, making leasehold tenant improvements, or remodel/expand an existing space we highly recommend getting Builder's Risk and Liability for that project as most Business-Owner Policies to not adequately insure or contemplate active construction operations.
Life Insurance
An unexpected death is not only mentally and emotionally taxing for loved ones and family members of the deceased. Death also comes with a financial burden. As employed professionals, even veterinarians should consider a life insurance policy to alleviate the costs associated with burial and funeral services.
Although there can be no monetary replacement for a loved one’s life, life insurance can ease the pain of their passing by removing some of the pressure of financial burden from the policy’s established beneficiary.
Long-Term Disability (LTD)
If you cannot conduct your business because of an injury or illness, long-term disability insurance might help cover the cost of your medical bills. Long-term disability insurance is available to those who have been out of work for three months or longer. We have long term disability insurance for veterinarians.
Group Health
For practices with any number of employees, group health insurance could be a cost-effective plan for you and the people you employ at your veterinary practice. Your employees’ premiums will be less than the cost of those of an individual health plan. Additionally, group health insurance for veterinarians can keep your employees’ annual taxes low, too.
Learn About the Benefits of Business Insurance With Vetinsure
To find out more information about beneficial coverages that you should consider for your veterinary business’s insurance policy, contact Vetinsure. Vetinsure is a vet-centric organization that strives to help veterinary practices save money while still ensuring the practice has all of the coverage it needs. Vetinsure is strictly for veterinarians and does not provide pet insurance to pet owners.
Your business insurance should reflect the needs of your business. Call us at 800-272-1249 to discover if your veterinary practice has all of the insurance coverages that it needs.