Pharmacists and their assistants work hard every day providing patients with their medications as prescribed. They also check for errors in the prescriptions to ensure that the dosages are correct, as well as examine the other medications that patients are taking to look for contraindications. With all of the things that they have to do in a short amount of time, accidents can happen, leaving them, and your store, liable for the harm caused. You probably have good insurance coverage for your pharmacy itself, but what about those employees?
Let’s take a look at what coverages are needed to properly protect your staff.
Professional Liability Insurance
A professional liability insurance policy for pharmacists is similar to malpractice insurance for physicians. The only difference is the profession. These insurance policies cover things like mistakes made when dispensing drugs, compounding drugs, providing advice to patients, and more.
For example, if your pharmacist accidentally gave a patient the wrong medication, mistaking it for a similar one, and the technicians counting it didn’t notice, then the patient could sue should they get sick or have their condition worsen. Your pharmacist could be found liable for the damages, like missed work and medical bills, that stemmed from the error. In good news, if you have a professional liability policy on them, that would pay for the settlement.
There are several different types of professional liability insurance available to pharmacists, including individual policies that they take with them when they switch employers, as well as specialty policies for pharmacy technicians, students, and more. You could also get a policy that encompasses every pharmacy employee at once.
Pharmacy Liability Insurance
In addition to individual pharmacist liability policies, there are also similar options for businesses that include a pharmacy. These policies, usually known as a BOP, or Business Owners’ Plan, include professional liability insurance for whatever the company specializes in. For businesses that have a pharmacy, that professional liability policy would protect everyone who works at it.
Pharmacy liability insurance policies can come in handy when something happens during the course of the workday, such as violating HIPAA laws or having an employee get attacked by a patient. Believe it or not, these things happen more often than you’d think. A distressed patient who can’t get their medication for several days may become angry and lash out, or a pharmacy employee may put hand a patient someone else’s order, breaking HIPAA laws in the process.
When these accidents happen, your pharmacy could be sued and might be found liable for breaking HIPAA laws, or for any medical bills and lost wages on the part of the raging patient and injured pharmacy tech. Thankfully, your liability insurance policy can cover all of these fines, lost wages, medical bills, and other costs, preventing you from having to pay for them out of the company’s coffers.
Have Questions? Contact Charlotte Insurance
Want to learn more about insurance options for pharmacies? Contact Charlotte Insurance. Our agents can explore and explain all available options and put together the insurance coverage plan your pharmacy needs.