Medical Indemnity Insurance for Doctors
Medical Indemnity Insurance for Doctors
As a medical professional, you’ll agree that there isn’t much that’s as important as gaining reliable medical indemnity insurance. Although medical procedures have been undergoing technological advancements, the tendency for incidents to occur is still a prominent concern amongst the medical community. Medical indemnity insurance isn’t just beneficial to doctors and surgeons; it’s actually of vital importance to patients too.
It’s never the intention for medical care to go wrong and when it happens it can take a major toll on both the doctor and patient. Whether the consequences are short term and can be recovered from, or if they will have a much longer term effect that can be life changing; getting on top of the matter with financial backing should be a priority in any instance to ensure that further medical treatment can be undertaken if necessary, or so that compensation can be provided if required.
After studies were carried out by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, it was discovered that there were roughly 70’000 medical practitioners in Australia in 2011. This number increases by roughly 1.4% on average each year and looks set to continue its growth as the years progress. Of the 70’000 doctors evaluated in 2011, roughly 44’000 were GPs and the remainder belonged to specialist medical industries. As these numbers are continuously on the increase, the popularity of medical surgeries both by choice and necessity has increased by almost 45% since 2001.
With higher amounts of surgeries comes an increased risk of accidents taking place, particularly where intrusive surgeries are required, although that does not eliminate the potential for simpler medical cases to fall foul of their original intent either. From the most extensive surgical procedures involving anaesthetic and advanced technologies, all the way to prescription drugs and treatments; there’s really no aspect of healthcare that can’t take a turn for the worse.
Protecting yourself and your patients from these unwanted events can mean the difference between financial stability, or complete bankruptcy in severe cases, so never leave things to chance. There are increasingly smaller numbers of doctors operating under the radar and providing healthcare without medical indemnity insurance, but the penalty for this activity can be very hefty and has even led to cases where GPs and medical practitioners have been struck off.
It is now a legal requirement for doctors within Australia to be covered with valid indemnity insurance in order to practice publically, and there are 5 major bodies that provide this type of insurance to medical professionals within the country itself. These are Avant, INVIVO, MDA National, MIGA and MIPS. In order to obtain indemnity insurance from one of these organizations, a doctor must apply via form or online and cooperate with the requirements as defined by the specific organization. Once approved, the policy will work in much the same way as any other insurance policy and will provide cover for the doctor and their patients from that point onwards.
By Casey Stoe
More information (unrelated to author above) can be found at Grants-Gov by Richard Tjiong