Disclaimer: This is not legal advice. Always consult with an attorney and/or insurance expert before making any decisions regarding liability insurance.
Introduction to Liability Insurance for Dietitians
As healthcare professionals, it’s important that dietitians protect themselves legally. It can be scary to think about, but if you are caring for patients, you need to cover yourself in the case of a lawsuit.
What Professional Liability Insurance Covers
Professional liability insurance, sometimes referred to as errors and omissions (E&O) insurance, covers legal costs, settlements, and judgments arising from malpractice lawsuits. This type of insurance typically includes coverage for errors in treatment or failure to provide adequate care. It does not cover intentional misconduct or criminal activities.
Do Dietitians Need Professional Liability Insurance?
If you are self-employed and providing direct patient care, it is highly recommended to get professional liability insurance. If you are credentialing with insurance companies, they generally require that you have it.
Looking at one of my contracts with a local health insurance company, they require that I carry malpractice insurance with a minimum coverage of $1 million per occurrence and $3 million aggregate. This means that the policy will cover up to $1 million per claim and $3 million in total claims for the policy year.
If you are an employee, say of a hospital or doctor’s office, you should be covered under the organization’s liability insurance. However, some experts recommend still paying to get your own coverage. If you are a 1099 contract worker, you generally are not covered under the organization’s policy, so you will have to get your own insurance.
Do Dietitians Actually Get Sued?
In 1988, what is now known as the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (JAND), published an article stating that no dietitian has been successfully sued in a malpractice case. This, unfortunately, is no longer the case. As the dietitians’ scope of practice widens, we will most likely be named more often in malpractice lawsuits.
The vast majority of malpractice cases don’t go to trial and information is kept confidential, so it is difficult to get a lot of details on cases in which Registered Dietitians (RDs) were sued. However, there is an article on brexi.com in which a dietitian shares her experience being sued. The inpatient dietitian recommended a tube feed formula that the patient was allergic to, and the patient sued her, the hospital, and some other members of the healthcare team. The case was settled out of court and, per the article, costs were covered by the dietitian’s malpractice insurance.
What Companies Sell Dietitians Liability Insurance?
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) recommends professional liability insurance through ProLiability. There is a discount for AND members, and this is the company I personally have always gone through.
Based on conversations with other dietitians, HSPO seems to be the next most popular company to get coverage through.
Is Liability Insurance for Dietitians Expensive?
Luckily, liability insurance for dietitians is pretty inexpensive. You should be paying less than $200 a year for coverage.
While the chance of an RD getting sued isn’t zero, we have a much smaller chance of filing a claim compared to other healthcare professionals. Therefore, our premiums are reflective of that and are much lower compared to some other professionals, such as surgeons or even just medical professionals that can diagnose medical conditions.
Proof of Insurance
Your insurance company will provide you with a Memorandum of Insurance (MOI) upon signing up for coverage and every year that you renew. This is a one page document that has basic information including the insurance company’s name, your name, the type of insurance you have, including the limits, and the policy start and end dates.
If you are a participating provider with any health insurance companies, you are going to want to upload this document every year in your CAQH profile. Insurance companies may periodically view this in your CAQH profile.
Other Types of Insurance Dietitians Should Consider
Realize that professional liability insurance may not cover all of your insurance needs as a dietitian. There are many other types of insurance you should consider:
Group Liability Insurance
If you are a private practice dietitian and are hiring other dietitians, you need to make sure they have professional liability coverage as well. If they are W2 employees, it is your responsibility to provide them with liability insurance.
I go through ProLiability to cover my whole business, including myself and other RDs. They refer to this as a “firm” policy.
One thing that I was surprised by during this process, is that they recommended doing background checks on all employees. While it was recommended, not required, you did need to provide a reason as to why you did not do background checks, if this was applicable. I decided to follow through with background checks in fear of not getting approved or having a higher rate. I did the background checks through Checkr, which I found to be pretty simple and easy to use.
General Liability Insurance
If you have a physical office, general liability will cover things like slips, trips and falls that could happen in your space. General liability is usually required by landlords, and they will request to be named on your policy as “additional insured.” This is generally a smaller, additional expense.
If you are getting your professional liability insurance through ProLiability, you can add on general liability insurance as well. Another company I recommend is The Hartford. I’ve used them for general liability as well as other policies as they’re a pretty reputable company.
Media Liability Insurance
Media liability insurance is a type of E&O policy that can help professionals and organizations related to mistakes and oversight related to media work. This could be work done for podcasts, social media, blogs, YouTube, TV or physical media.
Cyber Liability Insurance
Cyber insurance policies can vary quite a bit, but they generally help businesses with issues related to data breaches. If you are saving patients’ personal health information (PHI), it is important to know what your other policies cover related to this PHI being lost or stolen. Cyber liability insurance or data breach coverage can provide coverage related to a cyberattack that your other policies may not.
Business Owner’s Policy
A business owner’s policy is a type of insurance that includes general liability as well as additional coverage like commercial property insurance and business interruption coverage. I personally have had this policy through The Hartford in the past.
Be Sure Your Policy Covers What You Actually Do
Don’t assume that because you have insurance, you are good to go. Think about it: most health insurance plans cover meeting with a dietitian, but not all plans cover all patients for all reasons. The same is true about these other types of insurance policies.
Does your professional liability insurance cover you when you’re selling dietary supplements? What about telehealth appointments? HIPAA breaches? What about your freelance writing gigs?
Does your general liability cover flood damage? What if someone gets hurt at that event at a local park you’re hosting?
These are all questions to ask your insurance provider about!
Liability Insurance for Dietitians: Wrap Up
Ultimately, malpractice insurance is vital for ensuring that you can practice confidently, knowing you have financial protection against potential claims. There are many insurance options that you can tailor to your business that can help protect you against future incidents.
References:
The General Aggregate for Insurance
Professional Liability Insurance
Malpractice liability in private practice of nutrition
Real-Life Malpractice Case: One Registered Dietitian Shares Her Experience of Being Sued