MW Ep 22 Audio
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Speaker: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the Healthcare Online Podcast. My name is Megan Walker and today our very special guest is Jess Green Hatch from insurance.com au. And Jess is the general manager of In of Product and Insurance Relationships. Hi Jess. How you going? I'm good. Hi. It's a bit of a mouthful, isn't it?
Yeah. I have to just check my notes there. And before we get it started, we are gonna have a conversation about some of the insurance considerations for private practice owners and especially those who are developing healthcare courses. Being an insurance organization, we need you to give us your disclaimer first and then [00:01:00] we'll get started.
So fire away.
Speaker 2: All right, so before we get started, this conversation is general advice only and does not take into account anyone's individual objectives, financial situation, needs, or personal circumstances. When making decisions about purchasing, amending, or renewing insurance, consider the product disclosure statement.
Or policy waiting and target market determinations if applicable. Thank you. Pleasure. Could you recite that in your sleep?
Speaker: Probably. Yeah. I figure you have to do that quite a bit. Yeah. And we'll give some instructions at the end where people can go to get more information from. Mm-Hmm. Your team as well.
Awesome. So tell us a bit about what insurance.com au does. Let's kick that off so we know who we're talking to and who that's relevant for.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. So I am gonna tell you about our history. So in September, 2022, insurance Houses online division underwent a transformative rebrand to become insurance.com au.
Marking the beginning of a [00:02:00] new chapter in delivering innovative insurance services. This change was driven by a dedicated team of insurance professionals and underscores our commitment to making the process of purchasing and managing insurance simpler and more accessible for individuals, businesses, and members of associations.
We provide a Diverse range of insurance solutions that blend comprehensive coverage with competitive pricing. As part of the steadfast group, Australasia's largest general insurance broker network, we are uniquely positioned to ensure that we are not just a service provider, but a trusted insurance partner.
And we have extensive experience working with numerous health professionals, regulated by a PR, which enables us to effectively address insurance needs.
Speaker: Right, and that's what we've been looking for. We've been looking for people who understand private practice, allied health. Do you extend into insurance for.
Specialists, general practices [00:03:00] and specialists and surgeons, or are you more on the allied health side?
Speaker 2: We're definitely more on the allied side. But we do have some connections that do specialize in doctors and surgeons, so we can look at that. If there is something a little bit more bespoke that you're looking for, come to us.
We can see what we can do either in our network or the extended steadfast network.
Speaker: Brilliant. And I love that you are partners of A API, the Association of Psychologists, which is great. Which is how I've sort of gone, huh? Okay, good. Wonderful. 'cause normally when I say to insurers, okay, we need to find a partner who can cover insurance for healthcare courses, and they go, what's a healthcare course?
What's telehealth? Okay. I don't think we're heading in the right party. So you definitely we're in the right place here, Jess. Yeah. Fantastic. Now tell us modern insurance risks for practice owners. What are some of the, and insurance is all about coverage, reducing risk. Mm-hmm. No doubt. So tell us about these [00:04:00] modern risks.
And I know there's some in there that people might not be thinking about. So.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this. All right, so there's probably one that is quite common in the media at the moment, which is your cybersecurity and data breaches. So I would say that not a month goes by without someone announcing that they have had a data breach.
And healthcare practices are real prime target for cyber attacks due to the nature of the patient data that they keep and. It's important to be aware that a breach can lead to significant legal liabilities, financial losses, and reputational damages. Like I'm sure there's a few businesses you can think of that you probably would think twice dealing with knowing the scale of their cyber breaches.
Speaker: Of course, yeah. And so a little practice that might have three staff, a psychology practice in the suburbs. Mm-Hmm. That thinks, oh no, that's sort of cyber stuff that happens to Bupa and Medicare. That won't happen to me. Mm-hmm. Could
Speaker 2: definitely. Absolutely, absolutely. They're actually prime targets for the.
phishing [00:05:00] attacks and just the malware that people are trying to get onto their systems just to get their data. So you think, oh, it's not me. I'm not a multimillion dollar company, but you are exactly who they're targeting. Even just the other day, I got a fake email from my boss that was not from my boss.
When you looked at the email address, it was an external email and it said, I need you to share this file from my boss, which was not legit. And you know, that's, that's one they're sending hundreds of thousands every day, just trying to get one person to give them access. So, yeah.
Speaker: Yes. And can you explain what some of those terms mean for people who are completely unfamiliar?
Like, phishing is not winter whining, it's pH. Oh yes. He hate phishing. Can you just, just so we are all exactly sure what that means. Can you explain that? Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So a phishing is, where someone sends, it's kind of like they're holding out their hand, wanting you to take their hand, but pretending to be a friend or a company or a legitimate offer of sales, or [00:06:00] quite a common one would be.
Put your superannuation with us, we are gonna get you a 50% return. Then it's a really good looking deal that actually the intent is quite malicious. They wanna get access to either your bank accounts or your data, and then once they've got that, they will take everything out of your account and it's very hard to get that money back once that happens.
And the same with the data Once that's once they're in, they've got. If they've got it. And then you'll need assistance, which some of the insurers will offer to help you kind of close that gap, deal with the crisis, and get back on track so that you can close that breach again.
Speaker: Right. Wow. Okay. And then malware, just explain that one too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so malware is actually that's, that's a good one. I'm like, I know what it is, but how do I explain it? It would be a program that a hacker has put on your computer, but it could be something as innocuous as a link that says, click here to see this invoice. [00:07:00] And do you think, oh, I, Amanda from finance has sent me an invoice and you click it.
And then there's a malicious file that now has access to your computer. It could potentially take all of your key logging, your passwords, all of your data, and then give it to that third party who is trying to essentially attack your business.
Speaker: Yeah. And they're looking really good, aren't they? I had one that was a really good friend of mine.
It was a, a message from Facebook that said, I've just had great success with this government grant. Mm-Hmm. It would be perfect for your business. Click here. And ask for such and such contact. And then it opened up like this form and yeah, there was banking details. I was like, hang on a minute.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah.
It's, it's very sophisticated. It'd be very easy to trick you, which is just why you have to be so aware of it.
Speaker: Yeah. Wow. Anything else like that? That's yes. That we need to know what, what else is new and scary. I'll go through a couple.
Speaker 2: So, for professional liability, which is why you would be taking out that professional indemnity and public liability cover, so [00:08:00] you've got a significant risk there of malpractice claims which arise from allegations of negligence, misdiagnosis, or inadequate treatment.
Mm-Hmm. And the claims can be significantly financially draining, even if they're found to be unfounded at the end. Mm-Hmm. And, why you would take that cover out under the policy to make sure that as long as you are operating within your scope of practice and you are suitably qualified to perform those actions and activities, you'll be covered by the insurer.
You've gotta be aware of the regulatory compliance fines that relate to breaches. Mm-Hmm. Which this policy that we offer would cover that for costs arising from actual or alleged breaches of privacy and health record legislation. The one that I'm really passionate about, which is the tangible things that you can protect.
So this is your like, physical location or your stock or what's called business interruption, which is if you are, if you work in an office and your office catches fire, you can't [00:09:00] work there anymore, you've lost your income potentially for, you know, a few weeks or a few months, depending on how substantial that claim is.
You need to still get paid. So if you have that business interruption cover, you can say, you know, your turnover's 20,000 a year from this aspect of your work, and then you will still get that paid while until you can, you know, resume operating BAU again. That's such a relief,
Speaker: isn't it? Okay, great. And just bring us one other thing I'll just in case someone hasn't looked at their policy for a million years and just, you know, pay that invoice.
Yeah. Professional indemnity and public liability. Can you just give us the 1 0 1 explanation and the difference between the two in case someone's got one and not the other? Is that okay?
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course. So, professional indemnity is your that would cover you for your professional activities. So if you're a healthcare professional, it's the healthcare advice that you provide, the care that you provide that would be covered under your professional indemnity.
And then your public liability relates to things like your premises, your, [00:10:00] you know, if someone walks in and they slip and fall, that's where your public liability cover would kick in. Or if you have some negligence inadvertently that has injured someone, that's where public liability can come in. And then there is an aspect of product liability, depending on the type of policy that you take.
If you, you were selling a piece of medical equipment, that would be your product. Yes. So you would need to look to make sure that you have some aspect of cover for product liability as well. In the event of the product failing, or potentially it may need to be recalled, you need to look at having cover for those expenses as well.
There's a lot of different things. So for your healthcare civil liability policy, that is your professional indemnity and your public liability. And then in addition to that, you wanna. Think about your building, your contents if you are renting probab like. Contents 'cause you don't own the building. But if you own where you work, then you want your building contents, your [00:11:00] business interruption, portable contents.
Do you take a laptop out every day to a cafe? Have you got cover for that or are you just taking it out with you thinking that your home insurance policy automatically covers you? 'cause it might not. Cyber, which we've touched on, and then an interesting insurance. Cover that is only, it's coming to the Australian market from like 2019, but worldwide, it's been going on for quite a while, is what's called legal expenses insurance.
Have you ever heard of that? I've never heard of it, no. I've had a business for 17 years. I've never of. This, this product is pretty unique, so it essentially can cover you for common business legal problems with the expenses involved in that. So under the healthcare civil liability policy, you get a one hour free legal consultation with matters that relate to your.
Policy or maybe related to a claim. So it's a one hour specific benefit that you get, that you can make that call and ask those questions. Legal [00:12:00] expenses, insurance kind of is in addition to that where it gives you a 15 minute call. I. It's not capped at one call. So, you know, if you have a question relating to employment liability or a contractual dispute with a supplier or your neighbor has been throwing tree branches over your fence and you wanna sue him, you can ring and you've got a no-cost 15 minute initial consultation, and then you can ring the next day and ask a different question.
You can ring the day after that. It's not capped at one call. Per policy period. You just get that benefit for the 15 minutes per day for the policy term. And there's also access to a legal document center, which the insurer gives you complimentary to the policy, but you get basically just a template library of anything that you could potentially need as a business.
You can then take and use yourself. So an employment contract, letter of [00:13:00] demand loan agreement, a will power of attorney, termination of employment. If you know someone's a bit spicy and you need to let them go, you can get that template from there, and that is fully included in that product. So it's something that not a lot of people would know about, but it's.
I'm, I'm really passionate about it. Now that I can see the benefit and the fact that it's not just limited to matters relating to your policy, which is, you know, the healthcare benefit for that one hour, then you've got this that is just the umbrella on top that. As a small business owner, like, you know, how, how many times have you just wished that you could just ring someone and ask a quick question and get that answer and then, you know, move on with your day.
Is this gonna be an issue, is it not? And that, you know, I just think that's so cool. I'm such an insurance nerd. I'm sorry. I love people who are passionate
Speaker: about their field. [00:14:00] I mean, that's huge. Peace of mind. When you were talking, I was thinking, you know, there are definitely some practices where just the nature of their work attracts.
Client, a client base that's more inflammatory. I like your word, spicy. And so, you know, by virtue of trying to help that group, they also have a higher exposure to potential li you know, legal threats, et cetera. So that would be hugely I imagine [00:15:00] the peace of mind for those practice owners. Oh, and the time wasting, you know, you get tangled up with something that's really.
Unsubstantiated, but is a huge time suck. It's just mm-Hmm. Draining money out of a practice pretty quickly. So, okay. So that's another insurance that people can. Just find out, what do you call that one again? So
Speaker 2: it's called legal expense insurance. Legal expense insurance. And we can connect you with that policy.
So if anyone's interested, just send them our way and we're happy to organize a quote for them and talk them through all the different covers and everything involved in that.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker 2: I will also say we do have some non-business related insurance as well. Okay. So, you know, if you're sitting there and. You know, you're a business owner, but you've also got, you know, your private life.
So we do pet travel, health insurance. Mm-Hmm. And then we are looking at also doing home motor and landlord, probably it between now and the end of the year, I would say. But pet insurance, we, got to see a list of some of the common pet names. I, I had the [00:16:00] biggest laugh of my life seeing what people had picked for their names.
It's just brilliant. Brilliant.
Speaker: The humanization. Yeah, just pets. I love it. Well, I mean, many of our people who are listening will have therapy dogs as well in their practice. So. That's a growing area. And then also the income protection you mentioned and business business continuity you mentioned.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. Business interruption insurance. So that one you would take out some contents cover or some property cover as well. So if you're renting, you would do like your, you know, the business contents in the office and then you can add the business interruption to it. Mm-Hmm. Because you do need a claim to happen to be able to make that, claim for the interruption. So there needs to be, you know, a fire, flood hailstorm, something that's prevented you from working. Yeah,
Speaker: and I, I met, I mean there's probably about 10 things that we listed. I'll put dot points where, where people are listening to this. So how do you work out what you do need and you don't need?
'cause I don't wanna sound frank, but if we all were rolling in cash, we'd get [00:17:00] all of that. So there's no doubt like a screening process and a questionnaire. Is there when you meet with one of your team, is that how.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. So it's just as simple as having a chat with [email protected] au.
Yes. So we would go through what, what assets you're looking to protect, what kind of work you do, whether or not you need professional indemnity or if you need that professional indemnity and public liability covered, depending on what you're doing. If you're a student as well, there's things that we can look at there too.
So, yeah, it's just, we just ask a lot of questions and then we offer you, what we think matches best with what your needs are. Fantastic. So it's very tailored. I love that.
Speaker: Yeah. Excellent. Now let's move on to our course creators 'cause I know I'll have some people absolutely championing at the bit to hear what you've got to say about course creation.
So I'm always huge like in my messaging around there is hands-on face-to-face clinical work. And then a course is general [00:18:00] repeatable, widely applicable. Healthcare education, and so you don't try and deliver clinical advice in a healthcare course. I just have to say that all the time because I, I know that this.
Recording could go anywhere. Mm-Hmm. And I don't want anyone to think that we are replacing an ACL reconstruction with a healthcare goal. We definitely are not. So for those that have got a product that they're developing that's general repeatable healthcare information, what's sort of insurance can you guys offer that will include it without obviously breaking the bank?
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well I actually have, I've got what they can do to reduce their risks. Oh yeah. Cool. Okay. Cover that. So, yeah, so for what we've already touched on with your cybersecurity and data breaches, so implementing cybersecurity measures, including encryption, multi-factor authentication, and regular security audits multifactor authentication is a bit of a pain.
I'm sure everyone's like, oh, I have to get a text [00:19:00] every time I log into my bank. But that. Is there to protect you. And if you have that, it actually will reduce the cost that you could potentially pay for cyber insurance because the insurer can see that you're taking measures to protect your data. And just be really aware of the dangers.
Again, like if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. So, you know, if they're offering you $10 million, just skip that email and send it straight to junk. Yes. In terms of your professional indemnity, ensure that you clearly define the scope of your course and that it is for educational purposes, exactly like you said.
Yes. Does not replace professional advice. Make sure that you've considered using disclaimers about the use of the information you provide and that the content is accurate and up to date. Could be beneficial to have a legal representative review the material and disclaimers as well. And I've got a really good example of why this is important, which not a lot of non-insurance people would know about, but Mm-Hmm.
During covid many business interruption policies [00:20:00] sought to exclude cover for pandemics by referencing the quarantine act. Quarantine Act was actually repealed in 2016 and replaced by the Biosecurity Act, and a lot of insurers hadn't updated their products with the new Act, which meant that it had to go to court to determine whether or not the insurers would pay the claims because they had forgotten to change the act.
So. Even just as simple as implementing an internal review framework to just regularly check and update the content. If you're referencing an act, is that act still relevant? Yes, on an annual basis is a really good start to protecting yourself there and making sure that you haven't inadvertently done what a lot of the big insurers did.
'cause it's certainly checked now, but it definitely wasn't in 2020 when it all kicked off. For your property damage and business interruption, even if you're just running the course at home in your office, do you have reliable digital infrastructure to [00:21:00] minimize your downtime? What's your backup plan?
If your internet goes out? What's the plan? If the power goes out? Are you regularly backing up your content and your data to offsite locations or into the cloud? If like, worst case today, I could go to a different building. I could go to a McDonald's and I could still work. Yeah. What's your plan for your business if you get this event that could potentially interrupt you?
Yeah. The last one, which I think is, very hot topic and very interesting to watch is monitoring online reviews and social media mentions.
Speaker: Oh yeah.
Speaker 2: To quickly address negative feedback. Yes. I'm sure we've seen businesses can live or die based on a TikTok reel. So, do you have a crisis communication plan?
Have you considered engaging a PR professional to manage and mitigate your reputational risks? There is cover for a lot of these aspects, either under the healthcare, civil liability policy, or additional insurance. So all of this you can generally manage or [00:22:00] mitigate through either insurance or I said by your behavior with your clients.
But it's, it's a very varied landscape of many things to be aware of, and you definitely want to, I would be trusting the experts on. We live and breathe insurance. So if you have questions or you are not sure about what you want cover for, or if something is covered, it is always better to ask. And then we can look at the product.
We can let you know what the, you know, policy, wording, interpretation is, and just make sure that you are comfortable with what we, we are telling you. Cover will be,
Speaker: yeah, love that. But to discover
Speaker 2: then, then make a claim and find out that you're not covered. Because you know an example, this is very off topic, but you know, if you're a car repairer and you've repaired someone's car, but you didn't take out cover for rectification of faulty work and the engine fails, that's, you know how easy it is to just [00:23:00] accidentally be underinsured.
Speaker: Wow. And I love your point about getting legal advice and not buying disclaimer packs. You know, there's some floating around, I know in the states that you can buy like, you know, your privacy and your confidentiality and you think, you know, they're just not gonna be relevant to exactly what you're selling and what you're talking about.
So, tailored advice from experts we love. Yeah. Oh, so good Jess. so you, do you have a specific. Policy for healthcare courses? Yes.
Speaker 2: Or how does that work? Yeah, so we. look to place it through the healthcare professional civil liability policy, which you can take out online. Yeah. It is a very easy customer journey, so it's, you know, a few questions we might ask.
If you're a member of an association, we would probably ask what you are qualifi or that you are qualified to do this work, and then you can take the cover out online. You can get your certificate of insurance, all the documents you need, and then at renewal time. [00:24:00] We'll send you a reminder to make sure that you've renewed on time, which is in line with opera's regulations for maintaining your professional cover as well.
Fantastic.
Speaker: Okay. Wonderful. That's so good. I'm so glad there's a thing out there now that we've got and we can point people to. So where can they go for information and have a look at this civil liability policy and, and or find out more or talk to one of your team? Mm-Hmm. What's the next steps?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so insurance.com au is us and that is where they can go.
And that has all of our contact information, it has all of the product information. And then, you know, we. Well average if, if they call, our average answer time is eight seconds. So if they ring we can, you know, help 'em out really quick. They're not gonna be waiting for 40 minutes listening to whole music. That makes you wanna like pass your head to a wall. Yes. Yeah. Staple
Speaker: your finger.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I was like, what, what's the, you know, what would I do?
And I'm like, I just hang [00:25:00] up. But we're, you know, we're available by email. We even have text and you know, any kind of way that someone wants to reach out, we're more than happy to have a chat in any format that, you know, suits them. It's 2024, so we can do whatever they need. Love it. So good.
Speaker: Jess, thank you so much for covering all of that and.
No doubt people will have questions, so we really encourage you to go to insurance.com au and have a look and get in touch with them and get the right coverage for your business so that you can sleep at night. You don't have to think about it. You know that it's all there. And then if things happen. You know, the damage is minimized and life can go on.
Yeah. So that's how I always look at my insurance. It's like, yep. Great. I'm running a mini BHP here. Mm-Hmm. It's top piece of mind. Thanks, Jess. Great to talk to you and really appreciate your time and your insights. Thank you. [00:26:00]
