Medical Spas generally cost $ 5,000 - $ 7,500 annual premium for 1 Million limit of liability.
And, as low risk as most physicians perceive these centers to be; well, they are not always.
Burns from Lasers, nerve damage due to needle penetration, abrasions, cuts, and other allegations of disappointed expectations.
Working with a variety of specialty specific insurers and risk managers, The Doctors’ Insurance Agency works for you; to find placement with the right Carrier and premium that is representative of your practice profile.
Generally, the premium is a function of three components:
- annual revenue
- number of people providing the services
- the type of services provided.
If you have five nurses and three Aestheticians, the premium will be more than if you have two nurses and one aesthetician.
Consolidating your medispa so that you have a few people working longer hours can make more sense than staffing with a large part time roster.
Looking at Skin Inc. Com I read (from Evan Smith of a specialty carrier known as Beazley Group),
Spas and medical spas are one of the fastest-growing segments in the health care professional liability business. We have to continue to read and learn and study the new techniques and services .Mr. Smith goes on to say that with new relaxation techniques, beautifying procedures and fountain-of-youth potions coming to market on a seemingly daily basis, this sector can be an underwriting challenge.
The sector can be broadly split into three levels of risk. The lower risk end of the spa/medical spa market is comprised of facilities that perform minimally invasive procedures. These include facials, body piercing, haircutting, waxing, massage, manicures and pedicures.
The next level of exposure is comprised of facilities that conduct procedures that typically require some involvement by a medical professional. This class includes facilities that do cosmetic procedures using injectables and provide services such as laser hair removal and bleaching.
As the services become more complex, the severity of claims can escalate. Patients may be exposed to hepatitis from injectables delivered with previously used needles, burned by lasers during hair removal or left with facial malformations from off-brand botulinum toxin.
There is one higher level of risk: Facilities that perform procedures such as liposuction, face-lifts, hair-lifts, chin implants and breast implants. However, while these procedures may be done in a medical spa, they are surgeries and hence are considered in the underwriting class of surgery centers, not medical spas.
Our Agency can provide you with very competitive Plastic Surgery, Dermatology malpractice insurance premiums. Please let us work for you to reduce your premium and explore the proper coverage for your medispas, surgery centers, outpatient clinics or wellness/weight loss centers.
How insurance can help
Insurance for these risks must be as dynamic and diverse as the risks themselves. Central to the approach to underwriting this class for insurance should be asking the right questions to assess the full range of a facility's services and discern the particular coverages needed—whether it’s commercial general liability, professional liability, products liability, fire legal liability, sexual abuse liability and/or umbrella insurance—for an insured’s foreign and domestic exposures. It's also important to ensure that all of the professionals involved with a facility are considered. Some medical spas, for example, have medical directors who are independent contractors or employed physicians; neither should be overlooked.
Risk management ideas and tips provided by this same Beazley Expert:
Your insurance company should work closely with you to support risk management best practices, whether finding you online resources or phone consultations, or in person visits, we can help you with some of these:
- Securing appropriate informed consent from all patients;
- Conducting patient education and screening (e.g., a pre-procedure checklist to help identify patients who may be ill-suited or at risk for a particular service);
- Documenting employee training and employment files;
- Maintaining proper credentialing of all physicians, medical personnel and other service providers.
Sound risk management practices such as these are pivotal to an insured’s and insurer's ability to effectively defend a spa or medical spa in a claim. They will also make it more feasible for these businesses to secure the coverage they need for their full spectrum of services now and in the future.