We get this question in the office occasionally when a therapist runs into issues surrounding their ability to continue practice due to an injury that has occurred to them, either because of their practice, or because of some sort of accident away from their workspace.
We recognize that this is a very important topic because it pertains to your livelihood often as an independent business owner or contractor. It is often at this point that therapists reach out to us hoping that their professional liability coverage will provide them with some form of coverage.
Here is the reality – Professional Liability Insurance does not provide you with any disability insurance coverage. If you are looking for insurance that will cover accident or injury then what you are needing to secure is both accident insurance, as well as short- & long-term disability insurance. This is the kind of insurance that ultimately covers you, and the value that you have in being able to provide service. This can be sourced from a variety of different streams, but we would encourage you to reach out either to an insurance broker, like BrokerLink or Rob Barlow at Dusyk and Barlow, or to our Partner Perks provider Debbie Shearer, Living Benefits Specialist. Both have several different insurance products that would be able to meet this requirement to insure yourself and the revenue that you create! The key is making sure that you have these products in place before something happens.
For more on what your Professional Liability Insurance policy does provide you with coverage for, we would encourage you to check out the CMMOTA Info Session that was held in August 2024 – you can find it by logging into your Membership Portal (https://app.cmmota.com/) and then click on the CMMOTA Learning Button on the left side of your screen, which will open up the CMMOTA Learning Portal. From there you can access all past CMMOTA Info Sessions, including the one entitled What Does CMMOTA Liability Insurance Cover.