Professional Liability Insurance
All regulated members under the HPA are required to have professional liability insurance (PLI). This includes all regulated members who use protected titles (including, but not limited to Provisional Optician, Contact Lens Practitioner, Registered Optician). The COA requires their regulated members to have the following:
- Have PLI in the amount of $1 million
- Provide proof of valid PLI to the College when asked
- PLI should provide coverage for the regulated member for professional disciplinary matters
- PLI can be occurrence-based or claims based. If claims-based, should have a 2-year extension. Regulated members should determine which is best for them by discussing with their insurance provider.
- Regulated members may use PLI offered through their employers but are responsible to ensure they are appropriately covered and their coverage meets the requirements set out by the College. They should consider that some employer policies may have gaps that employees are not aware of. Some may include (but are not limited to):
- An employer’s policy may only cover the employee during hours of operation, which does not include after-hours professional advice. Examples may include:
- Out of clinic work
- After hours work
- Personal professional advice
- The employer’s insurance may not cover the regulated member in a situation where the employer or business is concurrently involved in a conflict/complaint situation or is the one issuing the complaint.
- Some policies state ‘aggregate’, which means the amount of money the insurer will pay for ALL claims filed during the policy period (typically one year). If there are multiple members under the same aggregate policy, there may not be enough to cover another regulated member if needed.
- Employer coverage does not typically include all common coverages of an individual policy, such as:
- Legal expenses associated with having to appear at a disciplinary hearing with a regulatory college
- Criminal defense costs
- Sexual abuse therapy of a person who, while a patient, suffered abuse during an insured person’s practice
- If the regulated member is not named alongside the employer in a claim or if employment is terminated due to an incident, coverage may not apply.