Eyeworld

December 2016 • Ophthalmology Business 23 by Liz Hillman, Staff Writer Are you sure you're covered? insurance policies that are increasing- ly considered important in this day and age. One of them is regulatory pro- tection, also called medical defense coverage. According to Mr. Meadows, this provides defense against claims of fraud and abuse, improper coding, or if a physician is summoned before a medical board or disciplinary com- mittee. Dr. Qamar said he is in the process of purchasing regulato- ry protection coverage as well as another increasingly important type of insurance he didn't have before: cyber liability coverage. "That's very important coverage right now," Mr. Meadows said. "You might read about a hospital being hacked and so forth, but it's not unusual for medical practices to be hacked also. Tariq Qamar, MD, medical director, Q Vision, Scottsdale, Arizona, started looking into his own insurance policies after being introduced on the ASCRS forum EyeConnect to a type of insurance he didn't know about before. It was regulatory protection. "It gave some scary scenarios of how that [coverage] might be need- ed," Dr. Qamar said. "That inspired me to look into regulatory protec- tion. As I was looking into that, I kept coming up with new types of insurance—cyber liability, PCI DSS [payment card industry data security standard], and things like that." The different types of policies and coverages are "overwhelming," Dr. Qamar said. Lesser known insurance offerings While on EyeConnect, Dr. Qamar was surprised to learn about types of Review the insurance policies you really need T he "I" word—insur- ance—can be a turn- off for many people. "What it means is, I'm spending money for something I can't see and hold and may never use, but I've got to do it," said Robert Meadows, executive vice president, Professional Risk Associ- ates, Midlothian, Virginia. Physicians are faced with a myri- ad of insurance options—some man- datory, some elective, and some that they might not even know about. As a physician, you are probably familiar with the types of insurance that allow you to practice and run a business, but there are other policies worth considering as well. continued on page 24

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