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Tropical Storm Henri Threatened the Northeast. More to come.
It’s summer in New England. Hazy, hot, and humid days erupt into rolling, violent squalls.
Over the weekend, your practice was hit by tropical storm, Henri. Did you feel relief when the storm did not produce the devastation a hurricane does? Most of us were fortunate to avoid the worst effects. Severe weather like this has the potential to cause an electrical power surge that overwhelms your installed protections. Your computer network, fried. Your expensive electronic diagnostic equipment, toast. Your cooling unit holding $100,000 or more in vaccines, a goner. Also, because the temperature of the vaccines rose to room temperature, those vaccines are not usable any longer.
You need to get the damage repaired, vaccines replaced, and the equipment up and running fast. What about your insurance? Are you covered?
Contact your agent to find out if you’re underinsured before something like this happens. This may not be the last storm of this season, and with the perils of a changing climate looming, the time to find out if you’re underinsured is before something like this happens, not after disaster strikes.
It is important to review if your current Business-owners policy will cover loss to your computer equipment, vaccines, and medical diagnostic equipment that is damaged as a result of an electrical power surge. Sometimes, there are limitations. Also, will the policy pay the cost to replace that equipment with new items, or will the policy only pay the depreciated value of the damaged equipment? If you have on hand significant and valuable perishable pharmaceuticals, also ask the agent what the coverage limit is for spoilage as a result of a power loss or breakdown of the refrigerating equipment. If you want to learn more about how to prepare your business for a tropical weather emergency, Liberty Mutual has made a Hurricane Action Plan available to all.
Feel free to contact me with your concerns specific to medical practices.
posted August 2021
Richard Weston, CIC, Operations Manager at Physicians Insurance, has been with the company since 2002. He has been in the commercial insurance sector since 1988 and can assist with a wide range of insurance issues which physician practices face. If you have questions about insurance, or would like Richard to do a full review of your insurance policies and exposures, he can be reached at 781 434-7390 or by email at rweston@mms.org.
