Calgary · Medical Offices

Medical Office Insurance in Calgary.

Coverage built for Calgary practices, from the risks of the work to the exposures Calgary businesses face.

Licensed Alberta brokerage · IBAA member · most practices bound in a few business days

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How do you prefer to work through your insurance?

Medical office insurance from Velocity covers your practice as a business. That means the premises patients walk into, the equipment and records inside, and the income the practice depends on. The clinical malpractice coverage for the care itself comes through your professional college, and we focus on everything else that keeps the doors open. A patient injured in the waiting room, a steriliser or imaging unit that fails, an after-hours break-in, a privacy breach, or a closure that stops the schedule. Chiropractors, dentists, optometrists, veterinarians, pharmacies and family practices all run a small business alongside regulated care. Velocity builds that business coverage for practices across Alberta.

Calgary clinics concentrate downtown and in suburban medical plazas, with walk-up practices in neighbourhoods like Kensington rounding out the mix, and their real exposures are patient injury, patient privacy, and costly diagnostic equipment, with the city's hail and flood catastrophe risk sitting over the premises. General liability, a privacy-breach response, and property covering tenant improvements and equipment, backed by business interruption, form the core.

Most medical-office programs start with general liability for the people who come through the door. Property and equipment-breakdown coverage handle your build-out, instruments and imaging. Cyber coverage protects patient records, and business interruption carries the practice when a disruption stops the schedule.

Risks Calgary practices face.

These exposures come with the work, and in Calgary the local risks sit on top. A generic small-business policy rarely covers all of them.

01

Patient injuries on the premises

Slips in the lobby, falls from an exam table, injuries in the parking lot. These general-liability claims happen even in the most careful practices. They are separate from anything clinical, and the legal defence alone can be costly.

02

Damage to your build-out, instruments, and dispensary

Fire, water, theft and vandalism can hit the exam rooms, reception, retail dispensary and the instruments you have invested in. Rebuilding a fitted-out clinic costs far more than most owners expect.

03

Breakdown of specialised equipment

Dental chairs, imaging equipment, optical lab gear, lab analysers and sterilisers are expensive to replace, and even more expensive when their failure cancels a day of patient appointments.

04

Patient data breaches and privacy incidents

Practice-management software, electronic records and patient portals hold health information. In Alberta a breach of that information can trigger mandatory notification to the Privacy Commissioner, the Minister and the affected patients under the Health Information Act, along with the cost of responding.

05

Theft, vandalism, and after-hours break-ins

Pharmacies, dental offices and optical shops are common targets. Narcotics, frames and the precious metals in a dental practice can disappear in a single overnight break-in.

06

Loss of practice income after a disruption

A flood, a fire or a sustained power outage can close a clinic for weeks. The bills do not stop, but the appointment book does. A small practice can struggle to recover without business interruption coverage.

07

Hail, among the costliest in Canada

Calgary lies in Canada’s most active hail zone, known as "hailstorm alley." The August 2024 Calgary hailstorm caused roughly $3.3 billion in insured damage, the costliest hailstorm in Canadian history and the second-costliest natural disaster in the country after the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire, and the June 2020 storm before it cost about $1.2 billion. Roofs, exteriors, fleet vehicles, and outdoor stock are the exposures, so replacement-cost property and comprehensive auto coverage matter.

08

Overland flood and water damage

The 2013 southern Alberta flood remains one of Canada’s costliest natural disasters, and Calgary’s river valleys keep overland flood and sewer backup on the map. These are typically endorsements, not automatic, so it is worth confirming your building and business-interruption coverage would respond.

The Protection

Coverages we recommend.

01

Commercial General Liability

A patient or visitor injured on your premises, or their property damaged, meaning the waiting-room slip and the parking-lot fall. It is separate from anything to do with clinical care, and those non-clinical claims still happen.

02

Commercial Property

The build-out, exam rooms, reception area, retail dispensary, instruments and inventory, protected against fire, water, theft and vandalism.

03

Equipment Breakdown

The sudden failure of specialised equipment, meaning imaging units, sterilisers, lab equipment, dental chairs and HVAC. It picks up the resulting damage or spoilage too, which a standard property policy leaves out.

04

Cyber Insurance

The cost of a privacy breach involving patient health information. That covers the notification the Health Information Act requires, credit monitoring, forensics, regulatory response, ransomware recovery, and the income you lose in a system outage.

05

Business Interruption

This replaces practice income and covers fixed costs if a covered loss closes the office, sized to how long it would take to rebuild and rebook the schedule.

06

Crime

Cash, drugs, frames and other valuables lost to theft, robbery and employee dishonesty. A standard property policy leaves those out for a dispensary or clinic handling money and stock.

Coverages shown are general examples, not a description of any specific policy. Policy coverages widely vary and should be confirmed with your broker.

How Pricing Works

What drives your premium

  • Practice type & proceduresA dental, imaging or pharmacy practice carries more premises, equipment and stock exposure than a talk-therapy or single-room office, so your discipline is the biggest driver of price.
  • Practitioners & staffMore providers and support staff mean more patient interactions and more hands on the equipment and records, which raises the premium.
  • Annual revenueHigher revenue reflects more patient volume and larger operations, so it lifts both your liability and business-interruption exposure.
  • Equipment valuesImaging units, sterilisers, dental chairs and lab analysers are costly to replace, so the value of the gear in your office sets your property and equipment-breakdown limits.
  • Patient records heldThe volume of electronic health records you keep drives your privacy and cyber exposure, including your Health Information Act breach-notification duties in Alberta.
  • Premises & build-outA larger clinic with an extensive fitted-out build-out and retail dispensary costs more to rebuild, so your leasehold improvements factor into the price.
  • Coverage limits & deductiblesHigher limits are more expensive. A higher deductible is cheaper up front and more expensive the day something happens.
  • Your Calgary locationYour neighbourhood, the building you occupy, and the local exposures Calgary sees factor into the property side of your premium.

Common Questions

Questions ownersreally ask.

What does Velocity’s medical office insurance cover, and what does my college cover?

We insure the practice as a business. That means general liability for a patient hurt on the premises, property for your build-out and instruments, and equipment breakdown for the gear you depend on. Crime, business interruption and cyber coverage for a privacy breach round it out. The clinical malpractice side, meaning coverage for the care itself, comes through your professional college or its program, such as the Canadian Medical Protective Association for physicians. The two pieces fit together to protect the practice and the practitioner.

Is the Health Information Act or PIPA my clinic’s privacy law?

If you are a health information custodian, and that includes physicians, dentists, pharmacists, chiropractors, optometrists and others, patient health records are governed by the Health Information Act (HIA). A veterinary practice, and the general business records of any clinic, fall under Alberta’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) instead. Which law applies changes what you must do after a breach.

Do I have to report a patient-record breach in Alberta?

Under the Health Information Act, if a privacy breach could cause harm, you must notify Alberta’s Privacy Commissioner, the Minister and the affected individuals as soon as practicable. Cyber insurance helps with the cost of that notification, along with forensics, credit monitoring and regulatory response.

Does the practice policy cover a patient who slips in the waiting room?

Yes. A slip, trip or fall on your premises is a general-liability claim, and that is part of the business coverage we place. It is separate from the clinical malpractice coverage that comes through your college, so together they cover both sides of the practice.

Is my imaging, steriliser, or dental chair covered if it fails?

Equipment breakdown coverage exists for exactly this. It responds to the sudden failure of specialised equipment, and to the resulting damage or spoilage, which a standard property policy leaves out. For a practice that depends on a single imaging unit or steriliser, it often pays for itself the first time.

How much does medical office insurance cost in Calgary?

There is no flat rate. Your premium depends on the work you do, your revenue, your Calgary location, and your claims history, and higher-risk work costs more to insure. We price it around how you operate rather than a one-size quote, and most practices go from first conversation to bound coverage within a few business days.

Is hail damage covered by commercial insurance in Calgary?

Hail damage to your building, signage, and outdoor property is typically covered under a commercial property policy, and hail damage to vehicles under comprehensive auto coverage. Because Calgary is one of Canada’s highest-hail cities, insurers pay close attention to roof age and construction, and replacement-cost coverage is worth confirming.

Do I need flood coverage for my Calgary business?

Overland flood and sewer backup are usually endorsements added to a commercial property policy rather than automatic inclusions. Given Calgary’s flood history, especially near the rivers, it is worth reviewing whether your location warrants them and whether your business-interruption coverage would respond to a flood closure.

What coverage do most Calgary businesses carry?

Most start with replacement-cost commercial property and commercial general liability, then add comprehensive auto for hail, water endorsements where the location calls for it, and business interruption. The rest depends on the trade: tools and equipment for contractors, crime and cyber for retailers and offices, loss of rental income for landlords.

Protect your Calgary practice.

Tell us how your practice operates and we'll build coverage around the work you do and the risks Calgary sees. Most practices are bound within a few business days.

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