Health & Wellness Practices
Medical Office Insurance
Insurance for the practices patients trust with their care, their data, and their time.
Medical office insurance from Velocity covers your practice as a business: the premises patients walk into, the equipment and records inside, and the income the practice depends on. The clinical side, the malpractice coverage for the care itself, comes through your professional college or its program, so 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 medical practices all run a small business alongside regulated care, and the equipment and records inside are worth more than most owners realise. Velocity builds that business coverage for practices across Alberta.
The Exposure
Risks you face.
A medical office is part small business, part retail dispensary, part data custodian. Each role brings its own exposures, separate from the clinical care your college already covers.
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.
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, and rebuilding a fitted-out clinic costs far more than most owners expect.
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.
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.
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.
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, and a small practice can struggle to recover without business interruption coverage.
The Protection
Coverages we recommend.
Commercial General Liability
Can cover a patient or visitor injured on your premises, or their property damaged, the waiting-room slip, the parking-lot fall, separate from anything to do with clinical care. The non-clinical claims still happen.
Commercial Property
Can protect the build-out, exam rooms, reception area, retail dispensary, instruments, and inventory against fire, water, theft, and vandalism.
Equipment Breakdown
Can cover the sudden failure of specialised equipment, imaging units, sterilisers, lab equipment, dental chairs, and HVAC, and the resulting damage or spoilage, which a standard property policy leaves out.
Cyber Insurance
Can cover the cost of a privacy breach involving patient health information: the notification the Health Information Act requires, credit monitoring, forensics, regulatory response, ransomware recovery, and lost income from a system outage.
Business Interruption
Can replace practice income and cover fixed costs if a covered loss closes the office, sized to how long it would actually take to rebuild and rebook the schedule.
Crime
Can cover cash, drugs, frames, and other valuables lost to theft, robbery, and employee dishonesty, the losses a standard property policy leaves 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 your coverage fits Alberta’s health rules
A health practice in Alberta answers to more than its patients. Your regulatory college requires you to carry coverage for the clinical care itself, physicians through the Canadian Medical Protective Association, and dentists, chiropractors, pharmacists, and optometrists through their colleges’ programs, and that clinical coverage sits outside what we place. What we insure is the practice as a business. The biggest rule shaping that is privacy: patient health records are governed by the Health Information Act, not Alberta’s general PIPA, if you are a custodian, which includes physicians, dentists, pharmacists, chiropractors, and optometrists, and that means a breach that could cause harm must be reported to the Privacy Commissioner, the Minister, and the affected patients. A veterinary practice’s records instead fall under PIPA. We build your cyber and business coverage to sit alongside all of it.
Why medical practices choose Velocity
We work with chiropractors, dentists, opticians and optometrists, veterinarians, pharmacists, and family medical clinics. We build the business coverage that surrounds your clinical care, structure cyber protection that actually responds to your Health Information Act obligations, and keep equipment-breakdown limits aligned with the cost of the gear sitting in your office.
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 cost more; a higher deductible lowers the premium but raises your share of a claim.
Common Questions
Questions ownersactually ask.
What does Velocity’s medical office insurance cover, and what does my college cover?
We insure the practice as a business: general liability for a patient hurt on the premises, property for your build-out and instruments, equipment breakdown for the gear you depend on, crime, business interruption, and cyber coverage for a privacy breach. The clinical malpractice side, 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, 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 cover 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, which 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?
That is what equipment breakdown coverage is for. It responds to the sudden failure of specialised equipment, and 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 and how fast can I get covered?
It depends on your discipline, your revenue, and the equipment in your office, a dental or imaging-heavy practice carries more equipment risk than a talk-therapy office. We tailor the business program to your practice, and most clinics go from first conversation to bound coverage within a few business days.
Built for the practicebehind the practitioner.
Tell us your discipline and the equipment in your office, and we’ll build the business coverage that surrounds your clinical care, property, cyber, equipment breakdown, and the rest. Most practices are bound within a few business days.
Not ready to switch? Book a 15-minute coverage review instead