Most dental practices have insurance policies that cover their employees, but is it enough? Does your practice have employee dishonesty insurance? This insurance protects the employer from financial loss due to the fraudulent activities of an employee or group of employees. The loss can be the result of the employee’s theft of money, securities (which includes checks) or other property of the insured. Of course, policy coverage may differ between insurance companies. The employer, the named insured on the policy, is the main entity insured. The “who” of coverage may also include all current or former employees, partners, members, directors, volunteers, trustees, seasonal employees and temporary workers at your direction or control. Employee dishonesty coverage is really a fidelity bond. The normal form of coverage is
a blanket policy which will cover fraud committed by any employee.
If the practice has access to other customer’s money, securities or property, the policy can be endorsed to include third party coverage. With the third party endorsement coverage is extended to a customer or client with whom you are under contract to perform services. As an example, employees often have access to patients credit card numbers. Does your insurance cover you if an employee steals that credit card information and uses it? Employee dishonesty coverage can typically be added to another insurance policy, such as the property or the fiduciary liability policy. The coverage may be extended to include forgery or alteration, funds transfer fraud, computer fraud, credit card fraud, money
order and counterfeit fraud.
With fraud and identity theft at an all-time high, you may want to review your policies and make sure you are covered!
Dental Bytes 