While massage therapy liability insurance at your chiropractic office may cost more than a previous plan, it is a much more powerful investment.
As a professional chiropractor, you likely invest in liability insurance for yourself, your practice, and those who work hands-on with your patients. This is a necessary investment to ensure that your patients and staff are all protected should anything unexpected or accidental happen. The same directly applies to massage therapists who work in your office with massage therapy liability insurance.
But what exactly is massage therapy liability insurance? And further, is it absolutely necessary to provide coverage for the massage therapists who work in your office? The short answer to this last question is a resounding yes.
This guide will dive into the basics of massage therapy liability insurance and why you should make sure the massage therapists working for you have their own massage insurance.
What is massage therapy liability insurance?
You are likely familiar with liability insurance in a chiropractic setting. It is likely that you, your practice and those who work alongside you will be covered by a comprehensive policy. But what is massage therapist liability insurance? And further, does it work differently than other liability policies?
Massage therapist liability insurance – like other forms of liability insurance – is about protecting a professional from the inherent risk that comes with doing their job. Massage therapists, like chiropractors, work very closely with your patients—and with that comes a certain degree of risk (or liability).
This unique type of insurance is designed to cover massage therapists and their unique services in the unlikely and unfortunate probability that a claim is made against them, their business or their service.
Why is massage liability insurance important in a chiropractic setting?
That last part of the previous sentence should be a hint as to why liability insurance coverage for your massage therapists should be so great. If a claim is made against them, their business or their service, all three could suffer – and if they work under your practice, it means you could be affected.
As a professional who hires a massage therapist, you are putting your reputation on the line. In essence, you are giving them your stamp of approval. As such, the need to protect them.
It is your responsibility to protect your practice
When you hire a professional into your practice—whether it’s a colleague in the chiropractic space or a massage therapist—you’re bringing them into your space. Your practice likely has your name on it to some extent, and that means you are directly responsible for what happens in that space.
If you hire massage therapists for your chiropractic office and not make sure they’re covered by liability insurance, you’re allowing risk to play out—and that’s never a good combination in a medical or wellness practice.
Liability insurance ensures that your employees are covered, but it’s important that your practice is covered as well. It is impossible to predict improbable incidents. And, unfortunately, no matter how trained or composed your staff may be, accidents happen. Accusations happen too.
When you cover your massage therapists with liability insurance, you are prioritizing the practice and ensuring that the massage therapist’s liability issues cannot affect its future.
It is also your responsibility to protect your patients
You owe your patients the warranty that comes with your employee coverage. They deserve protection, and liability insurance is one form of that. But more than that, it’s a pact made with your patients that you value them and their advocacy.
You are covering a massage therapist because you trust them and want to make sure your patients, practice and employees are taken care of if something should happen.
Likewise, when you hire a new employee to work for your practice—a chiropractor, massage therapist, receptionist, and more—you are taking responsibility for their actions.
Ask yourself an important question – are you prepared to deal with unlikely circumstances and consequences to your practice, your patients and your career? without liability insurance?
As much as we would like to, we cannot control the actions of others. Hiring someone means that you are responsible for their actions. This intersection works best when you, your practice, and your massage therapist are covered by liability insurance.
Risk is inherent – coverage is necessary
Every job comes with inherent, built-in risk. Whether one walks into a hair salon or an auto shop, danger occurs the moment a patient or customer enters the equation. This is especially true when it comes to hands-on work like massage therapy and chiropractic adjustments.
Coverage for these types of jobs is necessary for many reasons, such as:
- Accidents happen
- Allegations are always possible
- Practical treatment requires a higher degree of legal protection by nature
- Every action is unpredictable, no matter how professional or skilled an employee may be
The list could go on and on, but the bottom line here is that massage therapist coverage is necessary because the risk will always be there.
Cohesive liability coverage empowers employees
But massage therapy liability insurance coverage is not everything specifically for the benefit of you, your practice and your patients. It’s also an essential piece of the puzzle for employees, like a massage therapist working for you. Massage therapists can (and likely should) invest in their own professional liability insurance, but that doesn’t mean you can’t offer them coverage under your policy.
When you offer a massage therapist working in your office the peace of mind that comes with liability protection, you are offering them the opportunity to do their job better. In other words, if they’re not constantly worried about what might happen if a claim comes up (accidentally, allegedly, or somewhere in between), they’ll be much more empowered to do their jobs well.
While massage therapy liability insurance at your chiropractic office may cost more than a previous plan, it is a much more powerful investment. You are protecting the professional massage therapist and encouraging them to perform to the best of their abilities without worrying about the unlikely possibility of a claim.