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Pharmacy liability and indemnity insurance solutions

Marsh offers AHPRA compliant pharmacy insurance to protect your business. Get tailored for your business indemnity, liability and malpractice coverage arranged by our dedicated pharmacy brokers.

Tailored insurance coverage for pharmacies

Marsh has a dedicated pharmacy practice consisting of experts who understand the industry’s unique risks and needs.

Key benefits to our clients:

  1. Dedicated support: You will have a dedicated client manager who advocates for your business at every step.
  2. Market insights: Our extensive network of brokers provides you with the latest local and global market insights, simplifying complex information.
  3. Risk analysis and negotiation: We analyse uninsured risks and the effectiveness of your current insurance solutions, while managing key negotiations with insurers during implementation and renewal.

What can Marsh’ pharmacy insurance solutions cover?

Commercial property insurance

Physical store environments are exposed to unexpected events, such as fire, theft, or natural disasters. Property insurance typically includes buildings, contents and stock.

Business interruption insurance

A storm, cyber attack or machinery breakdown can cause your fridge stock to spoil and grind your business to a halt. Arrange business interruption cover to keep things moving.

Public and product liability insurance

Pharmacies are exposed to a range of potential liabilities associated with their business activities including claims for bodily injury or property damage resulting from a pharmacy’s products or services (such as a slip and fall in-store).

Professional indemnity insurance

Malpractice coverage for errors and omissions in health-related advice and medication dispensing poses significant risks for pharmacists and pharmacies. Protect your business against claims and negligence with professional indemnity cover.

Cyber insurance

As the use of prescriptions and MyHealth records increases, ensuring data protection and self-reporting becomes crucial for pharmacies. In the event of a cyber incident, having cyber insurance will provide support and assistance.

Management liability

Pharmacists often manage multiple stores and may have junior partners. By making well-informed choices, minimise the risk of adverse consequences and protect from potential liability claims.

Why use a broker?

Choosing pharmacy business insurance means navigating through products, coverages and policy terminology – with a sales pitch as your only guide. An experienced broker will spot your unique set of risks, match you to the right choice, and advocate for you on price.

We understand how pharmacies operate – as well as the concerns and priorities of their owners. Our team can support you from insurance placement through to claims management, with the goal to free up your time and headspace so you can focus on your business.

What is pharmacy insurance and why do I need it?

Pharmacy insurance is a specialised business insurance package designed to address the key risk exposures faced by pharmacies.

One of the prominent risks for pharmacists and pharmacies is the potential for errors and omissions (malpractice) when providing health-related advice or dispensing medication. This makes professional indemnity coverage essential. However, a comprehensive pharmacy insurance policy should also encompass property insurance and business interruption insurance to protect against theft, property damage, and loss of revenue due to forced closures.

As pharmacies increasingly enhance their professional service offerings. However, expanding services may also broaden your risk profile.

For example, some states now permit pharmacies to prescribe antibiotics for uncomplicated urinary tract infections, which could heighten the risk of claims related to negligence or misdiagnosis.

Are you considering expanding your services? You don’t have to navigate your insurance needs alone. We can help arrange a pharmacy insurance policy tailored to your unique risk exposures.

Examples of expanded professional services

  • Supply prescription medicines
  • Vaccinations
  • Advice on over-the-counter (OTC) medicines
  • Advice on generic (non-name brand) medicines
  • Compound (prepare) a medicine
  • Medication management
  • Home medicines review
  • Medicine and supplies delivery
  • Medical certificates

In a changing operating landscape, pharmacy owners are proactively evolving their business models to focus on retail and non-PBS revenue streams to offset falling revenue.

Marsh pharmacy practice is a team of industry specialists dedicated to working with pharmacies to manage current challenges and prepare for emerging risks. You can find an additional material on how Marsh brokers can help risk management in pharmacy business

Why choose Marsh for pharmacy insurance?

Marsh has a dedicated pharmacy practice consisting of experts who understand the industry’s unique risks and needs. We offer tailored and proactive risk management and insurance solutions.

Tailored advice

We’ve been working with pharmacies across Australia for over 35 years. With access to industry data and insights, our experts are best placed to help you understand and assess your pharmacy’s unique risks – and find the best cover.

Flexible policy

Thinking about offering new professional services? We make it easy for pharmacies to expand their service capabilities without arranging a new policy altogether. Our flexible pharmacy insurance solutions are tailored to your individual business.

AHPRA compliant

We stay abreast of AHPRA’s registration requirements for pharmacists and pharmacy owners – ensuring our pharmacy professional indemnity solutions help you stay amply covered for claims due to medication errors, dispensing mistakes, and more.

Claims support

Handling an insurance claim can quickly become overwhelming, not least when your time is stretched to the limit keeping your business going in the backdrop. We can help take the load off and manage, negotiate and settle claims with insurers on your behalf.

We understand pharmacy claims trends

We track claims trends so that you can leverage our insight and intelligence. We analyse uninsured risk and the effectiveness of your existing insurance solutions.

Committed partners

With a dedicated client manager as your point of contact, we will advocate for your business at every step. We manage key negotiations and marketing of your program to insurers prior to implementation, and at renewal time.

Frequently asked questions

The cost of your business insurance depends on a few factors. These can include the:

  • Size of your business
  • Size of your workforce
  • Type of business activities you carry out 
  • Property you want to insure 
  • Location you operate from.

Your insurer will also consider your fire and security protections, plus any claims history if you’ve had insurance before.

You can also obtain quotes that have a higher excess amount. This can provide some premium savings.

Discuss all these factors in-depth with your Marsh advisor. 

We strongly recommend that pharmacists consider professional indemnity insurance. Why? Because one of your customers could make a claim against you if they suffer a financial loss while acting on your medical or pharmaceutical advice. This could result in costly legal fees and a demand for compensation.

By providing comprehensive financial cover, professional indemnity insurance can help keep your pharmacy afloat in the event of a claim.

In the pharmacy trade, pharmacy malpractice insurance and professional indemnity insurance refer to the same form of cover. We strongly recommend taking out a professional indemnity policy to cover claims made against you due to pharmacy malpractice – like medication errors and dispensing mistakes.

Yes we can provide a commercial fleet cover which protects any staff who drive the delivery car. 

There’s no legal requirement to have pharmacy insurance in Australia. However, pharmacists are required by AHPRA – the peak industry body for Australian health practitioners – to have pharmacist indemnity insurance with a minimum of $20 million in coverage. Our pharmacy insurance package meets AHPRA requirements. 

With their access to sensitive patient information and increasing reliance on digital technology, pharmacies are a valuable target for cybercriminals. And a report by the Australian Signals Directorate found that a cyber attack costs small businesses $46,000 on average.

Given the high stakes for your business and your customers’ privacy, we highly recommend cybersecurity insurance for pharmacy owners.

It’s wise to inform your broker of any changes to your business structure, including expanding or contracting the scope of your services and changes in business revenue. 

If we’re kept in the loop, we can check whether your policy still covers your new service offerings. We may even be able to reduce your premium if your business revenue decreases.

LCPA 25/293