• Take in client social security numbers;
• Accept insurance;
• Take Medicare/Medicaid;
• Have a website or use an email;
• Use third party vendors;
• Process credit cards;
• Utilize bank account information;
• Store healthcare records and other non-public information.

A physician’s office may have firewalls, virus protection, anti-spam systems, and procedures to protect passwords and prevent employees from downloading dangerous material. But these measures are not foolproof. Failure to comply with the HIPAA/HITECH law could result in a fine of up to $1,500,000! In addition, the out- of-pocket costs without proper insurance coverage are staggering:

• Credit monitoring costs (estimated at $20 to $30 per record)
• Notification costs (estimated at over $200 per record)
• Significant attorney costs

The law requires that, among others, the following assurances be in place to safeguard personal health information:

• Business Associate Agreements requirements;
• Requirements to provide patients with electronic copies of their records;
• Mandates requiring businesses to have in place the following to protect personal health information;
• Confidentiality procedures
• Data encryption for electronic health record systems
• Incident response plans in the event of a data breach
• Staff training to promote compliance

A cyber liability insurance policy assists insureds in meeting the terms of these new strict regulations, enforced by the Office of Civil Rights. If you have a data breach, you can literally make one phone call to the “Breach Response Service” and they will take over.

The following coverages are provided under a cyber liability policy:

• Information Security and Privacy Liability Insurance—coverage for third party claims alleging a financial loss as a result of a breach;
• Regulatory Defense and Penalties Insurance– Coverage for forensic expenses (to determine the extent of the breach) as well as defense costs and fines/penalties for violations of privacy regulations;
• Website Media Content Liability Insurance– Coverage for online and offline media. Includes coverage for claims alleging copyright/trademark infringement, libel/slander, false advertising, plagarism, and personal injury;
• Privacy Breach Response Services Insurance- Includes all reasonable legal, public relations, advertising, IT forensic, credit monitoring and postage expenses incurred by the insured for notifying a third party of a pricacy breach;
• Data Recovery Costs Insurance – Includes all reasonable and necessary sums required to recover and/or replace data that is compromised, damaged, lost, erased or corrupted;
• Cyber Extortion Insurance – Coverage for extortion expenses and extortion monies as a direct result of a credible cyber extortion threat.

In addition, policyholders have access to tools to create policies and procedures in their practices as well as monthly newsletters to keep them abreast of the changing law. Online templates are available to create privacy notices, sample policies and procedures manuals, training courses for employees and security officers, phone and email support. You will also have online access to consultants and attorneys on data security issues.

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What has caused this change of heart and this rush by doctors to purchase cyber liability insurance? Mainly the hack of health insurer Anthem, Inc.’s computer system, a breach disclosed in early February 2015 and affecting up to 80 million customers. In this attack, Social Security numbers and other vital health information were stolen. According to the reports, because cyber liability insurance was in place, the financial blow to the company was minimized.
According to insurance analysts, spending on cyber liability insurance nearly doubled in 2014 from 2013, to about $2 billion.

Cyber liability insurance policies for physicians and surgeons and dentists cover a wide range of losses, including fixing computer networks, tracking down the hackers, notifying affected customers and defending against litigation, as well as public relations campaigns to restore the reputation of a medical or dental practice. In addition, most policies have a risk management component, to help prevent a cyber attack in the first place.

The cost of cyber liability insurance varies according to the size of the practice, the extent of the coverage, the value of the data at risk, loss history, and the strength of internal defenses. Gracey-Backer, Inc. offers a cyber liability insurance policy for only $463 per doctor. We also offer more comprehensive and complex policies for larger medical and dental practices. Our cyber liability insurance specialists can guide a physician, surgeon, oral surgeon or dentist toward a tailor made program.

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Watch this video by USA Today!

Do you need it?

• Hackers sell each patient file for $20 each
• Hackers sell credit card numbers for $1-2 each
• Medical & Dental providers are a high value target
• Products available for only $400/doctor per year

Call us to learn more

1 (800) 272-6055

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A Florida Cyber Liability Insurance Policy provides defense protection and will indemnify the insured if he is sued by a third party who has suffered damages caused by any of the above situations.

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In Florida, a cyber liability policy is meant to fill in the gaps created by these exclusions. Coverage on a Florida cyber liability policy is provided for “libel, slander, infringement of copyright, domain name, trademark, trade name, trade dress, logo, title, metatag, slogan, service mark or service name when arising from Web site activity, including social networking and blogging.”

So, a doctor cannot rely on the personal and advertising injury coverage section of this general liability policy to protect him from data breaches. He needs to purchase a cyber liability policy.

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Cyber liability breaches in Florida occur in many ways: Lost or stolen files, hacking attacks, improper disclosure of sensitive information, and lack of proper disposal of sensitive documents.

In Florida, cyber liability insurance accomplishes three things:

• Cyber liability risk management to help the Florida doctor become legally compliant and strengthen their privacy and security programs.
• Cyber breach response services: If a Florida doctor has a cyber liability breach, he can pick up the phone and call the company for help. The rest is handled by the company.
• Insures against cyber liability breach costs, which can run into the millions of dollars. Included in cyber liability insurance in Florida are defense costs, coverage for regulatory fines and penalties, notification costs, credit monitoring costs, and public relations for damaged reputations.

Remember that cyber liability coverage is excluded by Florida property and malpractice insurance policies.

The universe of potential cyber liability plaintiffs is overwhelming to the Florida practitioner, when one considers the number of people and organizations on the internet.

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Cyber liability insurance protects the Florida healthcare provider by covering:

• Expenses related to notifying patients following a data breach;
• Lawsuits stemming from a data breach; and
• Breaches of employee data and paper files.

So all Florida businesses that deal with any type of personal data, or has a presence on the internet or social media, need to seriously consider purchasing cyber liability insurance.

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Threats from data breaches come from unexpected places, and are all-encompassing

• Threats from outside the office-Including hacks from criminals and former employees with access to company information.
• Threats from inside the office-Including employees, management, independent contractors, and interns who have access to sensitive patient data.
• Third Party-Including suppliers, vendors, host providers, and outsourced IT organizations or persons.

Each of these threats can lead to claims for breach of privacy, identity theft, infringement of intellectual property rights and inappropriate billing, among others.

To protect against cyber liability threats, healthcare professionals are investing in Cyber Liability Insurance. This policy combines third party (cyber liability) and first party (cyber crime expense) coverages into one policy, and provides risk management support to reduce the risk or cyber claims.

For more information, contact Gracey-Backer, Inc.

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