Beazley launches Virtual Care insurance in Canada
Specialist insurer Beazley has launched Virtual Care, which provides comprehensive insurance protection against risks associated with technology-enabled healthcare and lifestyle management services, in Canada.
How Canadians access care and monitor their health is evolving. According to the Canadian Medical Association, seven in 10 Canadians would take a virtual appointment if available, and 71% of Canadians would like to be able to book appointments online.
The COVID-19 pandemic has sharply increased demand for telemedicine, and many providers are expanding or adding these services to meet demand and to protect patients as well as those providing healthcare.
Advancements in healthcare and lifestyle management technology offer Canadians, as well as those who treat and support them, the ability to monitor health data and deliver care in non-traditional ways.
To respond to the risks associated with providing digital healthcare and ensure clients are not left with unexpected gaps in coverage, Beazley Virtual Care offers four pillars that work together to provide seamless cover. These include:
- medical malpractice and professional indemnity
- tech and media liability
- public and products liability
- cyber coverage and services through Beazley Breach Response Services.
Optional extensions include:
- mitigation costs, abuse and harassment liability, medical regulatory costs
- claims due to loss of documents or reputational damage costs; environmental liability costs.
Virtual Care caters to a wide range of small to large organizations. This includes telehealth, which enables remote diagnosis and monitoring by professionals, and m-health, which permits self-monitoring of chronic conditions via apps and wearables. The policy also caters to a range of lifestyle and wellness technologies that support healthy lifestyle choices. All these modes of care are supported by a range of IT tools, analytics, software, platforms and portals.
Evan Smith, Beazley’s global head of miscellaneous medical & life sciences, said: “Advancements in technology are driving the evolution of healthcare provision as well as changing public attitudes around accessing care remotely and monitoring personal health and wellbeing. With this comes potential risks from the shortcomings of data or the health advice provided, or due to errors or malfunctions in the technologies themselves. Data privacy and security concerns are also top of mind for many providers.
“Beazley Virtual Care addresses the complexity of these risks by providing healthcare and tech specialists with seamless cover in one policy that avoids policy gaps and ensures that, should they arise, claims are efficiently managed by one dedicated team of Virtual Care claims specialists.”
Also launching in the Canadian market are BioSecure aimed at providing protection against exposures in the pharma, biotech and medical device sectors, as well as a refreshed miscellaneous medical suite, for small, mid and large-sized firms.
BioSecure offers a broad, flexible policy to meet the current and emerging needs of the life sciences sector. Coverages include product liability, professional indemnity, general liability, clinical research services, medical malpractice, and clinical trials.
Beazley’s refreshed miscellaneous medical professional liability policy offers protection against medical professional liability exposures arising out of a wide range of healthcare related businesses. Beazley’s innovative cover includes sub-limits for reimbursements for regulatory/administrative actions and disciplinary proceedings.
The launches build on Beazley’s existing miscellaneous medical and life sciences offering in Canada and deep experience as an established provider of specialist healthcare products globally.
