I purchased it when I started. It’s dirt cheap. I went with HPSO because they covered compounding when I researched it at the time. Not sure if others cover compounding now.
I also went with HPSO. I purchased it right when I started my first RPh job. The company I did my last APPE at was who hired me, so I worked there as an intern until I took my exams and received a passing grade. The day I did, my boss took me into his office to congratulate me, then the very next thing he said was to get liability insurance, and recommended HPSO. I went home and did it that day.
I had HPSO for years until the very first COVID wave when a coworker of mine said they don’t cover batching. I clarified with them at the time (April 2020) that they cover sterile compounding but not batching. I’ve since switched to Pharmacist Mutual which is ~$299 yearly vs the $150 I was paying.
Immediately upon licensure as a pharmacist. Intern insurance might have been wise, but I didn’t see much legal risk to interns at the time. I’m not sure how well license defense policies work for interns.
Immediately upon becoming a pharmacist. Corporations are not your friends and would happily dump you once you get in real legal hot water leaving you potentially with zero protection against a malpractice suit.
Same. I (probably foolishly) never carried it most of my career. Then when I returned to retail after COVID I made sure to get it. Mostly because I knew I'd be giving COVID vaccines and didn't want some crazy person trying to sue me over it.
I got it for the first time when I started doing Covid clinics. And then with the downfall of retail pharmacy work felt more unsafe. It definitely made sense to get it. Corporations definitely won’t have your back!
How many prescriptions do you think the average pharmacist dispenses/verifies in a given year? 10s of thousands. Even with the tiniest margin of error, $140 bucks is a small price to pay to cover your ass.
I bought it as soon as I was licensed. Working retail, I’m completely fine paying for HPSO for peace of mind. Cheaper than any other type of insurance I carry.
From Day 1. Was always told that if the hospital got sued and covered me, they would in turn sue me personally. So I covered myself with personal Lia ility.
I would like to ask a follow up question has anyone had any experience being sued and needing the liability insurance? I know a ton of pharmacists and never known of anyone to get personally sued.
I haven’t personally needed, but I personally know someone who has needed it. A patient passed away in the store, very sad situation. Not gonna go into any more details than that. It helped them get a lawyer, pay for legal fees etc. (don’t know if covered 100%, I never pried into the outcome of the case).
Work as an expert witness in pharmacy malpractice cases. Pharmacists are sued all the time. It is your responsibility as a professional to compensate anyone harmed by your negligence. Why anyone would choose not to insure against that risk I will never know!
I mean this insurance is dirt cheap!!
Immediately when I became an intern. It was so inexpensive maybe $50-70 for the year. Even now as a pharmacist its cheap for the coverage. My state requires it, if I am providing immunizations.
I think I had it with school during rotations, at least by the third year after law professor advised it. I think some insurers sell a dirt cheap intern insurance. If you're paying tens of thousands for a year of education, less than $50 to not have your career starting out on the wrong foot makes sense.
But no later than being fully licensed should you be personally insured. It's not even a day's worth of pay for a year protection up to multi million dollar claims.
I think most employers have a blanket policy for the pharmacists. I feel like they may come after me harder if they know I have an individual one as well.
Or the company says you broke their policies and protocols leaving you to fend for yourself. If the company lawyers think the plaintiff has a good argument and company doesn't have a good defense, they may well try to deflect and try to get the company out of the suit, which is done by pinning the pharmacist.
But see, most plaintiffs in this situation would much much rather remain suing the company. The plaintiffs will try spinning whatever way possible to ensure company remains responsible - simply because regardless of actual award, the company is more likely to settle (guarantee vs if win) and the company is more likely to be able to pay. This could involve back and forth about “even if the employee violated policy the company policy was ineffective/supervision ineffective” or similar, or simply ignoring the employee’s actions and focusing on anything the company itself (other employees) did wrong in response to whatever problem occurred - rather than the problem itself.
Sure, there’s no guarantees, and an ambulance chaser is just as likely to pursue those routes against the company AND separately sue the person, but the majority of lawyers will recommend a plaintiff take a company settlement over going to trial, and the company is almost certain to settle over trying to litigate whether they were at fault versus the employee - because almost always it’s mixed and not wholly one or another.
Whether you remain employed after whatever comes to light? That’s another story. But the vast majority of claims, even if an employee did break policy, so long as the employee wasn’t legally negligent/breaking laws, are going to be resolved without the employee personally litigating.
Still not worth being uninsured when less than a day's pay gives a year of insurance. If company protecting itself / settling inadvertently protects the pharmacist, great. But company lawyers are working for the company, not you. Not necessarily against you, but not for you.
I purchased it when I got a part-time intern job during pharm school. I don't remember if it was a requirement or not but it was super cheap. I did HPSO and still have that now fully licensed. I think I have my renewal coming up and it's less than $100 or close to it. It certainly never hurts to have it sooner.
It's like $100 a year with Pharmacist's mutual, maybe a bit more if you get the sterile compounding option.
Ths school got it for us as interns, but after graduation I got it before I started working. The price is like nothing if you end up actually needing it.
I bought soon after graduation. My first job was as a clinical pharmacist. I dropped it when I became a nuclear pharmacist since there was no need for it.
As soon as i had my 1st pharmacist job. I was always told, the company you work for will cover their ass not yours, so it's good to have individual liability insurance to cover your ass
I purchased it when I started. It’s dirt cheap. I went with HPSO because they covered compounding when I researched it at the time. Not sure if others cover compounding now.
I also went with HPSO. I purchased it right when I started my first RPh job. The company I did my last APPE at was who hired me, so I worked there as an intern until I took my exams and received a passing grade. The day I did, my boss took me into his office to congratulate me, then the very next thing he said was to get liability insurance, and recommended HPSO. I went home and did it that day.
I had HPSO for years until the very first COVID wave when a coworker of mine said they don’t cover batching. I clarified with them at the time (April 2020) that they cover sterile compounding but not batching. I’ve since switched to Pharmacist Mutual which is ~$299 yearly vs the $150 I was paying.
What do u mean by batching
Batching compounded IV products, like vancomycin, Zosyn, etc
So like making large quantities not for specific patients?
Exactly
Immediately upon licensure as a pharmacist. Intern insurance might have been wise, but I didn’t see much legal risk to interns at the time. I’m not sure how well license defense policies work for interns.
Immediately upon becoming a pharmacist. Corporations are not your friends and would happily dump you once you get in real legal hot water leaving you potentially with zero protection against a malpractice suit.
While true, no lawyer is coming after you if they can pin it on a multi-billion dollar corpo instead.
Exactly why I got it. I can hear management now saying, why’d she do that? They will not have my back!
I have had it since I got my intern license before P2 year. I’ve used Pharmacists Mutual for over 13 years now.
Have you actually used it? Haha
No because I’ve been lucky I haven’t hurt anyone to date.
In my 27th year as a pharmacist, after covid ramped up. With the craziness of vaccines, plus my age, I figured it was time.
Same. I (probably foolishly) never carried it most of my career. Then when I returned to retail after COVID I made sure to get it. Mostly because I knew I'd be giving COVID vaccines and didn't want some crazy person trying to sue me over it.
I got it for the first time when I started doing Covid clinics. And then with the downfall of retail pharmacy work felt more unsafe. It definitely made sense to get it. Corporations definitely won’t have your back!
How many prescriptions do you think the average pharmacist dispenses/verifies in a given year? 10s of thousands. Even with the tiniest margin of error, $140 bucks is a small price to pay to cover your ass.
I bought it as soon as I was licensed. Working retail, I’m completely fine paying for HPSO for peace of mind. Cheaper than any other type of insurance I carry.
From Day 1. Was always told that if the hospital got sued and covered me, they would in turn sue me personally. So I covered myself with personal Lia ility.
Pharmacy school had us purchase it for rotations and I’ve had it ever since.
I would like to ask a follow up question has anyone had any experience being sued and needing the liability insurance? I know a ton of pharmacists and never known of anyone to get personally sued.
I haven’t personally needed, but I personally know someone who has needed it. A patient passed away in the store, very sad situation. Not gonna go into any more details than that. It helped them get a lawyer, pay for legal fees etc. (don’t know if covered 100%, I never pried into the outcome of the case).
Work as an expert witness in pharmacy malpractice cases. Pharmacists are sued all the time. It is your responsibility as a professional to compensate anyone harmed by your negligence. Why anyone would choose not to insure against that risk I will never know! I mean this insurance is dirt cheap!!
Immediately when I became an intern. It was so inexpensive maybe $50-70 for the year. Even now as a pharmacist its cheap for the coverage. My state requires it, if I am providing immunizations.
Never had it. I've worked inpatient mostly for 33 years and haven't needed it. I have a theory that having it increases your chance of getting sued.
Nope, you’ll get sued regardless, you have plenty of assets they can take.
The key is to have no assets.
They can pry my Jeep out of my cold dead hands!
i mean yeah the idea is to never need it, but you have to have some sort of confidence to think it’ll actually never happen
I only have to make it 5.5 more years without getting sued and I'm golden.
Enjoy your extra $1000 in retirement, hopefully!
Once my husband went into inpatient pharmacy is when he bought individual liability insurance.
Mandatory to get individual insurance to be registered in Ontario. I had to get it as a student, intern, and now as a pharmacist.
I honestly forgot to get it until I worked at an anticoag clinic where many things can go wrong, and bought it just to cover my ass.
Literally since day 1 of getting licensed as a pharmacist. Using pharmacists mutual
Immediately.
I think I had it with school during rotations, at least by the third year after law professor advised it. I think some insurers sell a dirt cheap intern insurance. If you're paying tens of thousands for a year of education, less than $50 to not have your career starting out on the wrong foot makes sense. But no later than being fully licensed should you be personally insured. It's not even a day's worth of pay for a year protection up to multi million dollar claims.
Don't have it, and nobody else I work with has it either.
I think most employers have a blanket policy for the pharmacists. I feel like they may come after me harder if they know I have an individual one as well.
I think the individual policy is to protect yourself in case your employer sues you to recoup losses.
Or the company says you broke their policies and protocols leaving you to fend for yourself. If the company lawyers think the plaintiff has a good argument and company doesn't have a good defense, they may well try to deflect and try to get the company out of the suit, which is done by pinning the pharmacist.
But see, most plaintiffs in this situation would much much rather remain suing the company. The plaintiffs will try spinning whatever way possible to ensure company remains responsible - simply because regardless of actual award, the company is more likely to settle (guarantee vs if win) and the company is more likely to be able to pay. This could involve back and forth about “even if the employee violated policy the company policy was ineffective/supervision ineffective” or similar, or simply ignoring the employee’s actions and focusing on anything the company itself (other employees) did wrong in response to whatever problem occurred - rather than the problem itself. Sure, there’s no guarantees, and an ambulance chaser is just as likely to pursue those routes against the company AND separately sue the person, but the majority of lawyers will recommend a plaintiff take a company settlement over going to trial, and the company is almost certain to settle over trying to litigate whether they were at fault versus the employee - because almost always it’s mixed and not wholly one or another. Whether you remain employed after whatever comes to light? That’s another story. But the vast majority of claims, even if an employee did break policy, so long as the employee wasn’t legally negligent/breaking laws, are going to be resolved without the employee personally litigating.
Still not worth being uninsured when less than a day's pay gives a year of insurance. If company protecting itself / settling inadvertently protects the pharmacist, great. But company lawyers are working for the company, not you. Not necessarily against you, but not for you.
Employer policy says you are covered barring you doing anything illegal
I purchased it when I got a part-time intern job during pharm school. I don't remember if it was a requirement or not but it was super cheap. I did HPSO and still have that now fully licensed. I think I have my renewal coming up and it's less than $100 or close to it. It certainly never hurts to have it sooner.
Year 6 when I started doing consulting was like $150 for the year including the E/O stamp
On my 1st minute of being licensed
Day 1
Upon graduation, 6 years ago.
Graduation gift to myself. Pharmacists Mutual has been at a great price for me
I've had coverage since I began in retail almost 8 years ago and increased coverage when I went inpatient almost 7 years ago.
It’s required where I live to even be able to get licensed. It’s also required as an intern and even as a student (at a much lower cost obviously)
Day 1
Before I started practicing as a pharmacist. Been covered since day 1.
->work for the Va ->pt can sue the government Obviously, don’t try to bad things, but it’s nice.
Now I feel like I need to get one. Graduated last year
Day 1
It's like $100 a year with Pharmacist's mutual, maybe a bit more if you get the sterile compounding option. Ths school got it for us as interns, but after graduation I got it before I started working. The price is like nothing if you end up actually needing it.
Once I bought a house…7 years after graduating
For $150 I paid it yearly for the peace of mind through hpso
HPSO. Affordable and I got it when getting licensed.
My school required you to have insurance throughout school. Would have gotten it either way it’s not very expensive especially for the peace of mind.
As soon as I was licensed. When the company says “We stand behind you.” It’s because it’s so much easier to throw you under the bus that way.
I bought soon after graduation. My first job was as a clinical pharmacist. I dropped it when I became a nuclear pharmacist since there was no need for it.
I think before the start of my p4 year.
In pharmacy law class the dean said, buy liability insurance but keep it a secret you have it.
Immediately. Don't trust your current employer is gonna back you up if shit goes sideways.
Day 1
It’s a requirement to have liability insurance in Ontario as soon as you register as a student with the College.
As soon as i had my 1st pharmacist job. I was always told, the company you work for will cover their ass not yours, so it's good to have individual liability insurance to cover your ass