Blog

When people think about risk in healthcare, they often think about professional indemnity insurance, patient treatment, and clinical outcomes. But after helping clients lodge more than 1,000 business insurance claims (as their insurance broker) over many years, we have an important observation :

Many insurance claims don’t arise from what happens in the treatment room. They arise from what happens around it.

The reality is that healthcare businesses are complex operations. They depend on premises, technology, utilities, equipment, suppliers, staff, computers, and even the weather. When one piece of that puzzle fails, the consequences can be immediate.

Medical Practices Are Increasingly Using Technology And Equipment

One of the strongest themes in our claims data is the critical reliance on technology, and many healthcare businesses simply cannot operate without specialised equipment. We’ve seen claims involving:

1. X-ray machines
2. Ultrasound probes
3. Intraoral scanners
4. Dental chairs
5. Sterilisers
6. Compressors
7. Endoscopes
8. Servers and computer systems
9. Network infrastructure and telecommunications equipment

A modern practice might spend more on technology and equipment than on furniture and fit-out. In many cases, a single piece of equipment can become a bottleneck for the entire business. When it stops working unexpectedly, appointments may need to be rescheduled and operations can quickly become disrupted.  The lesson is simple: healthcare businesses are no longer just healthcare providers. Many are also highly specialised in their use of technology and equipment.

Water Is the Enemy Nobody Expects

One of the most striking findings from our claims history is how often water appears. Not floods. Not natural disasters. Just water. Water arrived through:

1. Burst pipes
2. Roof leaks
3. Blocked drains
4. Failed appliances
5. Neighbouring tenancies
6. Heavy rain
7. Storm damage
8. Faulty plumbing
9. Overflowing fixtures

Many owners assume the biggest threat to their practice is major equipment failure. In reality, a leaking pipe hidden in a ceiling cavity can often cause significant disruption long before anyone notices. The claims are a reminder that some of the biggest business risks are surprisingly mundane.

The Most Dangerous Object in a Practice Might Be Gravity

Many claims originated from one simple event:

1. Something fell.
2. Scanners were dropped.
3. Probes slipped from hands.
4. Cameras fell off benches.
5. Equipment was knocked from trolleys.
6. Staff accidentally damaged devices during cleaning.
7. Healthcare equipment continues to become smaller, more portable, and more sophisticated. Unfortunately, that often means it can also become more vulnerable to accidental damage.

The claims demonstrate that expensive losses do not always result from dramatic events. Sometimes they start with a momentary lapse in concentration.

Patients Create More Property Damage Than You Might Imagine

Most patient interactions occur without incident.

But some of the more memorable claims involved unexpected damage caused by patients.

Examples included:

1. Patients driving vehicles into buildings
2. Wheelchairs damaging equipment
3. Patients breaking doors and windows
4. Damage to treatment chairs
5. Property damage in waiting areas
6. Accidental impacts with specialised equipment

These claims highlight an important point. The public often views healthcare practices as controlled environments. In reality, they are busy spaces with hundreds or thousands of people moving through them every year.  That creates exposures that many business owners rarely think about until an incident occurs.

Weather Doesn’t Need to Be Extreme to Cause Problems

When people hear “storm claim”, they often picture cyclones, floods or major disasters. Many claims were far less dramatic. A brief downpour. Strong winds. A local hailstorm. A power outage. A lightning strike kilometres away. These events frequently led to:

1. Water ingress
2. Damaged ceilings
3. Electrical failures
4. Power surge damage
5. Equipment breakdowns
6. Premises damage

The data suggests that businesses should think less about catastrophic weather events and more about everyday weather resilience.

One Event Often Creates Multiple Problems

A common misconception about insurance claims is that they are simple. The reality is that many losses create a chain reaction.

For example:

1. A storm damages a roof.
2. The roof leak causes water ingress.
3. Water damages equipment.
4. Equipment failure forces appointment cancellations.
5. The business then experiences operational disruption while repairs occur.
6. Similarly, a burst pipe can damage flooring, electronics, fit-out, stock and equipment simultaneously.

The initial event is often only the beginning of the problem.

The Most Predictable Claims Are Often the Most Overlooked

Looking back at years of claims, many incidents share one characteristic.

1. They were entirely foreseeable.
2. Equipment eventually fails.
3. Roofs eventually leak.
4. Storms eventually arrive.
5. Water eventually finds a way in.
6. Computers eventually stop working.
7. That doesn’t mean they can always be prevented.

However, businesses that recognise these realities are generally better prepared when disruptions occur.

What We Take Away From More Than 1,000 Claims

The biggest insight from our claims experience is that healthcare businesses face risks from every direction. Not just from clinical activities. Not just from patients. Not just from natural disasters. But from the everyday infrastructure that keeps the practice functioning. The treatment room may be the centre of the business, but the claims tell us that risks often emerge from the ceiling above it, the equipment beside it, the server behind it, the weather outside it, or the car park in front of it. Understanding those risks is one of the first steps toward building a more resilient business. And when unexpected events occur, having experienced brokers to guide the claims process can make all the difference.