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Professional Liability Insurance for Pharmacy Professionals
What is Professional Liability Insurance?
Professional Liability Insurance provides coverage that protects licensees against claims arising from errors, omissions or negligence in the provision of professional pharmacy services that result in undue harm to a patient. Professional Liability Insurance is vital and necessary for practicing pharmacy professionals.
"Full Pharmacists” and “Pharmacy Technicians” must obtain and maintain at all times while licensed, professional liability insurance coverage that meets the following 3 criteria, as per HPOA Bylaws:
- Provides a minimum of $2 million coverage per claim or occurrence*
- Provides occurrence-based coverage or claims made coverage with extended reporting period of at least 3 years; and
- If the liability coverage is not in the licensee’s name, the group policy must indicate coverage of the licensee as an individual
*A licensee who ceases to have professional liability insurance coverage must immediately cease practising the profession of pharmacy and notify the Registrar in writing not more than 7 days after coverage ceases and consent for the immediate revocation of their licence or provide proof of professional liability insurance as required.
Professional liability insurance must cover all activities within your scope of practice, as a pharmacy professional in British Columbia. Professional liability insurance is not provided by CPBC. Licensees are responsible for managing the expiry and renewal of their insurance.
Professional Liability Insurance is a Function of the Licence Class
Whether or not you are required to obtain professional liability insurance, is determined by your registration class.
Pharmacists
| Registration Class | Professional liability insurance required? |
|---|---|
| Full Pharmacist | Yes |
| Student Pharmacist | No |
| Provisional Pharmacists | Yes |
Pharmacy Technicians
|
Registration Class |
Professional liability insurance required? |
|---|---|
|
Pharmacy Technician |
Yes |
| Provisional Pharmacy Technician | Yes |
Licensees must understand that if they are licensed in any class other than “Student Pharmacist”, they are required to obtain and/or maintain professional liability insurance at all times, regardless of whether you are actively practicing or providing pharmacy services to patients in BC.
Changes to Professional Liability Insurance
Any changes to your licence class and/or professional liability insurance coverage must be handled appropriately to ensure compliance with HPOA.
Examples of licensees in contravention of the HPOA’s Liability Insurance Requirements:
- A licensee renewed their Full Pharmacist licence before temporarily moving abroad. During their absence, their professional liability insurance coverage expired. They chose not to renew their coverage because they were not actively practicing in BC at the time.
Upon their return and resuming their practice in BC, the licensee was unaware that they had been working without professional liability insurance coverage until it was identified by their employer.
As outlined above, professional liability insurance is a function of the licence class and must be maintained at all times, regardless of whether a licensee is actively practicing in BC.
- A licensed Full Pharmacist had been practicing as a pharmacy manager before going on maternity leave. While on leave, her employer removed her professional liability insurance coverage, even though she remained employed and continued to be licensed as a Full Pharmacist.
Maternity leave and other forms of paid or unpaid leave are administered by the employer and do not affect your licence status.
As such, while this licensee was not actively practicing during her leave, she was still licensed as a Full Pharmacist and was therefore required to maintain professional liability insurance coverage.
Licensed pharmacy professionals are often provided with professional liability insurance through their employers. In such cases, it is essential that any changes made by an employer are clearly communicated to the licensee, so that appropriate steps can be taken to maintain insurance coverage.
Please refer to the Licence Renewal page for details on all renewal requirements.