Cyber claims can follow Murphy’s Law - if anything can go wrong, it will. Unfortunately, this often includes suffering an incident or finding out about a data breach over a weekend or after business hours, this can be particularly frustrating because when your systems are down you need answers fast.
If you experience a cyberattack, it’s important to remember your insurance carriers are here to help you. Quick action and fast reporting to the appropriate parties will help your practice handle a claim, regardless of when it is reported.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind if you suffer a claim during non-business hours:
If you have a buy-up cyber policy
Since the medical sector tends to have some of the highest rates of cyberattacks out of any industry, most Medical Professional Liability carriers work with cyber liability insurance companies to provide their clients additional coverage for this threat.
While this additional policy may be purchase through your medical professional liability carrier, the coverage for any claim that arises will be through the cyber carrier through which the buy up was written. Therefore, if you experience a claim over the weekend, your first call should be to your cyber liability carrier.
Your insurance policy documents detail how to report a claim. If you know the name of your carrier but do not have your policy documents on hand, you can visit the Claims Reporting page of our website which details specific contact information for each carrier’s claims reporting department.
If you do not know your carrier’s name and cannot locate your insurance policy, please remember your insurance documents are also available through our secure online portal, CSR24. You can login to your account at any time and from any device to view your policies and get your carrier’s claims reporting information.
Once you have reported the claim to your cyber carrier, they will be able to provide immediate assistance to respond to the data breach.
While your cyber carrier should know to contact your medical professional liability carrier after a breach, you may also want to follow up with them to make them aware of the situation.
If you have a standalone cyber liability policy
Due to the spike in cyber and ransomware attacks, most practices are moving away from the cyber coverage provided through their medical professional liability carrier and are instead opting to have a standalone coverage.
If you purchased a standalone cyber policy, and experience a claim, you will contact your cyber carrier directly to report an incident. As stated above, your insurance policy documents do offer some guidance on claims reporting.
If you know the name of your carrier but cannot find or have lost access to your policy documents due to the breach, you can use our Claims Reporting page which provides the contact information for each carrier’s claims reporting department.
If you cannot access your policy documents and do not know the name of your insurance carrier, Professional Risk has put all your policy documents in a secure online portal called, CSR24. This client portal is available 24/7 and can be accessed from any device, once you have logged into your account you will be able to easily access your cyber policy and find the name and claims reporting information there.
Just like the buy-up policy, once you have made a claim with your carrier, they will immediately help you develop a plan of action to respond to the breach and help you get your practice back on track.
Unlike buy-up policies, standalone cyber policies will not require you to notify your other insurance carriers.
Please feel free to contact your Professional Risk agent today if you have any additional questions about cyber coverage or would like a free review of your cyber policy.