PROFESSIONAL-LIABILITY MALPRACTICE CLAIM AGAINST a dental hygienist who is not adequately insured can be a financially devastating experience. Even a frivolous allegation can result in crippling defense costs that no individual should have to bear. The sponsored insurance program of the Canadian

The comprehensive group-insurance program is a membership benefit designed to meet the needs of any dental hygienist, while providing innovative and flexible enhancements to protect individual day-to-day risk exposures. The program also provides value-added coverage options, such as clinical errors and omissions coverage, and an office-package policy for those CDHA members who operate an independent practice.

The two preceding articles in this four-part series on professional liability and insurance for dental hygienists discussed specific situations in which professional-liability coverage may or may not apply. This article focuses on the initial steps to build an effective risk-management process. Any dental hygienist can follow these steps to ensure they understand and strategically assess risk exposures in their daily practice.

In addition to traditional transferable risks, such as those covered by professional-liability insurance, it is important for a dental hygienist also to explore any methods that minimize other risk exposures. This is applicable to a dental hygienist who operates an independent practice or who works in a traditional dental office.

To start the risk-management process, you need to view your practice from an overall perspective, including future goals, and outline any potential day-to-day operational risks by asking and answering questions such as the following:

* What potential scenarios could have a negative impact on my reputation as a dental hygienist?

* What can I do to minimize or control these risks?

* What potential scenarios could have a negative impact to the brand or operation of my independent practice? What steps can I take to minimize or control these?

* Is all my work conducted within my regulatory guidelines and scope of practice?

* Am I following the best possible documentation standards, such as protecting client or proprietary information, and separating and duplicating valuable records?

These types of questions are not limited and should address any scenario a dental hygienist may face in their daily professional capacity. The idea is that by asking these types of questions, you will effectively identify day-to-day loss exposures, analyze them and apply a suitable risk-management technique.

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A representative at Aon Reed Stenhouse Inc. is available at 1-800-267-9364 to answer any questions you may have about coverage extensions through CDHA's group-insurance program for members. This article is written for informational purposes only. Please reference your policy for coverage information or contact Aon Reed Stenhouse Inc.

Brian Gomes is an account executive at Aon Reed Stenhouse Inc.