Coverage Enhancements

Enhanced protection and higher coverage limits:

• Expanded Licensing Board Defense Reimbursement Limits: You can now enhance your basic Licensing Board Defense protection to $25,000, $50,000, $75,000 or $100,000 for a small additional premium. Other Governmental Regulatory Body Defense Reimbursement limits also expand respectively to $7,500, $10,000 $12,500, or $15,000 when you purchase enhanced Licensing Board Defense protection.
• Licensing Board Defense Reimbursement Coverage in Retirement: Many psychologists maintain their license long after they retire, leaving them subject to possible licensing board investigations. Your policy will reimburse you for defense expenses if a licensing board investigates an event that occurred during your policy period. If you have an occurrence policy or a claims-made policy and obtain the extended reporting period (i.e., a "tail"), you will continue to have this coverage even after you retire.
• Record Retention: In many jurisdictions psychologists are required to maintain patient records many years after retirement. The Trust policy includes coverage for the retention, destruction, or release of records created while you were insured. If you have an occurrence policy or a claims-made policy and obtain the extended reporting period (i.e., a "tail"), you will continue to have this coverage even after you retire.

More expanded coverage:

• Other Governmental Regulatory Body Defense Reimbursement: "Other Governmental Regulatory Body Defense Reimbursement" coverage reimburses up to $5,000 for the costs of defending an investigation for alleged violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule as well as Medicare or Medicaid payment investigations. Higher reimbursement limits are available under this coverage when you purchase higher reimbursement limits for the Licensing Board Defense protection. Other Governmental Regulatory Body Defense Reimbursement limits are $7,500, $10,000, $12,500 or $15,000 respectively when you increase your Licensing Board Defense protection to $25,000, $50,000, $75,000 or $100,000.
• Deposition Expense Reimbursement: "Deposition Expense Reimbursement" coverage will reimburse up to $5,000 for fees charged by the attorney you retain to represent you when you are subpoenaed to testify in a deposition. We recognize the potential risks psychologists face when required to give depositions. These risks can be mitigated through legal representation. This reimbursement will not apply if you are retained to provide testimony or you are a defendant in the legal proceeding. In cases where you are listed as a defendant in a legal proceeding, the Defense and Settlement section of the policy would apply.

The Trust policy includes several supplemental reimbursement limits including "Loss of Earnings" limit (that compensates you for your cooperation in defending a claim) $500 a day/$15,000 per claim. The "Premises Medical Payments" limit (i.e., a goodwill payment made to a person injured on your premises) is $2,500 per person.

No. In fact, due primarily to The Trust's outstanding management of this program, the premium rates have decreased by 25% over the past 16 years (during this same period of time the Consumer Price Index increased by 57%). The policy offers broad coverage at lower rates than those in effect in 1992. Remember that you can reduce your premium even further by having completed any of the following continuing education activities in the last 15 months:

• Take 5% off for completing any 4 hours of continuing education from an organization approved by APA to offer CE credit; or
• Take 10% off for completing a combination of at least 6 CE hours of on-demand webinars and independent study products; or
• Take 15% off for two consecutive renewal periods by attending one of the live 6 hour Trust Ethics and Risk Management Workshops or on-demand webinar sequence.

The enhanced policy is easier to administer for the group. It allows a group to designate a Primary Named Insured. This will permit the designated individual to make administrative changes to the policy. Groups will no longer be required to collect signatures from all owners and partners when changes are needed. The owner or partner who signs your next renewal will automatically become the Primary Named Insured.

As always, the timeliness for reporting a claim is crucial. If you fail to report a claim, it may jeopardize your coverage for that event. Early reporting provides the carrier maximum time to retain legal counsel to represent your interests in a claim. Most claims require an immediate response. This holds true for all reimbursement coverages, including Licensing Board Defense and Other Governmental Regulatory Body Defense Reimbursement, Premises Medical Payments, Assault and/or Battery coverage, and Deposition Expense coverage. 

When in doubt regarding a potential claim, call TRMS at (877) 637-9700. A Customer Service Representative will help you determine the best course of action. Remember, our job is to protect you and your livelihood. A delay in reporting could result in complications with the claims process or compromised coverage.

Insureds have access to great ancillary benefits only provided by The Trust such as the Advocate 800 Program that provides unlimited free risk management consultations, the acclaimed Trust risk management workshops and on-demand webinars, and other independent study continuing education programs.

Yes. The Trust continues to provide a free unlimited extended reporting period (also known as an ERP or a "tail") if you retire, die or become disabled. Be sure to inform TRMS of your retirement in writing within 60 days of your policy expiration date and you will receive the free tail. You should also make arrangements to have someone inform TRMS in case of your death or disability.

Yes. A free confidential appointment can be arranged whenever you have a practice-related question. Call The Trust toll-free at (800) 477-1200. You can also ask about our comprehensive risk management programs and continuing education events, or view the schedule of programs online at https://parma.trustinsurance.com/Workshops-Webinars.

Yes. The Trust continues to recognize that practice requirements are different from one state to the next, and we offer coverage accordingly. For instance, we provide specific coverage such as participation in the Patient Compensation Fund in Indiana and Louisiana and we are the only psychologist program that covers prescribing psychologists in Louisiana and New Mexico.

Yes. The Trust applies many of the enhancements in the Professional Liability policy to the Researcher and Academician Liability policy. This includes defense reimbursement for HIPAA Privacy Rule Investigations and Licensing Board Defense reimbursement. The Researcher and Academician Liability policy also includes a $5,000 reimbursement limit for each of the above coverages.

Yes. The Trust strengthened the Insuring Agreement and Definitions of this policy to give clear coverage for liability a psychology student may face during his or her academic career. The Trust also includes supplemental coverages from the Professional Liability policy and all limits are now listed on the Declarations Page.

As noted above, the policy includes several new expanded areas of coverage, each with a new set of limits or options to increase the limits. All of the limits are listed on the policy Declarations Page.