Dr. Smith added new equipment and décor to her growing chiropractic practice. When a fire caused significant damage, a simple oversight left her in the lurch.
Posted in Business Insurance on Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Dr. Laura Smith’s chiropractic practice was growing. To build on this success, she decided to add new equipment and update her waiting area.
She bought a new high low automatic flexion table for $10,000, a new spinal decompression table for $20,000 and a new shockwave device for $8,000. She also purchased new furniture and décor for the waiting area, at a cost of approximately $2,000.
Her $40,000 investment was paying off, allowing her to provide additional services, retain current patients, and attract new ones.
Disaster Strikes
Sadly, just as the improvements were making a positive impact on the day-to-day practice operations, a fire broke out in an adjoining business due to an electrical short. It quickly spread to Dr. Smith’s practice, damaging her treatment rooms and rendering the new equipment unusable.
Insurance Proceeds Fall Short
Dr. Smith contacted her insurance company and was relieved to find out that her business owner’s policy (BOP) provided coverage for her business personal property.
Unfortunately, she’d overlooked contacting the insurance company to increase the business personal property limit of liability after her new equipment purchases. She was devastated to learn that she had only $10,000 in business personal property coverage.
Although her policy paid that $10,000, as well as coverage for loss of earnings while she was unable to treat patients during restoration of her treatment rooms, it wasn’t nearly enough to cover the cost of the damaged equipment. This left Dr. Smith with considerable debt at the worst possible time.
What Can We Learn?
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In addition to general liability insurance, a business owner’s policy (BOP) can provide important coverage for your business personal property, as well as coverage for loss of income due to a covered loss.
- Review your commercial insurance coverage with your agent periodically, even if you haven’t made obvious practice changes. He or she can help you identify potential gaps in coverage or inadequate limits of liability.
- If you purchase new or used equipment for your practice, contact your insurance agent or company immediately. They can help ensure your business personal property insurance limit of liability is increased to cover replacement costs if the equipment is damaged or destroyed by a covered loss.
- If you are thinking about buying new equipment for your practice, consider a NCMIC equipment loan. We offer fast approvals and funding, no prepayment penalties, and more.
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The above scenario is not based on a single case. Instead, it’s an example of what can easily happen without adequate insurance coverage, based on claims we’ve encountered.