Multi-State Pharmacy Group - Full Programme Review

A large pharmacy group with locations across NSW, Victoria and the ACT approached us for a second opinion on their existing insurance programme. They had an incumbent broker but wanted to understand whether their current cover and pricing was competitive and whether there were gaps they hadn't been told about.

The group needed cover across multiple lines. Medical malpractice was the core concern - pharmacists carry significant clinical exposure around dispensing errors, medication interactions, clinical services and advice. But the programme also needed to cover business packs for each physical location, public liability, and broader business exposures across the group.

With multiple locations across three states, each store had its own property and liability profile. The programme needed to work as a whole while reflecting the individual exposures at each site.

We started with a full review of their existing programme across every policy and every location. This gave us a clear picture of what was covered, where the pricing sat relative to market, and where the gaps were.

• Programme-level review: We looked at the full insurance stack - medical malpractice, business packs, liability covers and any ancillary policies - rather than quoting individual lines in isolation
• Market breadth: We went to both specialist healthcare underwriters and major market insurers to ensure the group was seeing the full range of options available
• Location-specific assessment: Business pack requirements varied by store depending on the property type, contents value, stock levels and location-specific risk factors
• Coordinated placement: We structured the placement so the medical malpractice and liability covers worked together across the group, while business packs were tailored to each location

Pharmacy insurance sits at the intersection of medical malpractice and retail business insurance. The clinical exposure - dispensing errors, drug interactions, vaccination services, dose administration aids, compounding and S8 medication handling - requires underwriters with genuine healthcare appetite. But each physical location also needs a business pack covering property, contents, stock, business interruption and public liability.

For a multi-state group, this means coordinating across different property risk profiles while maintaining consistent clinical cover across the whole operation. Not every insurer has appetite for both sides of the equation, and those that do may not be competitive across both.

The second-opinion brief also meant we needed to demonstrate genuine value over the incumbent arrangement. This wasn't about changing broker for the sake of it - it was about proving the programme could be improved in terms of cover, pricing, or both.

The medical malpractice component was placed through specialist underwriters with genuine pharmacy sector expertise. Business packs were tailored to each location's specific requirements, with the placement split across specialist and major market insurers depending on which market delivered the best terms for each site.

The group now has a consolidated programme managed by a single broker, with consistent medical malpractice cover across all locations and business packs that reflect each store's individual risk profile.