Here’s another question: Do I choose my liability insurance provider based on convenience or service?
A few years ago, the Alberta Government recognized that regulatory colleges and associations need to be separated into two distinct entities as the two roles are different as identified in Part 1 of this posting. Protecting the interests of the public and advocating for the interests of the paramedics cannot be done at the same time. Especially when one of those entities (the College) is enabled through legislation and the other one (Association) is not. Legislation always wins and therefore a conflict of interest exists. You know this as you have no choice when you pay your yearly regulation fees to the College because it’s legislated. But you do have other choices.
Our government put into law that colleges and associations had to be separated which meant the removal of all association activities from the colleges. Our college often compares our profession to the nursing profession. You may not know this, but the Registered Nurses regulatory body and the association were together once (CARNA). Today they are now separated (CRNA) as they follow the law and their association holds the responsibility of providing the liability insurance provider. This is common across all colleges that we know of because of the perceived conflict. Except for Paramedics.
The College will say that they don’t benefit in a monitory way from the insurance provider they have promoted which in fact they spent regulatory time, money and man power in negotiating with insurance providers in order to bring it to you. And maybe there is no monitory benefit. But it’s bigger than that. What the Association can tell you is that the liability insurance, through our provider Prolink, is the best high-quality insurance that is totally separate from the College to bring you the best legal representation possible in the event of an allegation of unprofessional conduct. We can also tell you that Prolink is totally in your corner if a complaint is ever filed against you. And in case you wanted to know, we don’t receive any monitory benefit in any way from Prolink because our focus is on you the practitioner.
You may also be interested to know that a professional conduct hearing can cost anywhere from five thousand to fifty thousand dollars. Sometimes more. Typically, a legal counsel may charge anywhere from $300 to $800 per hour. These are costs that the average practitioners can’t afford, but you deserve the best.
The good news is that you the practitioner have the choice. The Association volunteers have worked hard to provide you high quality liability insurance. We also know that our product provides the best benefits in comparison with you in mind. You have the choice. Check it out at https://prolink.insure/associations/apa/