Insurance

Departments engaged in activities involving outside parties may receive requests for the University's certificate of insurance or proof of coverage from these outside parties. The following will provide departments helpful information in managing these requests and instructions on how to request the certificate.

Assistance in acquiring proof of medical malpractice coverage for individuals employed by the University (not Medical Center) may also be requested using the same form listed below, or by sending the request received to the Office Property & Liability of Risk Management. Medical Center requests should be sent to both Piedmont Liability Trust (434-296-2100), Box 800767, 1020 Ednam Ctr., Ste 100, Charlottesville VA 22903 and Cheryl Skinner at UVa Medical Center Risk Management (434-924-5595), P.O. Box 800503 Charlottesville, VA 22908.

The University, its officers, employees and agents are provided with liability insurance protection through the Commonwealth's self-insurance program. (Insurance Coverage FIN 006) provides additional information about this and other University coverages.

As a public agency, the University is not permitted to add other entities as additional insureds to the Commonwealth's self-insurance comprehensive liability program, nor can we provide contractual liability coverage that would assume contractual indemnification or hold harmless provisions.

To request a certificate of coverage the department should complete and submit a Request for Certificate of Insurance form. Accompanying the request for a certificate of insurance should be a signed copy of any contract or agreement between the outside organization and the University of Virginia. All contracts or agreements must go through the proper University contract review process as explained in ( Policy FIN-036 University Contracts ) before submitting a request for a certificate of insurance.

If possible, the request and contract/agreement should be submitted to the Office of Property & Liability Risk Management at least one week prior to the date we are to provide the certificate.

Requests must be submitted by University employees only. In order to ensure that departments remain in control of their relationships and activities, we will refer outside parties submitting requests back to the department engaged in the activity prompting the request.

If you have any questions regarding completion of the request form, contact Miranda Bransom at (434) 924-3055 for assistance. For other assistance contact orm-frm@virginia.edu.

Aircraft Coverage

Automobile Coverage

Blanket Fidelity/Crime Bond

Campers Accidental Coverage

Comprehensive Crime Coverage

Cyber Risk

Equipment Breakdown (Boiler & Machinery)

Fine Art International Insurance

Leased Vehicle Coverage

Liability Coverage

Professional Liability Coverage

Property Coverage

Research Coverage

Restitution and Recovery from Third Parties for Departmental Damage

Workers Compensation

This is preliminary information for budgeting your allocated insurance expenses for FY '22/23. Departments that are funded as auxiliary operations will be charged insurance premiums for each of the insurance coverages indicated below. Education and General funded departments will only be charged premiums for any vehicle or medical malpractice exposures that may apply to their operations. Based on the information we have at this time, it is recommended that you budget insurance expenses as indicated below. However, please know that these are estimates based on projections at this time, and that greater than expected self-insured losses or premium increases by DRM could increase these rates.

Automobile Insurance Program

In preparing your FY'23 budget please use the auto liability rates below as they apply to each of your owned/long term leased vehicles.

Those departments allocated a portion of the Professional Liability Insurance premium should anticipate that the premium charges for FY '22/23 may increase 10% over the current fiscal year's premium charge. This estimate may be revised upwards if losses are higher than expected.

Property Insurance

Included in the Property Insurance premium is coverage for the following: buildings, contents, business interruption, equipment breakdown (boiler & machinery), crime, and employee dishonesty. Departments that are allocated a portion of the property insurance expense should determine their building and contents replacement value, and anticipate a 10% increase in values for inflation. The anticipated premium rate for FY '22/23 is estimated to be about ;$.08 per $100 of the total value for buildings and contents.

If your department requires other insurance policies tailored for a specific activity, such as watercraft, aircraft, and campers' insurance, please estimate an increase of about 10% over the current fiscal year's premium cost, unless you have been advised otherwise by Property & Liability Risk Management.

Risk Management Fee

The Property & Liability Risk Management operation is fully self-funded by charging a percentage of the insurance premiums. The anticipated Risk Management Fee, which will be loaded onto all insurance premiums, will be approximately 18.5%. Therefore, please increase your anticipated insurance premiums noted above by this percentage to determine the total cost of insurance and risk management services to your department.

If you have any questions, please contact Gretchen Kriebel at 434-924-3524 or orm-frm@virginia.edu.

Regarding Automobile Physical Damage Insurance, coverage will be provided for vehicles on the basis of Actual Cash Value (ACV-the depreciated value of the vehicle). We will provide coverage for physical damage on all vehicles that departments want insured. The cost is estimated to be $1.17 per $100 of each vehicle's ACV.

Please be sure to immediately notify Property & Liability Risk Management of any newly acquired vehicles during the year, especially vehicles valued higher than $25,000.

General Tort Liability

Please budget for this premium cost at approximately $38 per FTE for your department. (FTE count includes the full time equivalency of all full-time salaried and wage employees.) We obtain FTE counts for each area from the Human Resources Information System on a quarterly basis, and then we use the average FTE count for the previous twelve months prior to billing.

Medical Malpractice Liability

UVA Faculty and staff on University business may refer to this for information about the insurance protection that is in place for them while traveling outside of the United States.

Statement to Program Directors About Liability and Insurance Coverage:

For All Faculty and Staff:

While the section above speaks to International Program Directors specifically, the general information applies to all faculty and staff traveling overseas on University business. Additionally the following sections of Policy FIN-006, Insurance Coverage apply:

• For acts outside the scope of employment, or criminal in nature, insurance coverage and legal representation will not be available.
• Faculty members concerned about specific factual situations that they believe may create potential liability, or about which they are concerned that insurance coverage may not be provided, are encouraged to consult with the University General Counsel’s Office or the University Office of Property & Liability Risk Management.

Faculty and staff are provided the same coverage overseas that they receive while on University Grounds. All incidents of injury while in the course of employment should be reported to your supervisor immediately for proper reporting and coordination of benefits in accordance with Human Resources procedures and Medical Center procedures. It is unlikely that a foreign provider will agree to bill the Worker’s Compensation administrator or agree to treat a foreigner without payment. Academic employees should contact the Human Resources Benefits office and Medical Center employees should contact Employee Relations for further details on Worker’s Compensation coverage while overseas.

Faculty and staff who are enrolled in one of the University health plans administered by Human Resources may be covered as “out of area” through the plans, but employees need to contact their health care provider before traveling to verify this and to determine how to use their plans overseas. Likewise, students traveling to foreign countries should also make sure they have medical insurance that will respond if they need medical attention. 

When leasing vehicles in a foreign country (excluding Canada), we recommend the purchase of liability and physical damage coverage from the leasing agency. Purchasing insurance in the foreign country where the vehicle is to be used makes the handling of automobile claims much easier. (This vehicle insurance cost will be reimbursable when leasing vehicles in foreign countries.)

(Please note: It is not necessary or advisable to purchase coverage when leasing vehicles in the United States or Canada since this coverage is provided by the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Division of Risk Management and will therefore not be reimbursable.) 

University owned property: The University can provide coverage for University owned property located in most countries, subject to normal exclusions. Certain high-risk countries are excluded from coverage.  You should always contact the Office of Export Controls before sending or taking University property overseas.  To ensure that property insurance is in place on property owned by the University, you will need to send a list of the equipment, each item’s replacement value, the countries the equipment will be going to, the dates of the trip, and written approval from your dean or department head to the Office of Property & Liability Risk Management early in the planning phase of your trip. Report all loss or damage to University property as soon as possible to the Office of Property & Liability Risk Management at 434-924-3850. Additionally the following section of Policy FIN-006, Insurance Coverage applies:

PROPERTY COVERAGE

The State Division of Risk Management (DRM) has developed a Property Insurance Plan, which is comprised of self-insurance and commercial insurance. The Plan covers all State-owned buildings; contents; related contents and equipment on or off grounds; loss of business-related income; and in certain cases, extra expense incurred to expedite repairs. Since the Property Insurance Plan also includes coverage for equipment breakdown (Boiler and Machinery) losses, this represents a combined program of coverage that will reimburse State agencies for repair or replacement of lost or damaged property from the perils of fire, lightning, windstorm, theft, flooding, sudden and accidental breakdown of machinery, and other causes…..

All State-owned buildings and contents are covered for repair or replacement, but all losses are subject to a departmental $1000 deductible. The department responsible for the property incurs the deductible. When multiple departments are involved in one loss, the deductible is shared by all departments involved, and must be paid from departmental funds. State and University procurement guidelines must be followed after the department files a claim to have property repaired or replaced. When a single loss exceeds the departmental deductible of $1000, the University will pay up to the next $99,000 for that loss. If a loss exceeds $100,000, the State insurance program begins to pay for the loss above the $100,000 threshold.

Personally owned property: The University does not cover personal belongings. It is strongly recommended that you purchase homeowner’s or renter’s insurance to cover any personally owned items that you wish to have insured. Contact your insurance carrier to discuss what steps are needed to insure items of value while overseas. Additionally the following section of Policy FIN – 006 Insurance Coverage applies:

PERSONAL PROPERTY

Personal property belonging to employees or students that is located on Grounds is not covered by State or University property insurance, unless their property is damaged through some negligence on the part of the University. It is strongly recommended that individuals having personal property at the University contact an insurance agent for appropriate insurance coverage, such as homeowners or renters insurance, to protect their personal possessions.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Assistance is available through the Office of Property & Liability Risk Management for additional questions regarding the international insurance available through the University or for general risk management advise. We can be reached at 434-924-3055.