Recently, Medical Economics ran an informative artucle about a Columbus, Ohio practitioner who had to take a temporary leave of absence from her own practice in order to deal with 3 months' worth of chemo treatments for cancer. Disaster-proof your practice:

Even so, when disaster struck, some holes in her plan appeared. She hadn't counted on the three-month income interruption before her long-term disability policy kicked in. And, in her weakened condition, she found insurance documentation demands burdensome.

Columbus' attempt to keep the practice running by hiring locum tenens midlevel providers was a disaster. She ended up taking on a temporary physician partner who may eventually take over the practice.The solo practitioner had disability coverage to replace her income and overhead coverage to pay her 12 employees and office expenses. She had comprehensive health insurance and even a supplemental cancer policy to pay non-medical costs, such as travel expenses.

As one medical insurance expert is quoted in the article, when is the last time you asked yourself what might happen if you were hit by a truck? How would you generate income for your family and yourself? How would you pay practice bills? How will you keep the practice running?

PSP's Web site (www.plasticsurgerypractice.com) has an informative piece on the nuts and bolts of disability insurance -- Disability Insurance - What you don't know can hurt you.

In addition, I have located useful information on "personal disaster recovery" here and here. The YouTube-hosted video below is also good for providing an overview of disability coverage, without shilling for a particular insurance firm's services.