Independent pharmacies and vet practices move for good reasons. The riskiest part is often the inventory, especially controlled drugs. Here is the insurance checklist to work through before moving day.
Independent pharmacies and veterinary practices move for good reasons. A bigger space, a building the owner finally bought, a better location with more visibility or parking. I work with practice owners on both sides of that decision all the time, and the move itself is usually well-planned on the operational side. What gets overlooked more often than anything else is the insurance picture, and specifically what happens to the inventory during the transition.
Controlled drugs and prescription inventory represent real money and real regulatory exposure. A gap in coverage during a move is not a theoretical risk. Here is the checklist I walk through with every practice owner who is relocating.
Update Your DEA Registration Before You Move
A DEA registration is tied to a specific address. If you are a pharmacy or a veterinary practice that dispenses or administers controlled substances, you cannot simply move your inventory to a new address and keep operating under the old registration. Federal regulations require a written request to change your registration's address before you begin dispensing at the new location.
Start this process early. DEA modifications take time, and you do not want to be in a position where your new location is ready but your registration has not been updated. Your state board will also have its own requirements for address changes, which may run on a different timeline than the federal process. Confirm the specific steps with the DEA, your state board, and your attorney before you schedule the move.
Inventory in Transit
The moment your inventory leaves the old address and before it arrives at the new one, it is in a coverage gray area that most practice owners have never thought about. Your property policy covers your inventory at your insured location. Whether it covers inventory while it is being transported is a separate question, and the answer depends on your specific policy language.
Before moving day, call your agent and ask three questions. First, does your property policy cover inventory and equipment while it is being moved? Second, if the inventory is lost or stolen during transport, who is responsible: you or the moving company? Third, if you have temperature-sensitive medications, are they covered if refrigeration fails during the move? I wrote about refrigerated medication spoilage in the context of power outages, and the same coverage questions apply during a move. A refrigerated truck that breaks down on the highway is not a hypothetical.
If your policy does not cover inventory in transit, your agent can help you find a solution before the move, not after a loss.
The Empty New Building
Before a single box arrives at the new address, that address needs to be on your insurance. Property coverage, general liability, and crime or theft coverage all need to reflect the new location. Do not wait until after the move to update your policies. If something happens at the new address before it is listed on your coverage, you may not have a claim.
Beyond the paperwork, the physical security of the new space matters before the controlled drugs arrive. Locks, alarms, and secure storage should be in place and tested before moving day. If the new location requires a safe or a locked cabinet for controlled substances, that equipment should be installed and operational before the inventory is transported. Arriving at a new space with controlled drugs and discovering the safe has not been delivered yet is a situation worth avoiding.
If Your Own LLC Owns the New Building
Some practice owners buy the building their practice occupies and hold it in a separate real estate LLC. That structure has real advantages, but it creates a coverage split that needs to be handled correctly.
The real estate LLC insures the building itself and its liability as a landlord. The practice insures its inventory, equipment, and professional liability. These are two separate entities with two separate insurance programs, and the policies need to reflect that. If other tenants share the building, the building's liability coverage needs to account for them as well. I covered how to insure the building LLC and the practice separately in the context of dental practices, and the same framework applies to pharmacies and veterinary practices. The principle is the same regardless of specialty: the entity that owns the building insures the building, and the entity that operates the practice insures the practice.
If you are moving into a building you own through an LLC, make sure both entities have the right coverage in place before the move, not just the practice side.
The Days You Are Closed
Most practice moves involve at least a few days when the doors are closed and no revenue is coming in. For a pharmacy, that means no prescriptions filled. For a veterinary practice, that means no appointments, no procedures, no revenue. Business income coverage is designed to replace that lost revenue when a covered event forces you to close. A planned move is not typically a covered event on its own, but the days surrounding a move often involve real risks: a delayed certificate of occupancy, a contractor who does not finish on time, a utility connection that takes longer than expected.
Extra expense coverage is the companion to business income coverage. It pays for the additional costs you incur to keep operating or to reopen faster, such as renting temporary space or expediting a repair. If your move involves any period where you might need to operate from a temporary location, it is worth reviewing both coverages with your agent before you commit to a timeline.
Before You Sign the Lease or Close on the Building
The best time to work through this checklist is before you commit to a move date, not after. Once the lease is signed or the closing is scheduled, you are working against a deadline. Before that point, you have time to update your DEA registration, confirm your property coverage for transit, get the new address on your policies, and make sure the building LLC is properly insured if that structure applies to you.
For a more detailed look at the full coverage picture across the timeline of a move, the full insurance timeline for a move covers the build-out and leasing side in depth. If you are a veterinary practice owner, the veterinary practice insurance guide is a useful starting point for understanding your full coverage picture before a move changes it.
If you are planning a move and want to walk through the coverage checklist before moving day, I am happy to help. You can reach me at jeremyajones.com/contact.
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