Insurance For Home Care Service

Top 3 Recommended Policies

General Liability Insurance

Property Insurance

Worker's Compensation

Why Do You Need Insurance for Home Care Service?

You may have trained your health care professionals on the team on how to treat their patients. They may be super careful about caring for their patients and may even do an excellent job of it on most days. However, one wrong move or mistake could cost you a fortune. There is no way to avoid the inevitable hence it will be unwise if you are operating a home health care business that does not have insurance coverage. 

Suppose your home health care provider is caring for an elderly patient and is assisting them during bath time but somehow steps into a puddle of water and slips. The elderly patient loses their balance, as well and falls on the wet concrete floor, and fractures their arm. What do you do then? They won't press charges or file a lawsuit against your company if they are nice enough. However, in most cases, patients can file claims for bodily injury in most cases. Such lawsuits can drain you financially, especially in the event you do not have any insurance coverage plan.

The reality is that if you do not have an insurance plan, you will be paying large sums of legal fees from your pocket arising out of a liability claim against your company. If the court orders you to pay a hefty amount in damage, you can essentially go out of business, especially if you are a small company. In such cases, you will be forced to file a bankruptcy case, close your business or take a loan from your friends or family, or draw money from savings that may further throw you in debt. 

Professional Liability Insurance 

Most businesses have professional liability insurance to protect themselves from unforeseen claims. This is also known as Errors and Omissions Insurance. The insurance is designed to protect you from financial claims against your company due to misconduct, negligence, omission, and malpractice. It is common to get sued even at the slightest mistake; no matter what type of care you are providing, you are always at risk of causing injuries or discomfort to your patient. Hence professional liability insurance is best to keep you out of harm's way.

Even the best health care providers can come across very difficult or dissatisfied patients. The Clients or companies they deal with that could also file a lawsuit claim against the business if they believe that the level of service has fallen below acceptable standards and caused some kind of harm.

The worst is that health care providers are not even at fault in most cases. However, they still need to defend themselves and prove that the case has no merit or settle either in or outside court. All this costs a substantial amount of money.

The best thing you can do with your business is only to keep a general liability in such situations. This can help you pay the legal fees or settlement fees up to the policy limits, which otherwise would eat up your assets.

An example of professional liability insurance coverage in a case:

Your home health care professional is caring for a disabled child, but they allow the child to go for a walk in the park knowing that they have a weak leg. As the child takes a stroll, he trips over and falls on the rocky ground, injuring his jaw a few minutes later. The child's parents are furious as your staff's negligence caused the child bodily injury. You can potentially face a claim, as the parents would want you to cover the medical bills since your employee knew the child has a disability, yet he sent the child for a walk unsupervised. Your professional liability insurance plan will cover your financial burden during this time.

General Liability Insurance

General liability insurance can cover a myriad of situations that are out of the control of the business. This insurance plan is also known as Commercial General Liability (CGL) or "slip and fall coverage." Even when providers are doing everything by the book, there are times when patients can become injured or suffer a severe allergic reaction. A Commercial General Liability insurance plan covers common acts that can cause a patient to fall down here. It also covers strokes, allergic reactions, passing out, or paralysis under your watch, which can not be your fault directly, but you will be blamed. 

There is a lot of "he said, she said" involved that may not always be in the company's favor and may escalate the situation further. And if you have employees as opposed to contractors, you may even face claims of misconduct, misbehavior, and the like.  

As we are all human beings, we are bound to make mistakes, but unfortunately, that won't mean we can get out of liability claims.

One of the reasons general liability claims also arise is how little control home health care providers have on their employees. For example, suppose you have gotten your employee stationed in your client's home. But, if he shows up to work under the influence of alcohol, your client won't be very happy, and you won't even have any idea about it until they file a formal complaint against you.

How Much Does Homecare Service Insurance Cost?

Normally insurance of any type is very high; however, when it comes to professional liability insurance or general liability insurance, it does not cost that much. You'll usually be expected to pay $120 a year. 

However, never view the cost as an expense as this is an investment much like commercial car insurance, flood insurance, etc. Your business is your bread and butter, and if you do not invest in protecting it, you will be at the losing end. Always note that the health care industry, whether at home or in hospice, are risky businesses that may push you towards lawsuits more often than you think; hence it is best to start it with all the necessary insurance plans in place.

Get started today!

Whether you are the owner a home care service, you will need business insurance policies to protect your business and all those associated with it. We hope that with the four business insurance coverages that we have mentioned above, you will be able to find specialized insurance coverages that have been customized for the needs of your home care service business. It is always better to be proactive instead of reactive.

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