If you’re like me, you don’t want to deal with insurance. It’s complicated and expensive. But you can’t go without it, so you might as well understand more and make informed decisions.
There are five types of insurance you need to know about as the owner of a private duty home care business:
1. General and Professional Liability Insurance
General liability insurance coverage also called commercial general liability insurance, protects your business from third party claims for bodily injury, associated medical costs and damage to someone else’s property.
Professional liability insurance (PLI), also called professional indemnity insurance (PII) but more commonly known as errors & omissions (E&O) in the US, is a form of liability insurance that helps protect professional advice- and service-providing individuals and companies from bearing the full cost of defending against a negligence claim made by a client, and damages awarded in such a civil lawsuit.
2. Non-owned Automobile Liability Insurance
Non-owned auto liability coverage is an optional upgrade that protects your business if it is liable for damages caused while an employee is using a personal or rented vehicle (not owned by your business) for business purposes. This insurance is very important if your caregivers transport a client in the client’s vehicle.
3. Bonding – for Crime and Licensure
A fidelity bond is a form of insurance protection that covers you for losses you may incur as a result of fraudulent acts by specified individuals. It usually insures a business for losses caused by the dishonest acts of its employees.
Employee theft bonds protect you against financial loss in the event that an employee steals from a client. Though there are ways you can prevent loss, such as setting up strict job guidelines, checklists, and cross verification, a bond is added security for times when employees find a way to beat the system.
License and Permit Surety Bonds are typically required by Government Entities in order to fulfill a requirement for obtaining a license for your home care business in certain states. These Surety Bonds typically serve to protect the public against undesirable practices or activities engaged in by the Principal, the person or business required to get the Surety Bond. The Bond provides a guarantee that the Principal will adhere to the rules, conditions, standards or guidelines defined in the applicable laws, statutes or on the Bond form.
4. Content and Building Insurance
Contents insurance is insurance that pays for damage to, or loss of your business possessions while they are located within your office. Some contents insurance policies also provide restricted cover for personal possessions temporarily taken away from the place of business by the policyholder.
Building Insurance covers the cost of repairing or replacing your building in the event of loss. If you own your own office building, you’ll want to have it insured.
5. Workers Compensation
Workers’ compensation is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee’s right to sue his or her employer for the tort of negligence.
Over the years, we have found that the best source of information about insurance for your home care business is our friend and colleague, David Dickie from The Solutions Group in San Antonio, Texas. David has specialized in developing insurance programs that are tailored to the needs of the growing home care company.
To help you get a better understanding of the questions to ask and the decisions you need to make in safely buying insurance for your business, we’ve asked David to join us for a live web conference to explain all that you need to know about insurance for your private duty home care business.
In this live web conference, David will give you all the details about what you need to know about insuring your business. He’ll let you know the questions you need to be asking when you purchase insurance, and he’ll show you have to save money on your insurance.
Join us on Thursday, September 12, 2013 at 4:00 pm eastern time for “Everything you need to know about Liability Insurance and Workers Compensation.” You’ll come away with a whole new understanding about insurance, along with some great ideas to save money, make money, and reduce your stress.
