Pursuing a career as a senior care provider and opening up an adult day care center or long-term care facility is certainly an admirable thing to do. However, it doesn’t matter how well intentioned your efforts are, there are still liability risks that you have to concern yourself with when you provide care of any kind — especially since the well-being of the seniors using your service will be in your hands. Purchasing senior care provider insurance will help mitigate these risks.
Why Put Your Business at Risk?
The last thing you want to think about is the possibility of somebody in your care at your adult day care center suing your business. Yet that risk will always be there, no matter how carefully you run your business. There’s simply no reason to put your business at risk by not purchasing senior care provider insurance.
All Allied Health Care Business Should Have Insurance
If you run an Allied health care business (including services that provide long-term care, home care, and senior care), make sure you’re always properly insured. As defined by the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions, being an Allied health care professional means that you deliver services that involve:
- The identification, evaluation, and prevention of diseases and disorders
- Dietary and nutrition services
- Rehabilitation and health systems management
Long-Term Care Facilities
If you run a long-term care facility, the following senior care provider insurance coverage is essential:
- Malpractice Coverage
Malpractice coverage protects health care professionals from liability associated with wrongful practices that have resulted in the injury or illness of a patient and any associated costs (including the legal fees of defending against malpractice lawsuits, and the medical costs associated with the injuries or illnesses the patient may have experienced as a result). Malpractice coverage is sometimes referred to as professional liability insurance or Errors and Omissions insurance as well. - Sexual Abuse Coverage
If any of your employees have allegedly committed sexual abuse against any of your patients, sexual abuse coverage will help provide insurance against any lawsuits that will likely be filed against your business. - Worker’s Compensation
Workers’ compensation is required by law in Massachusetts. This ensures that if any of your employees are injured or fall sick while on the job that they will be covered for any related medical expenses or loss of income. This in turn helps protect you against liability for those injuries or illnesses. While your employees may not be as likely to injure themselves compared to other professions, there is a higher risk of falling sick due to the potential exposure to patients who may be sick themselves. - General Liability
Unlike malpractice coverage, general liability insurance helps provide coverage if anyone, whether it’s your patients or visitors, injure themselves while on your premises and it’s not related to the care that you provide. For example, if someone were to trip over a step and injure themselves, general liability coverage would protect you in the event of a lawsuit. - Building and Business Personal Property and Equipment Coverage
Long-term care facilities tend to have a lot of valuable equipment. Be sure all of your business’s property is covered in the event that anything is destroyed, damaged, or stolen, whether it’s your facility itself or the personal property or equipment within the facility.
In-Home Providers
If you’re providing senior care in-home, meaning that you go to the home of your patients to provide the assistance that they need, make sure you’re fully insured, not just in terms of medical malpractice coverage, but also to protect yourself against potential lawsuits if you’re responsible for the patient’s property while you are there. For example, if you use the patient’s car to transport them where they need to go, you’ll be responsible for what happens to that car.
Non-Medical In-Home Care — You Should Still Be Covered
Even if you’re not providing medical care as a senior care provider, you will still need to be insured. For example, if you help clients bathe or get dressed and any injuries occur during this process, you may be held liable.
What Could Put You At Risk?
The following are a few of the common liability risks that you could experience if you are a senior care provider without insurance:
If Someone is Hurt Under Your Care
You’re responsible for the health of anyone under your care. If a patient is hurt while being treated by one of your staff members or medical professionals, or they don’t receive the proper treatment (such as being provided the wrong medication), then you will be held liable for any injuries that occur. A lack of care can also be contributed to the injury of a patient and can be considered negligence.
What if a Resident Falls on Your Property?
Take every precaution possible to ensure the safety of your residents if you’re running a senior care facility. Your patients have been placed there under your supervision, so even if a resident falls and hurts themselves accidentally (not due to the negligence of one of your staff), you’ll still be held responsible.
In the Event of A Fire or Other Disaster, You May be Liable
Because patients have been put into your care, you are responsible for their safety. Should anything happen to your facility that may endanger your residents, such as if a fire breaks out, it will be your responsibility to get them to safety and to ensure that they are not hurt. If you don’t, you can be held liable for not having the proper safety protocols in place to have prevented disaster or to have safely evacuated your residents.
Allegations of Elder Abuse or Neglect
It’s unfortunate that it’s something that you have to consider, but you can’t control the actions of your staff. Even if it’s not one of your medical professionals that’s being accused of abuse or neglect (for example, if it’s a janitor), you will still be held liable for what happened.
We Offer a Variety of Coverage Plans for Elder Care Businesses
Whatever kind of elder care business you run, whether it’s a long-term senior care facility or a smaller in-home senior care service, you will need to be properly insured. Here at Click Insurance, we offer a variety of different coverage plans to meet the specific needs of your elder care business.
Care, Custody, and Control (CCC)
If you provide in-home care, then you will need CCC coverage. This helps provide coverage for your patients’ property while it is in your care. Your patients car, items in their home, or even their pets may fall within your responsibility as you perform services and provide care.
Treatment Liability
Treatment liability provides coverage against potential medical malpractice or negligence lawsuits. For example, if you accidentally give your patient the wrong dose of their medication — or you forget to give it to them at the hour that they require it. Not only does it protect against claims of negligence that may have led to an injury or illness, it will also help protect you against any claims that the medical advice you provided led to illness or injury.
Employer Liability
In addition to CCC and treatment liability coverage, you may want the following coverages as well:
Personal Injury
Personal injuries can occur to not just residents, but their visitors as well. Personal injury coverage helps protect you against potential lawsuits filed by individuals who may have been accidentally injured while on your premises.
Property Damage
Property damage will protect you against any claims of property damage by patients, whether you provide in-home elderly care or run a long-term senior care facility (since residents will have personal property located in the facility).
Cyber Insurance
As a care provider of any kind, you’ll be required to remain compliant with HIPAA regulations. This ensures that the privacy information of your patients is protected. Due to the sensitivity of the information in your hands (from medical records to social security numbers), make sure it’s secure against potential data breaches and data leaks. In the event that a breach does occur, ensure that you have appropriate data breach and cyber liability coverage. Cyber insurance will help cover any fees or fines as well as any resulting lawsuits, legal fees, and data restoration/system repair costs.
Choose Click Group For You Insurance Needs
If you provide some kind of senior care, in-home care, or long-term care service, be sure you’re covered by the right elderly care provider insurance. Here at Click Insurance, we can help you meet all of your business’s insurance needs.
We are Knowledgeable Medical Business Insurance Providers
We work with many clients in the healthcare industry and are familiar with all the different insurance needs that different types of practices might have.
We know Massachusetts Liability Laws
We are very familiar with the intricacies of business liability laws in Massachusetts and can help you choose coverage based on the types of liabilities your business is more likely to face.
Click Group Partners With Most Insurance Providers
We have partnerships with dozens of regional and national insurance providers, which means you’ll have plenty of options when it comes to choosing a Massachusetts senior care provider insurance plan that fits your needs.
We’ll Get You The Right Price
We understand that every business is different and that you may have a limited budget to work with. That’s okay — we can help you find the best options for you at the best prices. This is the advantage of working with a reputable online insurance company like Click Insurance that has dozens of insurance carriers to choose from!
Easily Get a Quote With The Click of a Button
Curious about how much a Massachusetts senior care provider insurance plan will cost you? It won’t take you very long to find out — at Click Insurance, you can easily request a free quote with just a click of a button.