Home Health Care Agency Insurance

Home Health Care Business Insurance

Home health care liability insurance is necessary to protect you and your healthcare workers from alleged negligence and third-party injury claims.

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Insurance for home care agencies

Home health care agencies provide assistance to thousands of Canadians who need health care from home due to their age, an injury or an illness. Agency employees often do far more for patients than tend to a specific ailment – they can help patients with every aspect of their day-to-day lives, from cleaning their homes, helping them get dressed, and cooking their meals. 

Employees go out of their way to look after the well-being of others. However, even with the best of intentions, there’s always a risk that an action could have consequences. Perhaps a worker forgets to give a patient their daily medication, or they happen to break an expensive ornament during a house cleaning. There are many scenarios where your business could be liable for an expensive claim.

Thankfully, with the right insurance coverage, you can focus on looking after your patients without the worry of an expensive lawsuit affecting your business. Zensurance has found the right coverage for over 100,000 entrepreneurs with customized policies for their needs.

What is home health care business Insurance?

Home health care business insurance is a specialized liability insurance package that protects home health care agencies and their staff members against common claims such as liable events or allegations, or damage to business property.

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What does it cover?

Insurance for home health care businesses is a combination of several coverages that make up a comprehensive policy package. The insurance policy will cover your business for general risks (e.g., a slip-and-fall accident you’re liable for) to specialized risks based on your services (e.g., allegations of malpractice from a patient). Here are the recommended coverages for home health care agencies:

  • Medical malpractice insurance: In your industry, the most important coverage is medical malpractice insurance. This is a professional liability coverage predominantly for health care workers that can provide financial protection from claims of negligence that result in causing third-party bodily injury. Should a claim arise, you may be covered for legal defence costs, medical fees, and other related fees.

Common claims stem from allegations that typically fall within the following areas:

    • Failure to attend to a patient
    • A failure in diagnosis
    • Failures in referral or consultation
    • Failure to protect or warn third parties
    • Substandard treatment of a patient

Suppose you’re helping an elderly patient regain strength after a fall earlier in the week. Due to their progress, you’re confident they can walk for a moment without support. However, when you let go of their hands, they fall backward, exacerbating their injury. In this case, the patient could sue you for professional malpractice. If the patient makes a claim, medical malpractice insurance may cover the legal fees and any medical costs.

  • Commercial general liability (CGL) insurance: CGL protects your business from the general risks to third parties that you could be found liable for, such as a slip-and-fall incident or unintentional damage to their property. For example, say you’re in a patients’ home helping them to clean their home. While dusting a bookshelf, you accidentally knock a decorative vase from the shelf. It turns out the vase was intended as an heirloom and worth a lot of money. In this case, your CGL insurance could cover the cost to replace or repair the broken vase.
  • Commercial property insurance: If you run your business from a physical location or you own business-related equipment, commercial property insurance can cover your location and assets in the event of an insured risk, such as a fire, theft, or vandalism. Say your agency has office space for administrative work. One evening, the office is broken into and your computers are stolen. Commercial property insurance could offer coverage to replace the stolen computers.

How much does it cost?

The cost for a home health care business insurance policy can vary due to the differences between the individual needs of each business.

Here are some of the factors insurance companies consider when determining the cost of your premium:

  • Years of experience
  • Location
  • Number of employees
  • Past claims
  • Professional designation/certification
  • Services offered/clientele served

To understand how much your business’s insurance policy may cost, get a free online quote with Zensurance.

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Common claims scenarios

Problem: You’ve been working with a new patient for a week when they start complaining of feeling ill and must be admitted to the hospital. Their adult daughter calls you and asks if you’ve been ensuring the patient has been taking their medication. You realize you accidentally forgot to administer a specific medication all week, which has directly caused their symptoms. You’re sued for neglecting to administer your patient with the correct medicine. 

Outcome: You’re successfully sued for medical malpractice. Your medical malpractice insurance could cover medical expenses and any legal fees, totalling $35,000.

Problem: You’ve made dinner for a patient but leave a hot soup out without warning them. They badly scold their hands when attempting to pick up the bowl.

Outcome: Your CGL insurance policy could cover the medical expenses and legal fees totalling $6,000.

Problem: You run your business out of your home office. As fire breaks out in your kitchen, it spreads to your office, subsequently destroying your business equipment, such as your computer and the inventory used by workers to care for patients. 

Outcome: Your commercial property insurance policy could cover the cost to replace the destroyed business equipment, totalling $12,000.

Frequently asked questions

What risks do home health care providers face?

Home health care providers can run into a variety of risks, from the common “slip-and-fall” liabilities, through to costly allegations of medical malpractice. It’s important to protect your business financially with a comprehensive policy package that covers these potential claims.

If I subcontract some of my health care services, will they be covered?

Subcontractors aren’t covered by your insurance policy – generally, only full-time employees can be covered. Subcontractors should carry their own liability insurance.

Are there any specific health care services that are excluded from my policy?

Your insurance policy will cover you for unintentional actions you’re liable for, within the scope of your business activities. Therefore, you wouldn’t be covered for acts outside of the scope of the business (say, you decide to start selling pre-cooked dinners to patients without informing your insurance company) or intentional acts (such as deliberately mistreating a patient). For more detail on this subject, speak to a broker to ensure you’re sufficiently covered.

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Your business helps others on a daily basis, you deserve a broker who can help you to look after your home health care business. 

To get started, complete our five-minute online application form for a free insurance quote. We pride ourselves on a straightforward process, but if you have any questions, our brokers will be happy to help.

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