For a home health aide, insurance requirements are pretty straightforward.
Two policies are essential:
- General liability insurance (personal injury and property damage not related to your services)
- Professional liability insurance (mistakes and client complaints).
Depending on the way you run your business, you might want other coverage too:
- Workers’ compensation insurance (employee illness and injury)
- Cyber liability insurance (cyber fraud, hacks, and data breaches)
- Business personal property insurance (portable equipment).
We’ll get to those later in this blog post. First, let’s talk about liability insurance and why you need it.
Liability insurance for HHAs
When you’re taking care of the fragile, sick, and elderly, it’s easy to forget your own needs. But the thing is, you’re vulnerable too.
Forget to remind a patient to take her meds; delay an in-home visit; leave a bag in the wrong place…. When a home health aide makes a simple mistake, the results can be catastrophic. And a legal claim won’t just threaten your livelihood, it can ruin your reputation.
Luckily there’s a simple remedy: liability insurance for HHAs. It’ll protect you from the cost of claims that you:
- Made a mistake or failed in your duty of care
- Caused injury to someone (physical or verbal)
- Damaged someone’s property.
Now, liability insurance isn’t one-size-fits-all. There are several kinds. You’ll need two of them: general and professional liability.
General liability insurance for home health aides
General liability insurance can cover the cost of claims for:
Physical injury
An elderly patient trips and breaks her hip while you’re at her home. Her family claims it’s your fault: you failed to keep her apartment clear of obstacles.
In this situation, general liability insurance can take care of your patient’s medical expenses.
However, general liability doesn’t cover you if the injury is related to your work. For example, if an elderly patient falls while you’re helping them out of bed and they sue you for negligence. That’s where you’ll need professional liability insurance to help with your legal costs and their medical expenses.
Property damage
You accidentally knock over and break an antique vase in your client’s home. General liability insurance can pay for its repair or replacement.
Professional liability insurance for home health care
Because you charge for your service, clients can sue you if they think you made a mistake. Or failed in your duty of care. To make matters worse, as a professional, you can get sued even when you’ve done nothing wrong.
Home health aide professional liability insurance protects you from claims resulting from your work, including:
Negligence
A client gets hospitalized with an infection. His family sues you. They claim the infection is your fault. You failed to change the dressings after his recent surgery.
Whether there are grounds for the claim or not, professional liability insurance can cover your legal defense and settlement.
Data loss
You misplace a file containing sensitive information about one of your clients. If your client sues, your policy can pay your legal expenses and compensation.
OK. So that’s your ‘must-haves’ covered. Now, what about the other policies we mentioned?
More home health care business insurance
Business personal property
Do you take your own equipment to client visits? If you do, you want to think about protecting it. Because when you’re out and about, it’s more likely to get lost or stolen. And to replace it, well…that’s going to cost you.
Business personal property insurance (BPP) protects the equipment you carry around with you. Including your mobile, tablet, and laptop.
It also covers the moveable items in your home office (if you have one), from your PC to your potted plants.
Cyber insurance
Do you use email? Do you have a website? Do you transfer money online? Then you should think about getting cyber insurance.
Because as a small business owner with less cash to spare for tough cyber defenses, you’re an easy target. And cybercriminals are getting smarter.
Nowadays, it’s not simply a case of holding your website to ransom. Cybercriminals can hack your email and divert money transfers.
Cyber insurance doesn’t just provide 24/7 technical support to help you deal with an attack. It gives you the financial resources to recover. So you’ll be back on your feet doing business again fast.
Workers’ comp
Do you have any employees? If you do, you need workers’ compensation insurance. It’s required in most states. (Do check your state’s requirements as penalties are severe.)
Workers’ comp is worth having anyway (even if you’re a sole proprietor). It covers the cost of workplace illness and injury claims, including medical bills and lost wages. It can also cover the cost of a lawsuit, if your employee decides to sue.
How much does insurance for a home health care business cost?
Business insurance costs vary from business to business. How much yours will cost depends on factors like:
- the size of your home care agency
- where you’re based
- the limits you choose.
But there are ways you can save money on the price of your policy.
For example, it’s often cheaper if you choose a higher deductible. (That’s the amount you’ll pay if there’s a claim.) Just be sure you can afford the deductible amount if it comes to it.
And there are payment options available too. You can spread the cost by paying in quarterly or monthly installments. Or pay in one lump sum. Whatever suits your budget best.
As for working out how much cover you need, it’s always best to overestimate. Think, “what’s the worst that could happen?”. Then work out how much it would cost to put right.
Home health care business insurance quotes
Ready to get a quote for professional and general liability insurance? Fill out a short online form, and we’ll get right back to you with our best quote.
Need help?
Still not quite sure what coverage you need? You’ll find more home health care business insurance information on our website.
You can also call us at 978.344.4215. We’ll talk you through your options and get you the right insurance package for your business. Fast.