By Arina Smith
The need for home health agency businesses has grown, especially as the country’s population continues to age. With people preferring home care, especially where prolonged illnesses are involved, home health agencies have stepped up.
But when you’re dealing with people’s lives, anything can happen. Even if you or your employees aren’t to blame, a stroke or a heart attack could affect a patient. Sometimes, doctors and nurses try their best, but you can’t always help every patient.
When something goes wrong, even if you or your employees aren’t at fault, your home health agency can still be sued.
Do home health agency businesses need business insurance?
Business insurance provides legal protection and financial coverage that can protect your home health agency if you get sued. You can’t always pretend a disgruntled patient or their family from filing for claims.
Field workers often have to work hard with less equipment. Even the latest medical equipment can’t keep people alive.
Aside from death, accidents such as slips and falls, fainting episodes, or even an allergic reaction from medication can lead to legal issues. Say you or an employee from your agency administers medication approved by a doctor. If the patient has a reaction to it, it’s your home health agency that could get sued.
Here are five business insurance to consider for home health agency businesses:
1. Professional Liability Insurance:
Another name for this insurance policy is Errors and Omissions insurance. This insurance policy provides coverage and protection if your home health agency business gets sued for malpractice, misconduct, or negligence.
Without Professional Liability Insurance, your home health agency may have to pay for expensive legal fees and medical damages using your personal or business assets. But with this business insurance policy, you can get financial protection and help up to the policy limit.
This can greatly take the financial burden off of your home health agency business.
2. General Liability Insurance:
Your home health agency business can still get sued for circumstances that don’t directly fall under the purview of your professional services. As a care provider, unexpected events that lead to bodily injuries, such as slips and falls, could lead to a lawsuit. Damage to property is another situation that could cause a lawsuit.
A General Liability Insurance policy provides protection against situations where a client sues your business over circumstances involving property damage, personal harm, and other non-work-related issues.
3. Common Risks and Claims Insurance:
As a home health agency business, there are situations that are out of your control. Even if you and your employees perform to the best of your capacities, the client can still fall sick or get injured.
Say an employee was doing their best for their client, but the client suffered a stroke anyway. This isn’t the employee’s fault; however, your home health agency business could still be blamed for it. Similarly, if a client faints or suffers an injury, even where the care provider isn’t to blame, lawsuits could still happen.
A Common Risks and Claims Insurance protects your home health agency business from risk factors such as these. With this insurance policy, you can protect your employees and your business at the same time.
4. Commercial Auto Insurance:
Home health agency businesses need to use vehicles for transportation as well. Say your agency has provisions for providing care for just half a day or even a few hours a day. In this case, your employee will need to travel to and from the client’s home.
If you need to send emergency equipment, or even if you provide emergency ambulance services, Commercial Auto Insurance could be useful.
A road accident can come without warning. When this happens, cars can be rendered unusable without expensive repairs. With Commercial Auto Insurance, you won’t have to pay for the repairs, and neither will your employee.
5. Workers Compensation Insurance:
Workers Compensation policy provides coverage for employees. Most states in the US require businesses to have a Workers Compensation Insurance policy to operate. Even if your employees work in the health care industry, their health can still be affected. If they fall ill or get injured as a result of work, such as from an accidental fall, they could sue your business.
Workers Cover provides medical claims, benefits for situations that lead to death or disabilities, recovery of a portion of the wages lost due to unworked hours, etc.
With a Workers Cover, you can protect your employees should they get hurt and simultaneously protect your home health agency business as well.
Conclusion:
Home health agency businesses have to deal with the risk of something unfortunate befalling their clients. Accidents and illnesses can also affect their employees. Business insurance can protect home health agency businesses by providing help and financial protection for areas covered under various policies.
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