California Home Health Care and how you can protect yourself!

When you are a business owner, particularly of an in-home health care company, your life is constantly about dedication and commitment. You dedicate every effort into running your business so that it may dedicate its success to taking care of the local senior community. With so much devotion you put into your business, you owe it to yourself to protect it at every possible angle. As the in-home health care business continues to grow with most patients preferring treatment and care in the comfort of their own homes, you will continue to see your business and its risks grow within your business. However, a proper and thorough insurance plan will make sure to defend you against those risks, both the common and the industry-specific. Here is what you need to fully insure your California home health care business and why this is essential!

What You Need

There are many different types of coverage that would be helpful for any California home health care business. Here are three types of California business insurance quotes that are essential for your specific business and a great place to start when shopping for coverage:

• Professional Liability: Also known as Errors & Omissions or Medical Malpractice for the medical industry, this business insurance quote is a must. As the name suggests, this insurance coverage will protect your business from lawsuits claiming malpractice, misconduct, or negligence. This not only covers you but also the claims made against your employees. Since a patient’s condition could suddenly change without warning, even the most careful medical practitioners can find themselves in situations where the patients could file a claim against you and your employees, even if you are not to blame. Thus, it is important to be prepared for such scenarios with medical malpractice coverage. Another reason is due to the terribly inevitable: we are all humans and we all make mistakes. You or an employee can make an honest mistake while treating a client which can result in a lawsuit that could threaten your entire business. Fortunately medical malpractice will cover such mistakes. Lastly, it is especially important for business owners within your industry to have this coverage because of the nature of your business operations. Since you will not be there supervising your employee while he or she is treating your patient, you will be less knowledgeable about how that employee is working. Because of this, misconduct will usually be discovered by your client before it is discovered by you, increasing your chances of a lawsuit or claim by a dissatisfied patient.
• Workers Compensation: This is a California state law for every business. Although this is a common insurance quote to have for any business, it will cover the unique working environments your employees will face. Since your employees will be spending their time in patients’ homes, under which the conditions may not be as safe as you would have them if your employees were working in a facility, workers comp becomes extremely important. The unpredictable nature of where your workers are working and what type of people they are encountering, workers comp will play a large role in insuring your company and your employees’ safety while working for you.
• General Liability: This coverage will protect you against the non-medical risks that your business is still exposed to. The liability insurance quote includes any bodily injury or property damage lawsuit against your business as well as onsite coverage if you have a separate company office.

Depending on your specific business needs and operations, you may want to look into other insurance policies to accompany the ones mentioned make sure you have all the coverage that you need. Also, please keep in mind the common exclusions that the above insurance policies will not cover, such as any acts outside of the business operations, intentional and/or criminal actions.

Why You Need Home Healthcare Insurance

The above-mentioned policies are important to you as an home healthcare company business because of the unique and specific risks that you face. As mentioned, taking care of patients can be unpredictable because you can never fully prepare for their individual response to treatment as well as the mishaps that can occur while working in the patients’ home as opposed to a medical facility whose environment is more regulated, equipped, and occupied with other medical clinicians. That heightens the risk to your clients as well as your employees. A common claim that is made in the home healthcare industry is negligence which, unfortunately can find you liable whether you or an employee were negligent or not because, regardless, the patient can claim to perceive negligence. With all the extra risks you face as well as the common risks any small business is exposed to, the right coverages are not only important but some would deem necessary to keep your business fully protected and running smoothly and successfully.

How to Get Home Healthcare Insurance

After everything discussed, the risks may seem overwhelming but the right insurance coverage will alleviate your worries about these risks as you will feel confident that your business will be protected so you can focus on the valuable care that you bring to your senior community and the successful business you intend to build. Talk to an insurance broker with the full knowledge and expertise of this industry so they can provide business insurance quotes that meet all your insurance needs. With all the dedication you give to your business and your community, you deserve the same dedication with regard to your California business insurance.