When you opened the doors to your assisted living facility or nursing home in Charlotte, you wanted to do one thing – take care of the elderly and the sick and give them back a little of their former quality of life. You also wanted to ease the burden of their family members who were overwhelmed by all the needs of their loved one. You hired caring professionals. You created a plan that would give assistance to those who needed it while preserving a certain autonomy for those who needed less help.
One of the things often overlooked when running a business to help other people is the insurance meant to protect you, as a business owner, and the business itself. Without the right type of coverage, one bad accident or one misstep can be enough to bankrupt your senior living facility right out of existence.
Take a look at these insurance options for your Charlotte-based senior living facility and make sure you’ve got enough coverage to continue helping the elderly, the sick, and their families.
GENERAL LIABILITY
No matter what type of business you own, general liability insurance is an absolute necessity. This insurance protects you when someone who doesn’t work for your facility – a patient, a vendor, or a family member – is hurt on your premises or sustains some type of damage to their property. Your coverage will pay the costs, up to your policy limits, and cover you in the event the injured party decides to sue.
PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY
Also known as errors and omissions (E&O) coverage, professional liability insurance is a must for any business providing professional support or advice. Nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and senior living facilities all provide different levels of consultation or professional care, but a lawsuit is possible if the patient or family of the patient believes the advice was bad or lead to other problems. Like general liability, professional liability covers you in case of a lawsuit.
COMMERCIAL PROPERTY INSURANCE
We all know anything can happen at any moment – major storms, fire, and even theft. Protect your business and the people who use your facility with commercial property insurance. Make sure you know what is covered in standard policies and if you need additional add-ons for other types of damage – earthquake, sinkhole, flood, or hurricane damage.
COMMERCIAL AUTO INSURANCE
If your employees transport patients or residents for any reason, drive to run errands for the business, or use their own vehicle or company vehicles for any business purpose, you need commercial auto insurance. This coverage is necessary whether you have company vehicles or not. Personal auto insurance won’t cover these accidents and may drop the drivers from their coverage.
WORKERS’ COMPENSATION
As a business with employees, you are legally required to have workers’ compensation insurance. While it’s a legal obligation, it’s also the right thing to do for your employees. They can become injured or ill while on the job working directly with patients and residents or in accidents while taking care of other parts of the facility. Workers compensation coverage pays their medical costs and lost wages for their injury and protects you from lawsuits by injured workers or their families.
CYBER LIABILITY
If you’re like any modern business with a computer system in place to take payments, keep patient/resident records, store employee records, and have a website or even social media presence for advertising, you’ll likely need cyber liability insurance. With hacks of businesses on the rise and the possibility of a lawsuit due to wrong information on your website or social media platforms, cyber liability covers you in case of lawsuits and when you need to report any security breach of your computer files or online systems.
You may have gone into the business of senior living facilities because you wanted to take care of the elderly when they most need it, but you have to remember you’re running a business. If you don’t make sure you have the proper insurance, one big lawsuit could put you out of business and your residents or patients out on the street. Protect your business, your employees, yourself, and the people you work with by making sure you have the right insurance coverage for your senior living facility.
If you have questions about your current insurance coverage or you need a quote for a new policy, contact us today.