Assisted living facility operators must strike the right balance between compassion for their residents and protection of their assets. Facilities equipped with comprehensive insurance coverage can not only protect property but also maintain the trust of residents, families, and employees.
Without this trust, assisted living facility operators can lose their reputations and their financial security. An assisted living facility balances many roles, from caretaking to housing.. Assisted living facility insurance can help protect an organization in the event of facility closures, compensation claims, and major storms.
What You Need to Know:
This article provides assisted living facility operators with a detailed insurance checklist to use in their facilities. Any owner should consider the types of insurance needed, the benefits they provide, and the risks confronting ALF operators.
Assess the Risk to Residents
Resident care challenges can mean any liabilities involved in managing the health conditions and daily care of residents. The risks that arise from these processes include misdosing medication, failing to notice injuries, or inadvertently causing injuries, such as falls or burns.
Insurance Step: General liability insurance protects facilities in the event of a resident injury. In high-traffic ALFs, injury liability is a constant concern, requiring a safety net for both predictable and unexpected accidents.
Factor in the Facility’s Risk Surface
When it storms or freezes over, assisted living facilities have more to worry about besides shoveling the sidewalk. A facility’s risk surface includes property damage from weather, fire, or vandalism, injuries to visitors or residents’ families, and regulatory non-compliance. Additionally, assisted living facilities must adhere to healthcare regulations related to care standards, staff scheduling, and more.
Insurance Step: Assisted living facility operations rely on expensive medical devices used for treatment, mobility, and rehabilitation. Commercial property insurance provides coverage for physical assets, such as buildings and medical equipment, against common sources of damage.
Consider Risks to Employees
Assisted living facility employees perform many risky duties such as lifting residents or caring for patients with contagious diseases. Furthermore, employees might lose wages if the facility must close or if the employee takes leave due to an injury. Operators should consider the risk profile of their employees when setting up their insurance strategy.
This awareness should also include requirements for employee training, overtime scheduling, safety procedures, and more, all of which can change the facility’s insurance needs.
Insurance Step: Workers’ compensation insurance is required in most industries to provide employee support for lost wages and medical expenses in the event of an injury. Recognizing the higher risk profile of their industry, ALF operators should bolster this coverage to further reduce their risk of employee lawsuits.
Account for Professional Liability
Professional liability presents a consistent risk in the assisted living facility industry due to the sensitive nature of its services. Claims of medical care mistakes or negligence can lead to costs such as legal fees and reputational damage. Even tiny mistakes or errors of omission in the care of sensitive medical conditions can lead to lawsuits.
Insurance Step: Professional liability insurance, also known as malpractice insurance, helps protect ALFs from claims related to resident care.
Plan for Allegations
No assisted living facility director wants to confront the possibility that their staff or management may physically, emotionally, or sexually abuse their residents. However, even if no abuse takes place, the sensitive nature of facility care means claims of abuse must be addressed, even if they are unsubstantiated. The costs of legal defenses, settlements, and reputational damage should be planned for in the facility’s insurance strategy.
Insurance Step: Abuse & molestation insurance provides a necessary safety net for facility operations. Claims of abuse, even if unsubstantiated, can result in costly legal processes and reputation damage. Planning for the possibility of these allegations helps the facility remain accountable to its residents’ safety and its employees’ behavior, creating a community of trust between providers and families.
Connect with Experienced Consultants to Customize Your Insurance Strategy
Assisted living facilities provide sensitive services, which leads to a broad risk profile. In addition to liabilities concerning employee care, ALFs also deal with above-average risks of employee injuries, the possibility of abuse allegations, and third-party risks concerning residents’ families and other visitors.
This checklist provides assisted living facility operators with a starting point to strategize their facility’s coverage to match their distinct liability exposure. At Pro Insurance Group, our team of experienced brokers matches the coverage and carrier to the business, comparing numerous options to make sure your facility has the protection it needs at the best price available.
Contact our team today to learn more about comprehensive insurance policy requirements, liability challenges, and insurance solutions for your assisted living facility.