Assisted living
Is a business owners policy enough for an assisted living facility?
No, and this is the most consequential and most common finding in the smaller end of this segment. A general business liability policy covers premises and operations. It is not written to respond to a claim that a resident was inadequately assessed, that medication was mismanaged, or that a change in condition was not recognized and acted on.
Those are professional liability claims, and they are the claims a licensed care facility will actually face. Some general forms exclude professional services outright; others simply have no adequate grant. Either way the operator discovers it at the worst moment.
The fix is not a higher limit on the wrong policy. It is a combined general and professional liability form from a market that writes senior care, so both the premises claim and the care claim are answered by the same policy without an argument about which applies.
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More assisted living questions
Does my state require an assisted living facility to carry liability insurance?
Many states do, some prescribe a minimum limit, and several set no stated minimum at all. Verify with your licensing agency rather than any secondary source.
Can we use one medication administration policy across several states?
No. Delegation rules differ by state, and a single national policy built to the most permissive state creates violations everywhere else.
What is a negligent admission or retention claim?
An allegation that the facility accepted or kept a resident whose needs exceeded what its license, staffing or building could safely meet.
What changes on our insurance when we open a second building?
The aggregate stops being academic. With one building, whether the annual aggregate is shared or per location makes no difference. With two it decides everything.
Do we need abuse coverage if we have never had a claim?
Abuse produces the largest verdicts and the most publicity in this industry, and the sublimit is where programs most often fail.
Does adding a memory care wing change our insurance?
Yes, and adding the unit to a schedule of locations is not the same as underwriting it. Two exposures distinguish memory care and neither is addressed by an assisted living program.
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