Skilled nursing
Who is liable when an agency nurse makes an error?
The facility gets named. A plaintiff suing over a medication error by an agency nurse names the facility first, on vicarious liability for someone working under its direction and on the facility own negligent supervision, orientation and assignment.
So the coverage question is whether your policy covers you for liability arising from the acts of independent contractors. Liability forms distinguish employees, who are generally insureds, from independent contractors, who generally are not, and the treatment of the facility own liability arising from contractor acts varies by form.
The other half is contractual. Your staffing agreement almost certainly requires the agency to carry professional liability and to name you as an additional insured. Collect and read the actual endorsements rather than filing certificates unread: a certificate is evidence, not coverage, and it does not tell you what the endorsement says or whether it names your current entity.
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More skilled nursing questions
How much liability limit does a nursing home need?
There is no universal number. The answer is driven by your states, your own severity history, your acuity mix, and whether defense costs erode the limit.
Does insurance pay CMS civil money penalties?
Generally no. Penalties are treated as uninsurable on public policy grounds. What is insurable is the cost of defending the proceeding.
Is the medical director covered under our policy?
Medical director duties are administrative and frequently fall between the facility program and the malpractice coverage carried by the physician, with each assuming the other responds.
What does one bad loss year do to our pricing?
More than the totals suggest, because underwriters read loss development rather than loss totals, and development is what carries forward.
Do we need billing errors and omissions coverage?
It covers the defense of a post-payment review, not the repayment. The defense cost is what operators underestimate.
Should general and professional liability be on the same policy?
Yes. A fall claim alleges both a premises condition and a care failure, and splitting the coverages creates a dispute between your own two insurers.
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