Immediate Jeopardy

Immediate jeopardy is the most serious survey finding available. It triggers an accelerated removal timeline, discretionary and mandatory remedies, and in the worst case termination of the provider agreement, and it becomes public.

The insurance consequences arrive on three fronts at once and none of them is the professional liability policy. Regulatory defense coverage responds to the cost of the proceeding, subject to a sublimit that is often small and a trigger that is often too late. Loss of license and business income coverage respond to the revenue consequence, including a denial of payment for new admissions, which cuts revenue without closing the building. And the finding itself becomes an exhibit in every civil case that follows, because the plaintiff can put a documented federal determination of likely serious harm in front of a jury before introducing any fact about the individual resident. Underwriters will ask about any finding in the last three years and will price the plan of correction quality more than the finding itself.