How to Insure Seniors Residences
You need specialized insurance coverage to help protect you and your residents, staff, volunteers, visitors, and your property as the owner of a retirement or seniors residence.
Business liability insurance is a key part of the commercial insurance coverage that you need to financially protect your senior care facility against lawsuits.
Western Financial Group, a 100% Canadian company, can help you navigate your boat, car, home, and business insurance during this period of economic uncertainty.
Facilities that need customized business insurance in the senior living industry
- Seniors residences
- Nursing homes
- Retirement homes
- Hospices
- Long-term care facilities
- Senior living homes
- Autonomous and semi-autonomous senior living homes
- Assisted-living facilities
Why is business liability insurance important to protect your retirement home?
It’s essential to have business liability insurance that identifies and manages the risks you face as the owner of a senior care facility to minimize any negative financial consequences as a result of lawsuits.
Potential risks that your seniors residence could face include third-party injury and property damage, errors and omissions in your work, food poisoning, cyberattacks, and sexual abuse.
Here are the liability coverages that you need to help protect your seniors residence from lawsuits:
Professional liability insurance
Professional liability insurance is also called errors and omissions insurance. It helps protect senior care residences from claims of negligence when they are performing their duties. Remember that legal fees can be quite expensive and damage awards can be extremely high without the benefit of professional liability insurance.
E & O insurance protects your seniors facility and its staff from lawsuits over the quality of care they provide. This type of insurance protects you against claims of medical errors, negligence, and failure to provide promised care.
If your senior residence is found liable, professional liability insurance will pay for legal defense and any damages up to your policy’s limit.
Directors and Officers liability insurance
Does your retirement home/senior residence have a board of directors? Directors and officers insurance provides financial coverage for legal expenses to help defend a board member or officer against legal claims. It typically covers misleading statements, reporting issues, and inaccurate disclosure.
This type of insurance also covers:
- Negligent acts and allegations of misrepresentation
- Breach of legal or fiduciary duties
- Decisions that result in adverse financial consequences for shareholders
- Wrongful dismissal and employee discrimination claims
- Failure to adhere to federal and provincial laws and regulations
Commercial general liability (CGL) insurance
This is necessary liability insurance for senior living home. CGL insurance protects you against claims of bodily injury or property damage occurring on your premises or as a result of operations. CGL covers incidents such as slips and falls and food poisoning.
Without commercial general liability insurance, you will be responsible for paying all the costs related to third-party injuries or damage to their property.
If you were sued, CGL insurance would cover the legal costs to defend the claim against your seniors home in court, as well as costs to cover damages to compensate third parties whether you win or lose your case.
What does commercial general liability insurance cover?
- Injury to a third party who is not your employee
- Damage to someone’s property
- Damage to rented property
- Medical bills if someone is injured
- Legal costs and settlement costs of liability lawsuits filed against you
- Liability lawsuits related to slander and libel
Commercial umbrella insurance
You may want to consider commercial umbrella insurance for your seniors residence. This type of insurance addresses gaps in your business liability coverage. It’s used when the primary liability coverage, for example on your commercial general liability insurance or your errors and omissions insurance, has reached its coverage limit.
It’s important to know that umbrella insurance applies only to expenses related to liability issues, such as legal fees, court fees, and legal settlements.
Cyber liability insurance
Cyber liability insurance will help protect your retirement home business financially should there be a cyber-attack. Did you know that depending on the size of the data breach and what information was taken, affected residents can hold you liable and sue you for damages?
Abuse liability insurance
Your retirement residence could face allegations of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.
Abuse liability insurance helps you defend your seniors residence against these allegations.
Ask your Western business insurance expert how much abuse liability insurance you need to protect your seniors residence or retirement home.
As the owner of an assisted-living facility or retirement residence, you may want to encourage your residents to get tenant insurance to protect their belongings. Your insurance, as the owner, does not cover their belongings.
What other insurance coverages do seniors homes need?
Commercial property insurance
Commercial property insurance provides financial support to replace or cover repairs to your seniors home if it is damaged by a flood, fire, or severe weather. It covers vandalism and theft, too. It also covers contents such as computers, furniture, tools, equipment, and inventory.
Business interruption insurance
This type of insurance supports your senior living facility when it can’t operate due to a covered loss.
Examples of losses that can force your seniors residence to shut down:
- Damage to your equipment from fire or vandalism
- A major reduction in revenue due to a client/supplier facing losses of their own
- A disruption in your supply chain
Business interruption insurance can help with these expenses:
- Payroll
- Rent
- Utilities
- Property taxes
- Alarm monitoring
- Relocation of your business
Commercial auto insurance
If you are using your car for your job in senior living industry, it won’t be covered by your personal car insurance policy. You will need commercial coverage as part of your insurance package.
How much does seniors retirement residence insurance cost?
These factors are typically considered when determining the cost of your business insurance: Location(s), services/products provided, number of employees, years of experience, annual revenue, and any past claims.
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