General Liability
The contract-driven foundation Georgia hospitals and facilities expect to see, commonly at $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate.
General liability coverage
Coverage by State
Georgia Home Care Insurance
For agencies already operating in Georgia. If a hospital, facility or payer has handed you a contract demanding limits your current policy cannot reach, that is a solvable problem, and it does not have to wait for your renewal date.
If you already run a Georgia home care agency
Here is the short answer. When a contract demands limits your policy cannot reach, the fix is general liability at the limit the contract names, professional liability sized to the care you actually deliver, an umbrella behind both, and certificates carrying the additional insured and waiver wording the contract specifies. We place that through exclusive carrier programs that write home care in Georgia, and we do it mid-term when the contract will not wait.
Georgia rewards agencies that look established, which is unusual and worth using. A surveyed Private Home Care Provider licence and, where you hold it, accreditation are both things a referral partner can check. A properly built insurance program is the third, and it is the one that actually pays when something goes wrong.
An agency running seventy-five to a hundred caregivers across metro Atlanta, Augusta, Savannah, Columbus or Macon has a different problem from a startup, and this page is written for the former.
What Georgia contracts require, and what happens when yours falls short
On liability the numbers come from your contracts rather than from a statute, and they ask for more than the law does.
What the contracts typically ask for
Hospitals, facilities and payers commonly require general liability at $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate. Professional liability is expected of skilled agencies for their clinical exposure. Workers compensation at statutory limits with employers liability behind it. Auto liability covering agency vehicles and caregivers driving their own. Abuse and molestation coverage, increasingly named rather than assumed. And an umbrella where metro Atlanta health system partnerships demand higher totals.
Wording matters as much as the number. Contracts routinely ask to be named as an additional insured, for a waiver of subrogation, for cover to respond on a primary and non-contributory basis, and for advance notice of cancellation. Each is an endorsement on a policy rather than a sentence on a certificate.
Georgia adds one thing worth using in a negotiation. Your licence was issued only after an on-site survey, and an accredited provider can be exempted from routine state inspection under the rules. Both are signals a counterparty understands. Neither pays a caregiver injury or defends an abuse allegation, which is what the program on this page is for.
When the contract asks for more than you carry
The first route is endorsement. The incumbent carrier will sometimes raise a limit or add required wording mid-term for additional premium, and that is the fastest path where it is available.
The second is an umbrella. Where a contract wants a total your primary layers cannot reach, excess limits stacked over general liability, auto and employers liability usually get there quicker and for less than rebuilding the primary underneath.
The third is re-marketing, where a carrier will not extend or the required wording sits outside what the form allows. That takes longer, which is the argument for sending contract language when it first appears rather than the week it has to be signed.
Certificates of insurance and the rest of the operating year
For a running agency the broker relationship is mostly certificates and mid-term changes. Both are where a placement quietly fails.
Certificates
A certificate is evidence, not coverage. It states only what a policy already does. If a metro Atlanta health system requires additional insured status and your policy carries no such endorsement, no certificate can create it. The delay agencies feel there is an underwriter deciding, not paperwork.
So the habit that helps: when a new client, facility or payer sends paperwork, send us the insurance requirements immediately. Certificates already on file should carry over rather than be rebuilt each year.
What to report during the year
Adding and removing caregivers does not require a policy change each time, because the program is rated on payroll and headcount and trued up at audit. What needs reporting is a change in the agency's shape.
- A move onto the skilled side, which is a different licence and brings a Certificate of Need with it.
- A new office, or a move into counties you did not previously serve.
- Crossing the three-employee line, counting officers and members as well as caregivers.
- Agency-owned vehicles, which need commercial auto rather than a caregiver reimbursement arrangement.
- An acquisition, a new entity, or a change of ownership.
- Any incident that could become a claim, reported when it happens rather than when it is served.
Georgia also runs on a reporting clock worth building into your process. An employee reports an injury within 30 days and files Form WC-14 within one year, the employer files Form WC-1 with its insurer, and a Panel of Physicians must be posted so injured workers know where to seek care. Missing any of those turns a routine claim into a compliance problem.
Coverages Georgia home care agencies carry
The full program, sized to your services, your contracts, and your Private Home Care Provider license. Each coverage below has a page of its own.
Professional Liability
Clinical claims coverage for skilled Georgia agencies, weighted for the exposure that Medicare-certified home health and higher-acuity SOURCE clients carry.
Professional liability coverageWorkers Compensation
Required once you regularly employ three or more people, with corporate officers and LLC members counted toward the three even when they file a WC-10 exemption, and caregivers properly classified. Priced on payroll and your experience modifier.
Workers compensation coverageCommercial Auto
Coverage for agency-owned vehicles carrying caregivers across Georgia's metro traffic and long rural distances, where a personal policy will not respond.
Commercial auto coverageHired and Non-Owned Auto
The coverage for caregivers driving their own cars for work, an exposure most Georgia agencies have given how much staff drive between clients across metro and rural areas.
Hired and non-owned autoAbuse and Molestation
Coverage of up to $1 million for allegations that standard liability excludes, essential given caregivers work alone with vulnerable clients and Georgia mandates fingerprint background checks.
Abuse and molestation coverageUmbrella Liability
Excess limits stacked on top of your liability and auto, the efficient way to reach the higher totals Georgia hospital contracts require.
Umbrella liability coverageCyber Liability
Breach response for the protected health information your agency holds, including notification, ransomware, and regulatory defense.
Cyber liability coverageProvider types we insure in Georgia
Home Health Agencies
Skilled Georgia agencies delivering home health under a plan of care, licensed by the Department of Community Health and subject to a Certificate of Need, able to pursue Medicare certification.
Home health agency insuranceHome Care Agencies
Georgia Private Home Care Providers licensed through Healthcare Facility Regulation, delivering non-skilled personal care, homemaker, and companion services without a Certificate of Need.
Home care agency insuranceSenior Care Providers
Agencies serving Georgia's large and fast-growing senior population, weighted for wandering, falls, and abuse exposure.
Senior care coveragePrivate Duty Nursing
Skilled, high-acuity care that drives professional liability limits higher, often backed by an umbrella.
Private duty nursing coverageGroup Home Care
Residential group homes combining a facility with hands-on care, with premises and property exposure.
Group home care coverageGeorgia workers compensation for home care agencies
Georgia's hardest insurance rule turns on a single number: three. The way the count works is where agencies get caught.
Three or more, and officers count
Workers compensation is overseen by the Georgia State Board of Workers' Compensation under O.C.G.A. section 34-9-2, and coverage is required once a business regularly employs three or more people, whether part-time or full-time, including regular seasonal workers. Read how the coverage works on our workers compensation page.
Corporate officers and LLC members count as employees toward the three. Up to five of them may exempt themselves from coverage by filing Form WC-10, but exempting does not reduce the employee count, so an owner cannot opt out to stay under the threshold. Sole proprietors and partners are treated as employers rather than employees, and they may elect to be covered if they want the protection.
Put that together with home care staffing and the arithmetic is unforgiving: an owner and two caregivers already hits three. Classifying caregivers correctly as employees rather than contractors is what keeps an agency honest with the rule.
What going uninsured costs
Refusing or willfully neglecting to carry required coverage is a misdemeanor. Civil penalties run from $500 to $5,000 per occurrence for failing to provide coverage, and the Board can also assess attorney's fees and increase the injured employee's compensation by 10 percent. For an agency running caregivers that is a bet with no upside.
How it is priced
Workers compensation is priced per $100 of payroll rather than as a flat premium, and your experience modifier adjusts it up or down based on your claims history. A clean claims record is the single best lever you control, and it improves how carriers underwrite the rest of your program.
Georgia licensing and regulatory context
Short version, because you already hold your licence. It earns space because in Georgia the licence carries signals a counterparty can check.
A non-medical agency operates as a Private Home Care Provider, licensed by the Georgia Department of Community Health through its Healthcare Facility Regulation division. The governing law is O.C.G.A. section 31-7-300 and following, with rules at Chapter 111-8-65. Georgia issues a provisional licence first, conducts an on-site survey to verify compliance, then issues the regular licence, which renews every year.
Three further points matter to an operating agency. Georgia requires a Certificate of Need for home health agencies and hospice but not for Private Home Care Providers. A provider accredited by a body the department recognises can be exempted from routine state inspections under the rules, so accreditation changes how the state oversees you. And fingerprint-based criminal background checks are required for owners, administrators and direct care staff, run through the GCIC and FBI databases.
Medicare, Medicaid and what actually sets your limits
Georgia funds home and community-based care through the Elderly and Disabled Waiver Program, which includes the Community Care Services Program and SOURCE, meaning Service Options Using Resources in a Community Environment. Both are administered by the Department of Community Health, and between them they are where a meaningful share of the state's publicly funded long-term care in the home is authorised and paid.
The two are not identical, and the difference shows up in your day-to-day work. SOURCE adds enhanced care coordination through a dedicated primary care physician for higher-acuity clients, which means more documentation and more administrative engagement for the agency serving them. It is also worth knowing that the Community Care Services Program is not an entitlement: slots are limited and a waitlist forms, so demand routinely runs ahead of funded capacity.
Medicare comes in separately where an agency provides short-term skilled home health under a plan of care, raising the stakes on documentation and on professional liability. What sets your limits, though, is the hospitals, facilities and payers you contract with, which is why we ask to see the contract language rather than guessing at a number. If your agency runs skilled care, our home health agency insurance page covers how that program is built.
The Georgia home care market
Georgia is a demographics story before it is anything else. The state has about 11 million residents, and roughly 1.7 million of them are 65 or older. That number is climbing rather than holding steady, which is what makes Georgia one of the more attractive places in the country to run a home care agency right now.
Metro Atlanta sits at the centre of that growth. It is one of the fastest-growing senior care markets in the country, helped by steady population growth, retirees moving in, warm weather and a lower cost of living than the coasts. When people relocate to Georgia for retirement and then age in place, demand for care at home follows them.
The rest of the state matters just as much to how the work is done. The largest markets are Atlanta, Augusta, Savannah, Columbus and Macon, where clients, caregivers and referral partners sit closer together. There is significant demand across rural Georgia as well, where seniors age in place far from the nearest agency. That split runs straight into how an agency staffs, drives and insures.
Around metro Atlanta caregivers make frequent trips through heavy traffic on a congested road network. In rural Georgia they cover long distances on open highways and back roads. Agency-owned vehicles need commercial auto, and caregivers using their own cars create a hired and non-owned auto exposure a personal policy will not cover on a work trip. If your caregivers work beyond Georgia, the program has to satisfy each state they enter. See the full list on our coverage by state hub.
Georgia resources for home care providers
These are the Georgia bodies that shape how home care operates, for licensing, workers compensation, Medicaid, and industry advocacy. We name them so you know where each requirement comes from.
- Georgia Department of Community Health, Healthcare Facility Regulation division, which licenses Private Home Care Providers under O.C.G.A. Section 31-7-300 and following and Chapter 111-8-65, and administers the Elderly and Disabled Waiver Program, including the Community Care Services Program and SOURCE.
- Georgia State Board of Workers' Compensation, which oversees the workers compensation requirement under O.C.G.A. Section 34-9-2 for businesses that regularly employ three or more people.
- Georgia Association of Community Care Providers, the state industry body representing providers that participate in Georgia's Medicaid waiver programs, including the Community Care Services Program and SOURCE.
- National Association for Home Care and Hospice, for national home care standards and guidance.
Why Georgia agencies choose HCBI
We work with agencies that are already running, and their problems are contract problems.
A health system raises its required limits at renewal. A payer adds abuse and molestation as a named requirement. A facility wants additional insured status and primary and non-contributory wording your current form does not carry. A caregiver crash in Atlanta traffic or on a long rural route exposes how little a personal auto policy does on a work trip. That is why we ask for the insurance exhibit rather than a summary of it.
On Georgia specifically, we know how the three-employee count actually works, including the part that catches owners: officers and LLC members count toward the three, and a Form WC-10 exemption does not reduce the count. We also know what your survey and any accreditation are worth in front of a referral partner, and what they do not do, which is pay a claim.
We place coverage through exclusive carrier programs that write home care risks, and we coordinate the whole program: general liability, professional liability, workers compensation, commercial and hired and non-owned auto for metro traffic and rural distance alike, umbrella limits to reach what your contracts demand, cyber, and abuse and molestation coverage of up to $1 million. Given Georgia's fingerprint-based background-check requirement, we treat that limit as essential rather than an afterthought. That reach is backed by working relationships across the home care and healthcare industry, including CareerStaff Unlimited and Genesis Healthcare in staffing and healthcare services, HOMELINK in the medical equipment and home care network space, and Bright Horizons Family Solutions on the family care side.
Georgia home care insurance FAQ
Specific answers for agencies operating under Georgia rules.
Usually, and usually before renewal. The underlying general liability limit can sometimes be raised by endorsement. More often an umbrella stacked over general liability, auto and employers liability reaches the required total faster and for less than rebuilding the primary program. Where the carrier will not extend, the program is re-marketed. Send us the insurance exhibit rather than a summary, because the required wording matters as much as the number.
The certificate is quick. What takes time is anything it has to evidence that your policy does not yet do: additional insured status for a named health system, a waiver of subrogation, primary and non-contributory wording, or a notice of cancellation. Those are endorsements to a policy, not lines typed onto a form. Send us contract wording when it first arrives, not on the day the certificate is due.
Not person by person. The program is rated on payroll and headcount estimates and trued up at audit, so ordinary turnover does not require a policy change. What does need reporting is a change in what the agency does: a move onto the skilled side, a new office or county, agency-owned vehicles, or an acquisition. Watch the three-employee line too, because officers and members count toward it.
At three or more. Workers compensation is overseen by the Georgia State Board of Workers' Compensation under O.C.G.A. section 34-9-2, and coverage is required once a business regularly employs three or more people, whether part-time or full-time, including regular seasonal workers. For a home care agency that threshold arrives faster than most owners expect.
No, and this is the Georgia trap worth knowing. Corporate officers and LLC members count as employees toward the three. Up to five of them may exempt themselves from coverage by filing Form WC-10, but exempting does not reduce the employee count, so an owner cannot opt out to stay under the threshold. Sole proprietors and partners are treated as employers rather than employees and may elect to be covered if they want the protection.
Build it into your process rather than looking it up on the day. An employee reports an injury within 30 days and files Form WC-14 within one year. The employer files Form WC-1 with its insurer and must post a Panel of Physicians so injured workers know where to seek care. Missing any of those steps turns a routine claim into a compliance problem on top of the injury.
It changes how the state oversees you, which is unusual. A provider accredited by a body the department recognises can be exempted from routine state inspections under the rules, so Georgia treats accreditation as a real signal of quality rather than a plaque. It is worth having and worth mentioning to referral partners. It is not a substitute for coverage, because an accreditation survey does not pay for a caregiver injury or defend an abuse allegation.
A Private Home Care Provider licence, issued by the Georgia Department of Community Health through its Healthcare Facility Regulation division, under O.C.G.A. section 31-7-300 and following with rules at Chapter 111-8-65. Georgia issues a provisional licence, surveys you on site, then issues the regular licence, which renews annually. Georgia requires a Certificate of Need for home health agencies and hospice, but not for Private Home Care Providers.
Loss runs for the last five years, current declarations pages for every line, payroll by class, caregiver headcount, the counties you serve, and the insurance exhibits from your largest contracts. Start sixty to ninety days out rather than in the last fortnight. A non-renewal shortens the list of carriers, and lead time is what buys the options back.
Send us the contract and we will build to it
Tell us your payroll and caregiver count, whether you hold accreditation, where in Georgia your clients are, and what your largest contract requires. If a limit needs raising before your renewal date, say so and we will start there. A specialist will build the program through exclusive carriers that write home care in Georgia. There is no obligation.