Insurance Solutions
Home care carries risks no single policy can answer. These are the coverages that protect an agency, how they fit together, and how to build a program in the right order, explained by a broker who works only in home care.
Care happens inside someone else home, on their schedule, usually with no supervisor in the room. That single fact reshapes the risk. Your caregivers handle medications, operate transfer equipment, drive between clients, and make judgment calls about a vulnerable person wellbeing, all in settings you do not control. A retail shop or an office never faces most of this, and the off-the-shelf business policies sold to them were never written with any of it in mind.
The exposures also stack in ways one policy cannot answer. Picture a single bad morning: a caregiver helps a client transfer, the client falls and is injured, the caregiver wrenches a shoulder catching them, and the family later questions whether the care plan was followed. That is potentially three separate claims, against general liability, workers compensation, and professional liability, from one incident. Coverage that treats these as connected, rather than as unrelated policies bought piecemeal, is what actually protects the agency.
There is a stakeholder angle too. Insurance in home care protects more than the business. It protects the client who is injured and needs their care paid for, the caregiver hurt on the job who depends on wage replacement, and the referral sources and families who trust the agency with someone they love. Hospitals, hospices, and case managers will not place clients with an agency that cannot show the right coverage, so a sound program is also what lets you compete for the best work.
Home care keeps growing as the population ages, and with that growth comes more scrutiny, more regulation, and larger contracts with higher insurance requirements. The agencies that treat coverage as a core part of running the business, not an afterthought, are the ones positioned to take on that work. The pages below break down each coverage, and the section that follows explains how to assemble them.
You do not buy everything at once, and you do not buy it in a random order. A home care program is built in layers, starting with the coverages that apply to almost every agency and adding the rest as your operations call for them. Here is the order we walk owners through.
General liability, professional liability, and workers compensation are the base of nearly every home care program. General liability and professional liability cover the two ways a client is harmed, by a physical accident and by the care itself, and workers comp is required by law once you employ caregivers. If you do nothing else, you carry these three.
If the agency owns a vehicle, add commercial auto. If your caregivers drive their own cars for work, and almost all of them do, add hired and non-owned auto, because the agency can be sued for an accident on a personal-vehicle work trip even though it owns no car. Most agencies need one of these, and many need both.
An umbrella stacks extra limits on top of your liability and auto coverage. It does two jobs: it protects you against a catastrophic claim that blows past a primary limit, and it lets you reach the $2 million to $5 million totals that hospital, facility, and government contracts often require. It is the cheapest coverage per dollar in the whole program.
If you run scheduling, billing, or electronic records online, you hold protected health information that is a target. Cyber liability covers HIPAA breach notification, ransomware, and the regulatory fallout when records are exposed. The more of your operation lives on a computer, the more this matters.
Standard liability policies exclude sexual abuse and molestation, yet the exposure in home care is real and the claims are severe. We treat dedicated abuse and molestation coverage as essential, not optional, because a caregiver alone with a vulnerable client is exactly the setting these claims arise from, and a single uncovered allegation can end an agency.
Two principles run through all of it. Bundle where you can, because a carrier that packages your coverages usually prices them lower and leaves fewer gaps than buying piecemeal. And size every limit to your actual risk and contracts, not to the cheapest quote, because a policy that fails a contract requirement or runs out mid-claim is no bargain. A real risk assessment, looking honestly at your services, staff, vehicles, data, and the deals you want to win, is what turns this list into the right program for your agency.
Each policy does a specific job. Follow any card to the full breakdown of what it covers, what it costs, and how it works.
The foundation. General liability pays for third-party bodily injury and property damage during care, like a client who trips over a caregiver bag or a television knocked off its stand. It is also the limit most facility and referral contracts ask to see first.
Learn about General LiabilityCoverage for harm that comes from the care itself rather than an accident. A medication error, a missed change in condition, or a task done outside a caregiver training all fall here. Skilled and medical providers carry this alongside general liability without exception.
Learn about Professional LiabilityOne of the most serious exposures in home care, where caregivers are alone with vulnerable clients. Standard liability policies exclude these allegations, and both founded claims and false accusations are expensive to defend. A dedicated limit, commonly $1 million, is essential, not optional.
Learn about Sexual Abuse and MolestationThe most overlooked auto exposure in home care, and one nearly every agency carries. When caregivers drive their own cars for work and cause an accident, the agency can be sued even though it owns no vehicle. This closes that gap, and it is inexpensive relative to the risk.
Learn about Hired and Non-Owned AutoRequired by law in nearly every state once you have employees. It pays the medical bills and lost wages when a caregiver is hurt on the job, which in home care most often means back and shoulder injuries from lifting and transferring clients.
Learn about Workers CompensationCoverage for vehicles the agency owns, like a company van or transport car. It handles accidents, injuries to clients riding along, and liability when a caregiver drives a company vehicle. Essential for any agency that owns a vehicle or transports clients.
Learn about Commercial AutoExtra limits stacked on top of your general liability, auto, and employers liability. It pays when a catastrophic claim exhausts the primary limit, and it is how agencies reach the $2 million to $5 million totals that hospital and government contracts demand.
Learn about Umbrella LiabilityBreach response when client protected health information is exposed. It covers HIPAA breach notification, ransomware, a stolen laptop full of records, and regulatory defense. Any agency running scheduling, billing, or records online holds the data that makes this matter.
Learn about Cyber LiabilityThe right program is not the longest list of policies, it is the set that matches how your agency actually operates. A few honest questions get you most of the way there.
Start with what you do. A non-medical companionship service and a Medicare-certified home health agency face different risks, so they weight professional liability differently and pay different premiums for it. Then look at your people. The more caregivers you employ, the heavier your workers comp exposure, and if any of them drive their own cars for work you need hired and non-owned auto regardless of size. Next, look at your wheels and your wires: own a vehicle and you need commercial auto, run records and billing online and you need cyber.
Contracts often make the decision for you. Hospitals, hospices, facilities, and government programs spell out the limits they require, and those requirements frequently push an agency to add an umbrella to reach a $3 million or $5 million total. Read the insurance section of every contract before you sign, because a certificate that falls short can cost you the deal. Abuse and molestation coverage belongs on the list for any provider sending caregivers into private homes, which is to say nearly all of them.
This is exactly where a specialist earns the relationship. We assess your operation, point out the exposures you may not have considered, and assemble the coverages into one program with limits sized to your contracts and your risk. You can call and talk it through, or send your details for a quote and we will come back with a plan. There is no obligation either way.
Questions owners ask about the program as a whole, before they get into any single policy.
Start with the three that form the foundation: general liability, professional liability, and workers compensation. General liability and professional liability together cover the two ways a client gets harmed, by accident and by the care itself, while workers comp is legally required once you have employees and protects your staff. Everything else is added on top of that base depending on how you operate.
Each one answers a different kind of claim, and the goal is to line them up so nothing falls through the cracks. A single home visit can produce a slip (general liability), a care mistake (professional liability), and a caregiver injury (workers comp) all at once. Auto coverage handles the drive, cyber handles the data, and abuse coverage handles allegations the others exclude. Built well, they function as one program rather than a stack of separate policies.
Not every agency needs every coverage, but most need more than they think. The foundation of general liability, professional liability, and workers comp applies to almost everyone. Whether you add commercial auto, hired and non-owned auto, umbrella, or cyber depends on whether you own vehicles, whether staff drive their own cars, what your contracts require, and how you handle client data. Abuse and molestation coverage is one we treat as essential given the exposure.
Often, yes. Carriers that specialize in home care will package general liability and professional liability, and sometimes more, into a single program that costs less than buying each policy separately. Bundling also reduces the chance of a gap between policies, because one carrier is coordinating the coverage. We price both bundled and separate so you can see the real difference for your agency.
It varies widely with your size, services, payroll, vehicles, and states. A solo caregiver might spend a little over a thousand dollars a year for the basics, while a mid-size agency with skilled care, vehicles, and contracts can run into the tens of thousands. The honest answer is that price follows risk, and the right program is the one that covers your actual exposures without paying for coverage you do not need.
At least once a year at renewal, and any time your business changes. Adding staff, buying a vehicle, signing a new contract, expanding to another state, or moving records online can all change what you need. A program that fit a five-person agency is rarely right after it doubles. We review with you each year so the coverage keeps pace with the business.
Coverage is one piece. These pages cover who we protect and how to learn more.
See how these coverages come together for home health agencies, home care agencies, group homes, and the other providers we work with.
Explore provider typesLicensing rules, insurance minimums, and malpractice caps change at the state line. Find the requirements where your agency operates.
Find your statePlain-language answers on coverage, cost, and compliance, from our insurance FAQ to a glossary and a claims process guide.
Browse resourcesStraight answers to the questions agencies ask most before they buy coverage.
Read the FAQThe terms on your policy, defined without the jargon, so you know what you are buying.
Open the glossaryWhat to do, and what to expect, when you have to file a claim on any of these coverages.
See the guideTell us what you do, who you employ, and the contracts you are chasing. A specialist will assemble the right coverages with limits sized to your risk. It takes a few minutes and there is no obligation.
