Select an insurance carrier that is specialized in Commercial Liability insurance designed for Adult Residential Care Facility (ARF). A typical Commercial Liability policy will have general liability, professional liability, and abuse coverage needed for Regional Center with the proper required limits of $1 million per occurrence, $2 million annual aggregate.

When an interested party wants protection from your facility operation or negligence, the party may be requested be an additional insured. To be added as an additional insured means you are providing liability protection from your Commercial Liability policy for claims against regional center, landlord, or management company for your facility’s negligence. If a claimant accuses regional center for your alleged negligence, then regional center has protection from your policy.

Since each ARF operation is individually underwritten, insurance carriers’ premium will vary regarding Commercial Liability, Commercial Property, Workers’ Compensation, and Commercial Auto. Commercial Liability and Commercial Property are rated by a number of factors: Admitted or Non-Admitted Insurance Carrier, Claim-Made or Occurrence Form, Policy Definition and Coverage, Policy Limits, and Carrier Claims History. Workers’ Compensation is based on classification code, payroll, loss history, claims, and zip code. Since each insurance carrier can price differently for a number of reasons, it is important you understand the insurance coverage that you are getting in relative to the premium.

In general, you only need to provide a quote on what the liability insurance would be and not actually bind the liability insurance policy. In some cases, certain Regional Centers may require proof of insurance in place. Please check with the License office and Regional Center in your facility location.

We typically see Commercial Property and Workers’ Compensation Insurance claims as the common insurance claims. Liability Insurance claim is less common; however, it tends to be very costly claim to an upward of $1 million dollar per incident when it happens. It is extremely important that you have good procedures, trainings, and documentation when a Commercial Liability Insurance claim occurs.

In general, homeowners’ insurance policies exclude coverage for business operation like an ARF. This means when property loss occurs from the business operation, the claim adjuster can reduce or deny the claim. Also, with Commercial Property Insurance, you can purchase Crime and Business Income and Extra Expenses coverage to protect theft and loss of revenue. In some cases, there are a few “grandfathered” homeowners’ policies that would cover property coverage of your ARF operation. If offered, these “grandfathered” homeowner’s policies do not have Crime or Business Income and Extra Expenses. You should check with your insurance agent or broker to verify if your homeowner’s policy will cover an ARF operation.

In both Commercial Liability and Workers’ Compensation Insurance, the best way to lower down your insurance cost would be preventing the loss from ever occurring in first place. Most Commercial Liability and Workers’ Compensation claims are related to taking care of residents and injuries of employees. Proper procedures and trainings could address common liability claims and employee injuries. Besides prevent claims and minimize potential losses, the next best step would be working with a specialized broker to compare and negotiate insurance rates on your behalf.

When you are involved in a sell, transfer or purchase of a facility, insurance coverage in-transition is very important. In your business and real estate contract, you must make sure both the seller and buyer are aware of the insurance implications especially Commercial Liability Insurance. For Commercial Liability Insurance, most insurance carriers will only insure the “Licensed” facility owner. Since when you sell, transfer or purchase a new facility, there is high probability that you will change the business name or ownership. These changes must be reported to Licensing and could take anywhere from several months to 1 ½ year. With no official transition date, it is very important that the existing license and licensee remain in the business operation during the transition period.

For both Commercial Property and Workers’ Compensation insurance, policies are control by the legal name or owner of the business, thus having coverage should not be an issue during transition period.

You should purchase the type of commercial insurance that is designed to protect the risk you are exposed to. Commercial Liability provides your business operation from your facility’s negligence. Commercial Auto protects your business when you transport residents, employees drive on your behalf, or commercial use. Commercial Property protects your building/facility from business use of your property. Workers’ Compensation is the law and protects employees who are injured when working for your facility.