05 Feb Drug Rehabilitation Centers: How to Secure the Health of Your Facility

You’re in the business of helping people get off drugs or alcohol, but is your organization at risk? What if your facility wrongly diagnoses a patient or a counselor gets attacked by a patient, or worse — a patient dies under your care?

According to a survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA),*

there were roughly 15,000 drug and alcohol rehab centers in the U.S. On the day of the survey, there were about 1.2 million Americans receiving some sort of additional treatment services, with only about 85,000 clients under 18, and the rest, adults.

With the number of people entering programs significantly increasing each year, the incidence of litigation will undoubtedly increase. Recently, a second-degree murder charge was pursued against a rehab center in Los Angeles and four of its employees. In another case, a doctor was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison after a Los Angeles for overprescribing drugs to three patients who fatally overdosed. Unfortunately, depending on your specific programs and the level of care you offer, there are many “opportunities” for claims to be made against you. How, then, do you protect your organization and your counselors?

Specialty liability insurance from Evolution Insurance Brokers (EIB) is perhaps your best course of action.

EIB’s in-house legal staff has successfully managed over 60,000 specialty liability, professional, property and casualty insurance for specialty risks since 1986.

It’s important to note that although a facility provides coverage for its counselors, it may not be enough to cover counselors in all cases. For that reason, it’s important that each counselor secures specialty liability insurance coverage on an individual basis. Additionally, if a facility relies on volunteers, you must ensure these workers are covered in the event of any claims or accidents.

Contact EIB today to learn how EIB can help protect your facility against litigation. As a full-service excess and surplus lines brokerage, we offer flexible underwriting, risk management expertise, and outstanding claims results for difficult risks, with consideration for good risk management practices.

*http://www.askdrugrehab.org/us-rehabs.html