Committee approves liability insurance plan

Bedford County Financial Management Committee, at a special called meeting Tuesday night, approved purchase of five years of trailing liability coverage for the former Bedford County Nursing Home, acting on recommendation from their insurance agent, Joe Hunt of H.B. Cowan Insurance, and attorney John T. Bobo.

When the county leased Bedford County Nursing Home to Johnson City-based Care Centers Management Consultants, it no longer had to carry liability insurance on the current operations of the nursing home. But there is still a chance that the county might face liability arising from care that was provided when the nursing home was under county control.

There is a one-year time limit for filing a malpractice claim against a health care facility like a hospital or nursing home, Bobo explained. That time limit starts when you discover or might reasonably be expected to know about the malpractice. Bobo used the hospital-related example of a patient who undergoes surgery and has a sponge or a surgical instrument left behind by mistake. The one-year time clock would not start ticking until the patient found out about or began experiencing ill effects from the misplaced sponge -- which could be some time after the actual surgery.

Policies are available for that type of trailing liability, Hunt explained, saying that the technical term was extended reporting period, or ERP, insurance. The insurance is available in a variety of terms.

Bobo said that there's a trade-off in the various term lengths. As time passes, the likelihood of a malpractice lawsuit decreases, but the lawsuits which are filed after longer periods of time tend to be larger. Bobo had originally recommended the county purchase three years of coverage but said he would not object to Hunt's recommendation of five years.

Bobo said claims against nursing homes are increasing nationwide.

"They're the hottest plaintiff's case going these days," he said.

A patient care incident last year at BCNH, when a resident fell out of a chair in which she had not been properly secured, resulted in a 15-day suspension of patient admissions.

Hunt said he already knows of two possible claims which could be filed against the county, and County Mayor Eugene Ray said he knew of a third.

The county was under a time limit, said officials, because the trailing coverage had to be purchased within 60 days of the cancellation of the regular liability insurance.

The committee voted to purchase five years of coverage for $265,237. The money will be paid for from the county's nursing home fund, into which lease payments from the nursing home are deposited.

The nursing home has been known as Christian Care Center of Bedford County since Care Centers Management Consultants began leasing it from the county.