DC Health (Department of Health) wants $1M / $3M on the certificate.
DC Health’s home care rule requires $1M of general liability and $1M of malpractice coverage (22-B DCMR 3901). A referral contract can ask for more. We set the coverage up and produce the certificate — usually the same day.
Tell us the situation.
One licensed human replies the same business day — not five agents, not an auto-responder. If the policy you have is already the right one, we will tell you.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
What District of Columbia requires
Does DC require workers compensation for home health agencies?
Yes. The District's Workers' Compensation Act requires every employer to secure payment of compensation, either through an authorized insurer or by proving to the Mayor that it can self-insure. Casual employees are outside the Act.
D.C. Code 32-1534·checked 2026-10-04
What insurance does DC Health require for home health licensure?
DC Health's home care agency rules require blanket malpractice coverage of at least $1 million per incident for professional employees and general liability of at least $1 million per occurrence (22-B DCMR 3901). Product liability is also required when it applies.
22-B DCMR 3901·checked 2026-10-04
What is the DC EPD Waiver?
The District's Medicaid home care waiver is the EPD Waiver, for residents 65 and older or adults with physical disabilities, run by the Department of Health Care Finance. A home care agency paid by DC Medicaid for personal care aide services must carry $1 million malpractice and $1 million general liability coverage and post a $50,000 surety bond (29 DCMR 5011).
29 DCMR 4200, 4201 and 5011·checked 2026-10-04
CMS lists 35 Medicare-certified home health agencies in the District of Columbia in its July 2026 Home Health Care Agencies file. (CMS Care Compare provider data)
Send us what you have. We’ll tell you if it’s right.
Your current policy paperwork, a renewal notice, or nothing at all. A licensed agent reads it and replies the same business day.
Limits
What to carry, and why that number.
- General liability$1M / $3M
- Abuse & molestationMatch the contract
- A standard general liability policy routinely excludes this, and where it is included the limit sits below what District of Columbia referral contracts ask for. Match the contract, not the policy.
- Hired & non-owned autoMatch the contract
- The other limit that fails. Aides drive their own cars between District of Columbia client homes, a personal policy will not answer a business trip, and the limit carried is usually below what the contract asks.
Coverage
Six lines. Each one closes a specific hole.
Professional liability
Covers claims that care delivered in the home fell below the standard a reasonable provider would meet.
Without it — A single allegation of negligent care is defended out of pocket, and most state and MCO contracts will not accept the agency without it.
General liability
Bodily injury and property damage arising from operations: a fall in a client home, damage to a client residence.
Without it — The most common home-visit claim there is has no defense behind it.
Abuse and molestation
Defense and indemnity for allegations against a caregiver, including claims that the agency hired or supervised negligently.
Without it — Nearly every general liability form excludes it by endorsement, so the exposure most likely to end an agency is the one most often uninsured.
Workers compensation
Statutory benefits for caregiver injury, the highest-frequency loss in the industry, driven by lifting and transfers.
Without it — Medical and indemnity costs land on the agency directly, and in most states operating without it is illegal.
Non-owned and hired auto
Liability when a caregiver drives their own car between clients or transports a client.
Without it — The caregiver’s personal auto policy defends the caregiver. The agency is named anyway, and has nothing responding.
Cyber and privacy
Breach response, notification and regulatory defense for PHI held in scheduling, EVV and billing systems.
Without it — HIPAA notification costs begin immediately and are not covered by any other line on the policy.
What home health and home care agencies we placed in 2025 and 2026 actually paid.
These are annual premiums from policies we bound, effective January 2025 to September 2026. We show the median and the middle half of what clients paid, never the cheapest or the most expensive, and only for lines where at least five agencies stand behind the figure.
- Professional liability (including combined general and professional packages)
- $800median a year
- Middle half: $510 to $1,580
- 33 policies from 24 agencies
- Workers compensation
- $2,060median a year
- Middle half: $1,610 to $3,150
- 21 policies from 17 agencies
- General liability, written on its own
- $350median a year
- Middle half: $350 to $510
- 7 policies from 7 agencies
Payroll moves workers compensation more than anything else, and the services you provide, your limits and your claims history move the rest, so treat these as a sense of scale rather than a quote. Source: Boring Insurance bound policies, cancelled policies and test records excluded, refreshed 2026-10-04.
In District of Columbia
The organizations that will ask for your certificate.
- Ward-level Senior Wellness Centers · DC Office on Aging (DCOA)
- DCOA contracted home care providers · DC Office on Aging (DCOA)
- AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia · DC Healthy Families Managed Care Organizations
- MedStar Family Choice DC · DC Healthy Families Managed Care Organizations
- UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of DC · DC Healthy Families Managed Care Organizations
- DC Department on Disability Services (DDS) · Other
- DC Home and Community-Based Waiver (HCBW) · Other
- MedStar Washington Hospital Center · Other
- Children’s National Health System · Other
Questions
Does my DC agency need hired and non-owned auto coverage?
Your general liability does not reach the drive. Caregivers using their own cars between District of Columbia client homes need hired and non-owned auto, because a personal policy stops responding once the trip is work.
Our caregivers drive their own cars. What does the carrier require?
That they keep their own auto insurance, and that you check their driving records every year. Hired and non-owned auto is written excess of the driver’s personal policy rather than instead of it, so a caregiver whose own coverage lapsed is functionally uninsured on a client visit and the agency absorbs what follows. Annual motor vehicle record checks are the second condition, and annual means annual: a check at hire and nothing after is the version carriers find at claim time. Both are cheaper to build into hiring and review than to explain afterwards.
What limits do most contracts require?
$1,000,000 per occurrence and $3,000,000 aggregate is the common requirement across state Medicaid contracts and managed care organizations. Some MCOs require the agency be named on a certificate before the first authorization is issued.
Is abuse and molestation coverage really necessary?
For an agency sending caregivers into private homes, it is the coverage most likely to be needed and least likely to be present. Standard general liability forms exclude it, so it has to be added deliberately, and most contracts now require evidence of it.
Do caregivers driving their own cars need to be covered?
Yes. A caregiver’s personal auto policy responds for the caregiver, not the agency. Hired and non-owned auto liability is what responds when the agency is named in the suit, which it will be.
How fast can coverage be bound?
Same day is normal for a licensed agency with clean loss history. What slows it down is missing payroll detail or an incomplete list of services provided. Have both ready.
Read next
The coverage itself, explained.
District of Columbia decides what you must carry. These explain what you are buying, what it excludes, and what moves the price.
Coverage
Tell us what you do. We’ll tell you what it costs.
Licensed in District of Columbia. Have your payroll figures and a list of services on hand — those are the two things that slow a quote down.
Start a quoteLast reviewed 2026-08-16