No certificate, no vendorization. Then "do not refer".
Commercial insurance for California regional center service providers — written to the vendorization limits, with the center named as additional insured.
Tell us the situation.
A licensed human replies the same business day — not an auto-responder, and not five producers calling at once. We shop it across our carriers and tell you if the policy you already have is the right one.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
What regional center vendorization businesses actually need.
General liability
Third-party bodily injury and property damage — the line nearly every contract names by default.
Without it — Vendorization is conditional on it, at limits higher than most small providers carry, with the center named as an additional insured.
Sexual abuse & molestation
Covers allegations of abuse by staff or volunteers. General liability usually excludes it outright, and any organisation working with children, patients or vulnerable adults will be asked to carry it by name.
Without it — Services delivered one-to-one to people with developmental disabilities is the exposure the whole system is built around.
Commercial auto
Vehicles the business owns and the people who drive them for work.
Without it — Transporting consumers brings vehicle requirements of its own, and they are checked.
Hired & non-owned auto
Covers vehicles the business does not own but its people drive on the job — rentals, and employees running errands in their own cars. Their personal auto policy will not cover a business trip, and the claim lands on the business.
Without it — Staff using personal cars to transport or visit consumers are unprotected without it.
Workers compensation
Required in almost every state the moment you have employees. Priced on payroll and class code, which is why the class code is worth arguing about.
Without it — Required with employees, and part of what a center verifies.
Professional liability
Covers the advice, the drawing, the diagnosis — the work itself, rather than someone getting hurt on your premises.
Without it — Clinical and behavioural services carry a professional standard as well as a general one.
Umbrella & excess liability
Extra limit stacked above general liability, auto and employers liability. Usually the cheapest million dollars on the policy.
Without it — Larger vendorizations and school or facility affiliations push required limits above primary.
Kevin Kelsey
Founder | Principal Agent
Owned and ran a home health agency before insurance. That is where the allied health exposures were learned first-hand rather than from a rate manual — the vendor packets, the abuse and molestation requirement, staff driving their own cars to clients, and the he-said/she-said nature of a claim arising from one-to-one direct care where nobody else was in the room.
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What regional center vendorization operators ask us.
What insurance does a regional center require to vendorize?
General liability is the constant, and the limits are higher than many new providers expect — commonly $1,000,000 per occurrence and $3,000,000 aggregate, with the regional center named as an additional insured and a current certificate supplied at every renewal. Where you transport consumers, vehicle coverage is required as well. Requirements are set per center under Title 17, so the exact wording in your packet is what governs — send it to us and we will match the policy to it.
What happens if my certificate lapses?
It is treated as a compliance failure rather than an administrative one. A provider out of compliance can be placed on "do not refer" status, which stops new referrals immediately, and continued non-compliance leads to devendorization. The practical consequence is that a lapsed certificate switches off your referral pipeline before anyone rings to discuss it.
Why is the aggregate limit $3,000,000 rather than $2,000,000?
Because the standard commercial default of $1M/$2M is not what these packets ask for, and a policy bought off a generic quote engine usually carries the default. It is one of the most common reasons a first vendorization submission is rejected, and it is a straightforward fix if it is caught before the packet goes in rather than after.
Do you write new providers with no history?
Yes. A newly vendorizing provider has no claims history and often no payroll yet, which is normal in this class rather than a problem. What matters is describing the services accurately — respite, day programme, supported living, transportation and behavioural services are rated differently, and a packet that says only "services" answers nothing.