Sen. Nathan Johnson
Sen. Nathan Johnson (D-Dallas) has filed legislation mandating that private and public licensed nursing facilities carry professional liability insurance covering the facility and its employees. SB 493 establishes minimum annual limits of $300,000 per occurrence and $1 million aggregate. Policies must be written on an occurrence basis and issued by an authorized insurer. The coverage may not include the cost of defense in the liability limit. A nursing facility owned and operated by a governmental unit must maintain sufficient coverage to meet the unit’s liability under the Tort Claims Act. A management company that manages a governmental unit-owned facility must maintain professional liability coverage in the same amounts as a private facility. To the maximum extent allowed by law, the cost of the required insurance coverage is an allowable cost for reimbursement under the state Medicaid program.
