Risk Management and Small Business Group Health Plans:

Small businesses are inherently risky. This is one reason that insurance companies have tried to avoid providing group health insurance plans to small businesses. Since there are less than 50 employees in a small business, if one of them gets sick, it can mean that the costs can mount up for an insurance company.

Thanks to Guaranteed Issue, purchasing group health insurance is no longer a problem for small business owners. Guaranteed Renewal also means that a small business cannot have their group plan cancelled unless they defraud the insurance company or they don’t pay their premiums.

Even though you are assured of guaranteed issue and a guaranteed renewal, there are specific steps that you can take to practice risk management in your small business. This can keep your employees healthier and may reduce the amount of money you spend on your health insurance policy.

There are several different types of risk management that can be used for a small business. They range from risk management for premises liability or other methods of risk management to keep employees healthy.

Here are some tips on how to implement a risk management program for your employee’s health.

1. Establish policies for hand washing. During cold and flu season, it is quite easy for an entire office to come down with the same bug. By instituting a new policy that requires all employees to wash their hands you can cut down on these risks. These signs should be posted in the employee restroom area and all employees should be informed of the new change in policy.

2. Establish policies for sanitation. Keeping shared equipment germ-free is almost impossible any time of year, but it is particularly difficult during cold and flu season. Telephones, copy machines and keyboards can harbor several different types of germs or bacteria. To reduce this risk, you can leave antiseptic wipes at these high-risk areas and require that employees use them after they have finished using the equipment. Again, you can post reminder signs in these areas to keep your employee’s on track.

3. Establish a sick-leave benefit. In order to encourage your employees not to come in when they are ill, it is important to offer at least one paid sick day per month for each employee. This can reduce sickness spreading throughout your office. If you do not think that you can afford this type of benefit, you can add up how much time and loss of work that your business can experience if several employees become ill instead of just one person.

4. Develop a plan for the loss of a key person. If you have only one receptionist or one person that is in charge of a specific set of duties, losing this person, even for a couple of days can throw your business into chaos. You will need to develop a plan that will allow you to keep your business up and running. Your options include hiring an on-call part timer or by keeping in touch with a temp agency that has a qualified individual that can handle things until your employee returns.


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