Dishonesty Bond vs Surety Bond — What Ohio & Minnesota Care Agencies Actually Need
Care agency owners get these two bonds confused all the time. They sound similar — they protect very different things. Here's the plain-English breakdown.
Quick answer: do I need both?
If you run a licensed home health agency, skilled nursing facility, or residential care facility in Ohio or Minnesota and you handle any client/resident money — even small allowances — the answer is almost always **yes, you need both.**
• The **surety bond** (sometimes called a skilled nursing bond, residents' personal funds bond, or care facility bond) protects your clients/residents. The state requires it.
• The **employee dishonesty bond** (sometimes called a fidelity bond or employee theft insurance) protects YOUR business. No state requires it, but smart owners carry it anyway.
They are not interchangeable. They cover different parties with different money.
What a surety bond actually does
A surety bond is a three-party agreement:
1. **Principal** — you, the care agency 2. **Obligee** — the state regulator (Ohio Department of Health, Minnesota Department of Health, etc) 3. **Surety** — the bond company
If you fail to handle resident funds correctly — let's say an employee steals $5,000 from a resident's personal account, or the agency itself misappropriates funds — the resident files a claim against the bond. The surety pays the resident up to the bond limit. Then the surety comes back to you and demands reimbursement of every dollar.
The surety bond protects the resident. Not you. You are still on the hook for the loss.
What an employee dishonesty bond actually does
An employee dishonesty bond is straight-up insurance for your business. If an employee steals from you — cash, equipment, supplies, billing fraud, payroll fraud, or even theft from a client where you end up reimbursing the client — the insurance pays you back.
Unlike a surety bond, there is no obligation to repay. It is true insurance: you pay a premium, the carrier pays the loss.
Typical limits for Ohio and Minnesota home health agencies are $25,000 to $250,000. Annual cost is usually $250 to $1,200 depending on payroll size and number of employees with access to cash or client funds.
A real example (composite, names changed)
A Cleveland home health agency we work with had a billing clerk who, over 14 months, submitted false Medicaid claims for visits that never happened. Total damages: $87,000.
Medicaid clawed back the full $87,000 from the agency. The agency had:
• A $10,000 Ohio skilled nursing bond → useless here, no resident funds were stolen • A $100,000 employee dishonesty bond → paid the entire $87,000 minus the $1,000 deductible
The agency stayed open. Without the dishonesty bond, they would have closed. That's the difference between the two coverages.
What both cost together for a typical Ohio or Minnesota care agency
For a mid-sized home health agency in Columbus or Minneapolis with 25 employees and modest resident funds on hand:
• Ohio skilled nursing bond ($10,000): $100 – $250 per year • Employee dishonesty bond ($100,000): $400 – $900 per year • **Combined: roughly $500 – $1,150 per year**
That is, for most agencies, less than the cost of one small claim. The math is straightforward.
How Noah Insurance Agency writes them
We bind both bonds in a single phone call for most Ohio and Minnesota care agencies. Bring:
• Your business legal name and tax ID • Number of employees, total payroll • Current licensure status (or a copy of your application if you're a new agency) • A rough estimate of resident funds you hold on average
Most quotes come back within an hour. Bound the same day. ODH or MN Department of Health filings handled by us, mailed to your office.
Ready? Get a quote on noahia.com or call 814-718-0060. We are based in Columbus, OH, licensed in Ohio, Iowa, and Minnesota, and we answer the phone.
Ready for a same-day quote?
Real broker. Real numbers. Same business day on most Ohio policies.