Are you passionate about taking care of people? Did the entrepreneurial bug bite you? If both of those statements describe you then listen up.
Starting a home health care business gives you the best of both worlds. There are currently 47.8 million elderly citizens above the age of 65 with the number set to rise every year.
It’s no secret that this segment of the population needs specialized medical and personal care, therefore, opening up great business opportunities for budding entrepreneurs in the health care industry. In this article, we explore the ins and outs of a home health care business. Read on to find out how you can start one.
What Is Home Health Care?
Home health care is a very broad term that means different things to different people. To some, it refers to skilled home care while to others it means non-medical home care.
Non-medical home health care is commonly given to senior citizens of our society who need a little extra help with most of their day-to-day activities but don’t wish to leave their homes to receive it. The services they might require include having their meals prepared, general housekeeping, help getting ready and transportation to run errands.
On the other hand, skilled home health care involves giving some level of medical care to patients also in the comfort of the patient’s own home. This isn’t limited to senior citizens only.
It caters to any person who would rather not visit a health facility to receive specialized care. Activities that revolve around skilled home health care include nursing services, therapeutic services, and any other long term medical care.
How to Start a Home Health Care Business 101
The most popular home health care demands center around skilled nursing, social work, therapy services (occupational, physical and speech) and nursing aide work. Here’s a step by step guide on how to set up your business from scratch.
Step 1: Create a Business Plan
A home health care business might be unique in many ways. However, just like any other startup business, if you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail.
So formulating a business plan makes sure that you don’t undercut your business’ potential for success. You’ll need to pay close attention to every detail of the logistics needed to get your business off the ground.
Having clinical knowledge is great and all, but, it’s not enough to guarantee success. At the end of the day, it’s still a business like any other and it needs to be run like one. Its ultimate goal is to generate a profit so you need to incorporate the right balance of skills.
If this is your first time writing a business plan, there are lots of free online resources you can use to guide you through the process. Nonetheless, here are some key elements you can’t afford to leave out.
Step 2: Calculate the Cost of Your Capital Expenses
To provide high-quality home health care services your business needs to invest sophisticated and portable medical equipment, like percussive massagers. There are no two ways about it. More so if you intend to provide skilled home health care.
You must, however, have the financial muscle to provide the same level of medical expertise your patients would otherwise receive in an established medical facility. So, your starting expenses should factor in the following:
- High-quality nursing supplies
- Office equipment and supplies
- Rental expenses
- Business development budget
You can add more items to the list if you feel like they’re critical to starting out. You’ll definitely need more items as your business expands, but for now, this is a great starting point.
Step 3: Get Financing for Your Home Health Care Business
Once you have a comprehensive list of all your starting expenses you obviously need the money to fund them. As an entrepreneur, there are lots of options available to you.
You could get a business loan from a bank or a small business loan from a credit financing company. You could get your friends to invest in your business. Alternatively, it won’t hurt to apply for a state-level grant reserved for emerging businesses in the health care industry.
Don’t go into your business with unrealistic expectations. The fact of the matter is for the first three to six months your business won’t make any money. You’ll have to be patient.
Not only does growing your client-base take time, but, you also have to wait to get on a regular billing cycle with Medicaid and Medicare. So you’ll need a detailed cash flow management plan as well to figure out how you’ll get by during the first few months.
Step 4: Check Out Your Competition
As you start your own business conducting in-depth market research to learn what your competition is doing is a critical component of the entire process. That way you can customize your service offerings to cater to a need that has not been met by your competitors.
This step is also correlated with raising capital for your business. You’ll be able to prove to your investors that your business already has a great local market. A competitive analysis will guide you in coming up with the right marketing strategies to fill the void in the current market.
Step 5: Obtain All the Relevant Accreditation
When starting a Home health care business you need to get all your certification affairs in order. The first thing you need to is to apply for a home health care license in your state.
This involves filling out all the license requirements that come with it. While the licensing and operation standards may vary from one state to the next, the three items below are the common denominator for all of them:
- You have to incorporate your business.
- You need to obtain a TAX ID for it.
- Your home health care business needs an NPI number. NPI stands for National Provider Identifier.
Get in touch with your State Department of Health to make sure you’ve covered all your bases. Ensure that you also obtain all the necessary Medicare and Medicaid accreditation. This is particularly important because the two will be your primary revenue source.
Step 6: Take Care of Your Business Staffing Needs
When you start a home care agency, the importance of building a solid reputation cannot be overstated. It’s the only way your business will grow. Your community has to know you for providing personalized high-quality professional home care services.
So you need to make sure the people you bring on board are up to the task. This is especially important for the front line service providers you’ll recruit.
If you have the financial muscle when you’re starting out, you can do the recruitment yourself and have them work with you on a full-time basis. Alternatively, you could source for the clients and contract the work out to another agency with skilled medical providers. These would comprise nurses, occupational therapists, and physiotherapists.
However, the best approach when you’re starting off is to specialize with one or two professionals you can retain in-house, more so if you are not a medical professional yourself. Conduct a thorough background check on all the staff members on your team to avoid exposing yourself and your company to a potential lawsuit.
It helps to hire professionals who’ve gone through top-level training programs in institutions like the Ultimate Medical Academy. They’ll give your business the support it needs to get off the ground.
Step 7: Develop a Fool-Proof Marketing Plan
Once you’ve got all the tricky parts of setting up your business out of the way you need to let people know of your existence. That’s how you’ll get your first clients. So, employing effective marketing strategies to get noticed is the next logical step.
First, set up a website for your business. While the majority of your client base might not be spending their time on the internet, remember they aren’t necessarily the ones who would be looking for their own home health care plan. Their family and loved ones are likely the ones who’ll do it on their behalf.
Second, believe it or not, good old fashioned hustling still works. Reach out to local senior centers, long-term health facilities, rehab outpatient, and other long term care facilities. Partnering with them could give you an endless supply of customers.
Finally, try to join as many local business associations as possible. Your city’s Chamber of Commerce, for instance, might offer numerous opportunities for agencies to hobnob with the industry decision makers.
The Bottom Line
While the potential for growth in the home health care industry is seemingly infinite, it doesn’t mean everyone’s cut out for it. A home health care business brings with it its own share of immense stress and high pressure.
You have to have a specific personality type driven purely by compassion and a desire to help humanity if you hope to thrive in this business. If making money is your sole motivation, you’re better off finding something else to generate an income. But, if you have what it takes, you’ll get lots of fulfillment from your work.
Do you need to find more ways to make some money? Check out these great ideas for setting up a home business.
