Introduction to start a home health care business
If you are someone who is looking to start a home health care business, then this is the right place. Home health care is one of the largest growing businesses and has expanded its boundaries over a short span. The term home health care is fairly straightforward. Talking about providing care at home, it essentially means that this industry revolves around the patient in need and providing services at the patient’s convenience. In this patient-centric industry, there needs to be careful planning and structure to keep it running smoothly.
A step-by-step guide to starting a home health care business
Starting a new home healthcare is not an easy task and not necessarily suit everyone. It is a business that combines strategic expertise and the compassion to serve people. If you are not someone with a desire to care for your fellow man, then this might not be the right decision in the long run.
Currently, India’s healthcare sector is the second-fastest-growing surpassed only by retail. Unsurprisingly, many corporate houses are looking to exploit the opportunities this field of business provides and are actively considering diversification into or have already diversified into this sector by setting up their hospitals.
Challenges in starting a home health care business
There are some unique challenges in starting a home health care that should be weighed carefully before entering the field.
- Long-distance travel: The convenience of home health care is for the patient, not the caregiver
- Technological upkeep and maintenance
- Working in isolation
Steps involved in starting a home healthcare business
Follow these steps in starting a home healthcare business:
Step 1: Writing a business plan
The first step in starting any type of business is writing a business plan. Home health care is unique in many ways, but the one thing it has in common with every other new business venture is that a lack of adequate planning and forecasting is a sure way to undercut its potential success. You’ll want to make sure you carefully plan out every detail of the logistics in getting the business off the ground and past the troublesome first couple of years.
Writing a business plan for a healthcare industry involves preparing a document that figures out the services you intend to provide and how you plan to run your company. A business plan includes the following:
- Executive summary
- Company description
- Services
- Marketing plan
- Management and organization
- Operational plan
- Financial plan
After you’ve outlined your business model and industry trends, you will need to calculate financial projections. Estimate the cost of starting and running your healthcare business, as well as your revenues, for the next few years. You will want to demonstrate when you can reasonably expect to break even.
Step 2: Set up a business entity
Set up the business entity that will best fit your needs such as Sole proprietor, Partnership, Limited Liability Company, S Corporation, C Corporation. Consult with an attorney and or research online on your state government website about appropriate business structure, sales tax, info regarding payroll, workers compensation, and business liability insurance.
Step 3: Register your business
At the initial stage, it is important to Register your healthcare agency with the state because the registration will help you acquire other major requirements of the business. By getting the business registered, you will get a license to start the home healthcare business and your agency will be certified.
Step 4: State and local licensing
Because of the nature of this industry, you will need to be aware of the multiple, and overlapping, licensing, and permit regulations that you and your staff have to comply with. Each state and municipality has its laws and ordinances that cover business licensing. The permission to the healthcare industry is to be obtained through your state’s department of public health.
Step 5: Hire a great staff
The most essential and crucial part is in hiring the most suitable fit for your organization. The best way to retain clients and get referrals for others is to build your reputation of providing top-quality professional medical services in a personable manner. The growth of any home health industry depends upon the quality of care provided. This in turn will improve the service quality, reduce thefts, increase trust among your patients. In other words, they represent your organization, and choosing the best is important as it reflects the name of the organization.
The most challenging part of this business is staffing. Finding the right people is critical, because ultimately the person who walks into the home is your representative and they are the face of your business. Finding good staff is the greatest challenge a home care business will face.
Another option would be to, have tie-ups with other organizations that are specialized in certain services and pull employees on a contract basis. Again, we will have to make sure that it is a reputed organization.
Step 6: Find out the Geography
Before establishing, let us analyze the trends and patterns of people during the past and about each medical service that has been prominent in different areas. We are understanding the different needs of different people and mapping it with the resources available with us. We can then decide which geographies to provide our services to. Ideally, you can set up the office location central to these geographies.
Step 7: Developing your marketing strategy
Some of the most effective strategies for recruiting clients for a home health care business are the following. These marketing strategies will make you visible to the people.
Reach out and network: Most of your trusted clients come in referrals, so word-of-mouth is very important. What your patients feel about your services is important as they go on to suggest people they know to contact you only if they have had a satisfying experience.
Set up a website: You can set up a website and use it extensively to lay down all the services provided by you. Additionally, you have to give out advertisements on social media such as Facebook, join forums and groups associated with your industry, post useful information constantly.
Attend trade shows and events as many as possible: Get exposed to the outer world. Attend trade fairs, conferences, and events where you get an opportunity to meet physicians, equipment vendors, nurses, and other owners of businesses. Networking is important as is in most businesses.
Create a unique brand: Create a brand of your own and stand out from the crowd. Finding ways to capture that special place in the market is the key to withstanding in this competition in the long run. And most of this comes from the quality of care that is provided.
Step 8: Operate your business
Once you hire your staff, it’s time to start operating your business. By triggering the target customers and their needs you can start operating your business. Your marketing techniques should be efficient enough to reach out to the customers to do so. Building an online presence is quite essential in today’s digitized time. Other marketing techniques include advertising, direct marketing, email marketing among others.
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Tips for getting a home health care license
Before you apply, you’ll need to follow a few tips for getting a home healthcare license, including:
- Understand state regulations
- Get familiar with the fees
- Find out if you should have a Certificate of Need
- Make sure you have an office
- Understand the policy and procedure manual
- Have a clear business plan
- Register your business
- Hire your core people
- Create a process for staff screening
- Check on license requirements
Permissions required starting a health care business
The following are the permissions required to start a health care business.
Land and construction-related issues
The first problem in starting a healthcare business is the land, and one should ideally look for non-agricultural land specifically designated for hospitals. This information can be obtained from the land records of the local authorities or municipal corporations. If a prior designation for hospitals does not exist, the local authorities will have to be notified about this change of use.
To begin construction, you will need several documents, such as the land title deed, corporate or company details, permission from the local authority to use land space for construction, building permit, tax identification card, and the architect’s plan. The last of these must have the formal approval of the local government before construction can commence. A certificate of no objection also needs to be procured.
On obtaining electricity supply and setting the tiles, you can get a completion certificate from the authorities after the premises have been inspected. The Government issues an occupation certificate after all the clearances.
Permission for electricity requirement
Based on the usage of lighting, air-conditioning, as well as that of the medical equipment, a hospital’s approximate electricity requirement, is estimated. These can be assessed with the help of the hospital consultant or architect. The permission to the healthcare industry for electricity is to be obtained from the local electric supply board.
Permission for water requirement
Any hospital will require approximately 100 liters of water per bed per day. In reality, the water requirement for a hospital may vary from project to project, depending on whether it is a special care, tertiary, secondary, or primary hospital. This figure includes everything from a patient’s water requirements to hospital maintenance. The permission to the healthcare industry for water requirements is to be obtained from the local authority.
Sewage waste and Sanitation
For the installation of sanitation measures and waste control faculties, including tanks, pipelines, and the like, you need permission from the local authorities.
Bio-medical waste issues
Large hospitals need to have incinerators installed for disposing of biomedical waste, such as body parts or tissues. Usually, as incinerators take up between 500 to 1,000 square feet of space, to have them installed smaller hospitals cannot afford. Therefore, they need to register with municipal corporations for waste disposal themselves.
Fire department approval
This is a mandatory requirement for large hospitals.
Health certification
In most of the cities, the local authority will certify a healthcare facility only after all beds and equipment have been installed. This involves a nominal fee.
Expenses in starting a home healthcare business
If you’re starting your own home healthcare business, many factors need to be taken into consideration. One of the most important is the potential costs – from initial investment to site selection and hiring, among others. For one to provide quality service, good staffing and technology have become important. We need specialized equipments that match the quality of service provided at the hospitals, at the same time cost-effective.
You need to concentrate on the equipment, hiring professionals, rent a place for office set-up. It is now time to decide the cash-flow, if you are going to partner with someone or take up a loan etc.
Anyone considering starting a home healthcare business from the ground up should develop a working budget for three years. This will provide them ample time and resources to make sure their business is starting on the right foot, and they have enough time to perfect operations. During the first year, as an independent operator, the most important steps to take for your business are:
- Name and logo development
- Policy and procedure development
- Licensing and regulatory compliance
- Computer software and hardware purchasing and set-up
- Staff recruitment, on-boarding, training and retention
- Office space rental, purchase of supplies, equipment and furniture
- Direct personnel salaries and expenses calculations
- Start-up funds to show financial viability for state and Medicare
Pros and cons of starting a healthcare business
Following are the pros and cons of starting a healthcare business:
Pros of starting a healthcare business
- Demand for medical field is rising
- You can control your income directly
Cons of starting a healthcare business
- It requires more than just medical knowledge
- Lawsuits against medical practitioners
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