In the US, the home health care industry is growing fast. The U.S. Census revealed that by 2050, there will be over 83 million people who are aged 65 and above. Surveys also show that a lot of these people want to continue staying in their homes, as opposed to moving into a nursing home. They don’t want to live in facilities for an assisted living either.

Now that there’s so much demand for services related to home health care, more entrepreneurs are thinking about stepping into this industry. If you’re someone who enjoys making a valuable difference in the life of other people, then home health care can be the industry for you.

However, there’s a lot that actually goes into building a successful home health care agency. The first thing you need to do is decide whether you want to build your agency from the ground up. You may also want to buy a new business or become part of a franchise.

Understanding The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Each

There are a lot of people who want to start their agency from the ground up. They already know what they want from their agency, and in a lot of cases, they know how to stand out from the competition. Before you decide that you want to start a new business, consider what the advantages and disadvantages of each are.

You should also consider insurance for home health care. This is as running a business leaves you exposed to some risks, such as getting sued by dissatisfied clients. To protect your business as well as your finances, consider insurance for home health care. If you would like to learn more about insurance for home health care, then click here.

1. Being A Part Of A Franchise

If the idea of starting a new business seems daunting, then you can choose to become a part of a franchise. This option is often a more simple one. When you invest in a certain franchise agency, they’ll be giving you the tools needed to operate the agency.

They’ll provide you with the technology as well, and you’ll also get the brand reputation that they’ve already built over the years. This means that there’s not much involved in setting your agency up. You also don’t have to worry about getting approvals, developing an identity for your brand, or writing policies as well as procedures. All this will be done for you.

The disadvantage is that you’ll need to invest a lot of money upfront. You’ll also be limited when it comes to how you operate your business, as you’ll need to follow the corporate procedures and policies. Should the reputation of the parent company ever go down, your business could go down with it.

2. Buying An Existing Business

You can also buy a home health agency that’s already established. There are many reasons why an owner can choose to sell their agency. But when you buy an agency that’s already established, everything you need to operate the business is already in place. This saves you time when it comes to setting the business up. The main difference between this option and investing in a franchise is that with an existing business, you’ll already have a customer base. For franchises, you need to develop that customer base yourself.

When you buy an existing business, you aren’t bound by corporate procedures and policies. In some cases, new owners can face resistance from old employees. Note that you could also be buying into the problems the old owners faced, so understanding what these were is important.

If an existing business has a poor reputation, then you could be buying into that as well.

3. Starting A New Business

When you build a new business, you’ll be in control of all the aspects of the operation. You can create an agency that matches your vision exactly. You’ll need to build a brand as well as a team. It could even cost less to start a new business than buy an existing one. With this said, your startup costs will still be hefty.

You will also need to hire trained caregivers and ensure that the Medicare requirements are met. The disadvantage is that you’ll need to market your business completely by yourself. You won’t have an existing brand name to support you. You’ll need to ensure that you have all the licenses and permits that you need, and that you’re adhering to the state regulations as well.

Conclusion

If you want to start your own home health care agency, then you can either build a new agency, join a franchise, or buy an existing agency. Understanding what the advantages and disadvantages of each are, can help you to make an informed choice regarding what you should do. Use this guide to learn whether you should start a new agency, join a franchise, or buy an existing agency.