Home Health Care

There are over 14 different home health care franchises out there to choose from as a business opportunity. Which is the right one for you and what are the differences?

Right now, the home health care industry is booming but even without the boom it would still be a good business to get into. It has some features that are particularly good when looking at what type of business to get into. It has repeat customers, is recession resistant, has a management style business model, and has in-demand services.

Repeat customers are important aspect to any business. It is much easier to grow a business when you have a base to work with. You can provide good service to keep your current customers while you grow the business by finding new customers. Plus, with repeat customers, you have a better chance of an existing customer referring your services to someone else since they see you often.

The in-home health services are always going to be needed to some extent because it is based on the age of people rather than some fad.

Typically, you manage this type of business rather than do the physical work. Because of this, you can enjoy a white-collar style position. Also, it is easier to sell a business in the future if you manage as opposed to "being the business."

Right now, the home health care services are in demand and will continue to be in demand so the aging population can stay in their home while they age.

So what are the differences. The main differences are the services provided. Almost all provide non-medical services. In addition to the non-medical services provide, some will provide medical services, staffing services, and placement services.

Non-medical services may include light house cleaning, light cooking, companionship, transportation, bathing, dressing, grooming, repositioning bed-bound patients. Most non-medical services can be provided by a Certified Nurse Assistant or a Home Health Assistant but verify this with each franchise.

Medical services could include wound care, giving medication, physical therapy, blood sugar testing, IV hookups, catheters, etc. Medical services typically require a Registered Nurse to be a director with LPN's or RN's performing the work.

Staffing services are another revenue source that some franchises chose to add. Since you are already finding work for caregivers by getting your own clients, you could easily speak to hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living homes, etc to see if you can place employees into their systems. If you have an abundance of caregiver applicants, this seems like a great additional revenue source. Keep in mind, your main focus should be building in-home clients for your caregivers. Also, remember that there are companies that do just staffing for health care workers.

Placement services or assisted living placement services are another revenue source for many of the franchises. When your client becomes unable to live at their home, you can refer them to an assisted living home or nursing home if needed. You will receive a referral fee from the assisted living home or nursing home. You will have the referral agreement created with the homes before you start referring clients.

You may just want to focus on non-medical and/or medical and not worry about the other services. Or maybe you see the advantage of being able to offer those additional services.

Another aspect to look at when choosing the right one is what type of workforce do they have. Almost all the systems make their caregivers employees, while just a couple make them independent contractors. This model can make a substantial difference to your bottom line.

Also, you may want to find out if the franchise company works with Medicare and Medicaid. Some people view this as a positive because of the guaranteed payments while others know the hassle it creates and the lower payment produced by Medicare.

All of these are aspects to consider when you are looking at which home health care franchise to buy into.

We can help narrow down which one is best for you. We are franchise consultants that specialize in the home health care franchises. Our services are free to you, we save you endless hours of searching for the right one, we get you in contact with the appropriate people quickly, and we have other references and material to help you conduct your research.