“Starting a Home Health Agency”
Comment Page 5

@valeisha, Good afternoon, I am Lilian. I am a part of a firm that specializes in health care business start-ups as well as continuing proper management. We can definitely assist you in the process of getting started with your agency. Feel free to give us a call so that we may be of help in your project. I look forward to hearing from you soon,

@sonja, Hi sonja. Our firm can definitely help you in this process. What you are looking to get started with is called a Private Duty Nursing agency. The start-up costs are between $10,000-$20,000. You may start from home. The cost estimate includes our fee for taking you through the entire process. Feel free to reach us so that we can help get your business foundations right from the start. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

@Hazem, Hello Hazem, your question is a valid one. Allow me to begin by saying that any individual or entity (corporation, LLC, DBA, etc.) who provide health care services, whether home health, clinic, adult day care, assisted living, hospital, nursing home, group home, rehab, hospice, etcetera, is titled a provider. Therefore, you can be an individual provider or an entity provider. Depending on the services you provide, you are classified into a "provider type". In the case of an individual home health aide, they can provide services such as personal care, homemaking, companion, chore, respite, etcetera. So in regards to your first question, a home health aide can be an individual provider. In regards to the 2nd question, the agency is the provider and the home health aide is the staff member contracted by the home health agency. I hope this helps clear your questions. Feel free to reach me to discuss it further, Good luck.

@Shumia Mathis-Cost, Good evening Shumia. What you are interested in starting is known as a Private Duty Nursing agency. It acts as a home health agency, however, it can only provide services to Medicaid recipients, private pay, and private insurances. The start-up costs run between $10,000-$20,000 and this includes our fee for taking you through the whole process. We provide you policies and procedures, complete your forms, prepare you for survey from the state, etcetera. Feel free to give us a call and have our trusted company guide you on the right direction. I look forward to hearing from you soon,

@Jeff, Good evening Jeff, Health Care Business Advisors is a firm made of a team of consultants and support staff. There are two of us our Clients work with. In your case, I will be the one to work alongside with you to get this project rolling. You will deal strictly with me throughout the process. In Pennsylvania, you may use a residential address to get started, Great news Jeff, you do not need to have double provider enrollment. Your home health agency license and medicare certification allows you to provide therapies (physical, occupational and speech). The only catch is, they have to be provided in the clients' homes. You cannot provide them in the office. That is a separate provider type. So yes, you will deal with me directly, you may start from home, and as a home health you can provide therapies. Feel free to give me a call and we can discuss this further, Good luck!

@iris ramos, Hi Iris! I am always excited to hear someone in Puerto Rico is looking to start a health care business. I am Cuban with Puerto Rican roots. In regards to your question, I can tell you it is very hard to find grants in today's economy. The pointers I can give you though, is that bank of america has given money in the past to starting businesses. However, I am almost sure you will have to be a guarantor. I know SBA does not really provide much money either and in regards to grants, you have to check in your local government for those. I know at a local level, cities do offer grants as incentive to businesses, usually non-profit organizations. You will need an estimate of $60,000 to get started. The process will take about 9 months including the medicare certification process. Feel free to give me a call so that we can discuss the process further. I look forward to hearing from you soon!

@jay, Hi Jay, how are you? I am sorry to hear about your losing your job. Both of the choices are good. The first choice of purchasing an agency though, is riskier. Here's the issue, you don't know what you are buying. Unfortunately, nowadays, you do not have to be committing fraud to be shut down. Nowadays, you can be shut down by not being compliant with rules and regs. Therefore, you have to make sure you are purchasing a good standing business. A company like ours will help you make sure the business you are buying is in good standing. Although it is never 100% sure since it all depends on the size of the company and how many years they' ve been in business, we can give you the green light to buy or red light not to buy. We will check everything, from client records to staff records, to financial documents, looking for specific items that will will tell us how the business has been managed. In addition, you will not be able to make money right away, you still need to be approved by CMS and the other regulating agencies, if any, that are involved. In other words, CHOW paperwork has be completed and sent correctly. Our agency can also take you through that process since we work with mergers and acquisitions. In option 2, yes, it can take you 9 months - 12 months, but you are starting something from the beginning in which you are aware has not committed any fraud or has started from the beginning with efficient management and has been compliant. Remember, two things can get you shut down, fraud and compliance. It's just that the risks are higher when you buy one than when you start from scratch. I have been hired in situations where companies have had their provider number terminated and we have to prepare an appeal for that. Although we have been successful in all cases, it is still not a guaanteed process. In other cases, companies have bought a business for let's say $400,000 and 30 days later have received a letter from Medicare stating they have to return over $1,000,000 for wrongful billing, and have been forced to shut down down to not having the money to return. In other cases, they have bought a business and it's turned out that the previous owner has committed fraud, and they have had to go through the whole process of proving they weren't involved in the fraud, but have been forced to shut down anyway because they lose their billing privileges. There are many factors you face, And both choices have their ups and downs. Not to mention, a lot of times, it will cost you triple the amount of money to buy an established agency than to start one, therefore, it is still cheaper for you to start it although you won't generate money right away. An established agency will cost you anywhere from $150,000 + depending on size of company and starting one should not cost you more than $60,000 throughout the whole process. Yes, part of our consulting packet does guide you through techniques of generating patient referrals. I hope this helps clear up your choices and I look forward to helping you make the right choice for you. As always, I wish you luck!

@Jeanette, Good morning Jeanette, the business you are looking to own is a Home Care agency. Depending on where you are located (which state) is the process you must follow to receive a license to operate. Just let me know when you are ready to give us a call. :)

@C. Daniels, I look forward to doing so as well.

@Isa, Hi Isa, there is not moratorium in Texas... And yes, a pediatrics home health does have to go through the licensure process as any regular home health. However, you do not have to undergo certification for Medicare since you will not work with geriatrics. But yes, you do have to go through licensing with DADS.

@Shona, Hi Shona, thank you for your inquiries. Yes, i order to function as a home health agency, (hire staff for services and provide services) you do have to be licensed by the state of Texas, You can get the census for your competition from carepathways.com. And it is understandable that you are confused and that's what we are here for. The steps to starting a home health agency in Texas is licensing, certification (if you want to work with geriatrics Medicare patients, and accreditation). Feel free to give us a call so that we may discuss your options. :)

@Isa, Hello Isa, a non-skilled agency would still require a home health license in the State of Texas. PHC is a type of program and it takes at least one year of you being licensed as a home health in addition to providing services to10 consumers in order to contract with PHC. Feel free to reach us for more information regarding your process. The best of luck on your project and look forward to hearing from you soon.

@George, Yes George, you can. But there is a lot more to starting and running a health care agency in New York. Feel free to reach us so that we may discuss the process further with you. The best of luck on your project. Look forward to hearing from you.

@@Kayla, Hi Kayla, do you have billing experience? Did you go through a course to learn it? Where are you located? All of these are questions I need to know in order to guide you correctly. Feel free to reach us for more information.

P.S. There is more to the process of medical billing than what you are taught in a school setting. There is some risk involved in the process as well. It is a great career to be in, very comfortable in the sense that it is flexible so you may work from home as you look after your kids. Overall, it is a great choice, but as any business, it does have to be taken very seriously and with caution.

As always, I wish you luck with your venture!

@Vanny, Hi Vanny! Starting a non-medical agency in Ohio, we would have to find out the type of licensing that "may" be required. You can find out with the Department of Health. In Ohio, skilled home health agencies deal directly with Medicare certification. There is no license really issued. So, the question really is, does Ohio Department of Health monitor licensing requirements for this type of business. Feel free to reach us for more information. As always, warm wished with your project!

@Leomie, The start-up capital we are looking at is anywhere between $10,000-$20,000. You will most likely need a license. But you will know for sure by calling Teneessee's Department of Health. Good luck with your endeavor as always.... Feel free to give us a call if you have more questions.

@Geanette, Good morning! It is my understanding that you may not accept clients nor provide services to clients as a company until you have a license to operate. Double check with the state to make sure. But I am pretty sure that is the way it is done. Either way, you should market yourself to the whole community you want to serve... It never really shows the results until a while later... For an actual marketing strategy feel free to give us a call so that we may assist you through that process. I wish you luck!

@Jacqui, Hi Jacqui! When you say, accreditation it is not the same thing as certification. Accreditation is when a company such as Joint Commission, CHAP or ACHC come out to your business and conducts a 3-day survey (for agencies that are per-existing that survey may be more days depending on the number of clients). At the end of the survey, they will award (tell Medicare) that you are in full compliance with the COPs (conditions of participation) and with their accreditation standards. For this accreditation process, you do not need $100,000. The accrediting organization does not check any monies from the agency. They check your financial documents such as your annual budget. For the certification process, yes you do need to have contingency finding money which I have stated in posts above, it would be beneficial to you if you read the discussions from earlier this year which are available above. There it explains all about the money. For Hollywood, FL, I would count on about $75,000-$80,000. But the highest I've seen in the whole country has been $98,000 and that is for the area of Miami. This is for Medicare to check and approve (the certification process). Feel free to give us a call so we may guide you through this process. I wish you the best of luck!

@Darlene, Good morning Darlene! Our firm specializes in preparing marketing strategies with our clients. Feel free to give us a call (305) 492-5308 do come up with a strategic plan for marketing in your area. I look forward to hearing from you soon!

@Kevin, Hi Kevin, the process you are interested in takes local and state licensing procedures that require you to be compliant with a number of laws. You will need to have policies and procedures in place and then develop a marketing plan that will get people qualified for these services interested in your home versus other homes that would be your competition. Our firm specializes in guiding people through this process from start to finish. It also includes enrollment in 4 programs that cover these services and so forth. Feel free to give us a call so we can better assist you with your plan.

@Nicole, Hi Nicole, once again, the process for this requires compliance with local, state and federal laws. Depending on your location, federal enrollment may be mandatory. There are forms, data collection to be implemented, marketing plans to follow, possible accreditation requirements, and so on. Feel free to give us a call and see if we can guide you through this process. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Our contact number is (305) 492-5308.

@Monique, Hi Monique, definitely, a home health care agency is your most profitable choice. Medicare does not reimburse solely for home health aide services, home health aide services through Medicare is covered in combination with a skilled services. As a home care agency, you are limited in working with insurances as well as the services you will be able to provide. Now, in Texas, I can tell you that even though you offer non-skilled services, you would still hold a home health agency license, but you would be considered non-medical if what you choose to provide is solely home care (non-skilled) services. Feel free to give us a call so we may discuss your options better. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

@Addie, Hi Addie! First and foremost I would like to say thank you for your thoughts regarding the work I do. I do appreciate my clients and the guts that they have for considering going on their own venture. It is a scary move to make and it requires a lot of dedication and hard work from your part. I first opened my business when I was 25, personally very young but I had a plan and as I look back, yes it has been very strenuous and felt discouraged at times, but I do not regret fighting to accomplish my goals. Even as you believe you have made it, something takes place to make you realize you still have a lot more to go (LOL). In regards to your venture, for Maryland, you can open a Residential Service Agency as there is a moratorium on Home Heath Care. Yes, you can start with companion, personal care, homemaking, maybe even medication management. The licensing for what you are interested has a fee of $500 with the state. In addition you will need 2 submit policies and procedures with the application for them to review. Our office can help you through the whole process. Yes, we can start with the process ASAP. Feel free to call me at (305) 492-5308 so I can guide you through the contract process and fees. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

@my duong, Good afternoon, basically it "should" be ok with the law to be hired by private patients to see them and get paid. However, the services would have to be provided by you, no hiring other individuals. Once you get into hiring other individuals, then you must register as a business and go through licensing process. That is how you begin your home health agency. Therefore, you must decide whether you wish to do this individually for yourself, or if you wish to hire more individuals and then you must form a company. Feel free to reach me if you have further questions (305) 492-5308.