Excited and Scared!!

Published

Just offered DON position of new home healthcare company!!! as I've said I've had a lot of experience in my 7 years of nursing and find creating a healthcare company very exciting. But for whatever reason I am doubting myself and my abilities at this very second, eekk!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Home Health, MS, Oncology, Case Manageme.

I have been part of this experience twice, and I'll be honest that it is a tough thing. The first time I did it, it was me, the owner of the company and a consultant working to get it going. The thought was that the owner was supposed to do all the marketing and I was going to see patients until we have enough to hire another nurse, and the consultant was preparing for the survey. The problem was the owner wasn't really an owner and marketing is hard so he went and played hockey all day. I saw a few patients that were 50 miles away from each other (can't be picky with no patients) and the consultant breezed in occasionally and showed me stuff. After 3 months we still had no patients and I resigned. The second time was similar with 2 owners buying a private duty franchise and unable to get enough business combined with their lack of experience in the business. Similar ending. The problem is that it takes a ton of money to start a HHC agency and they think its going to be easy to get clients and its not. The market share of home care clients are sent to the affiliated hospital home care companies and this is going to be more so with bundling. Sorry to burst your bubble. I really do hope this works out for you, but the fail rate on these ventures is really high.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Oncology, Med-Surg, Home Health.

Well it is tough. You have to wear a lot of hats! Infection control, QA/QI, orientation, hiring/firing, practice models, wound care consultant, policy nd procedure development, care planning, risk management, etc, etc. The best scenario would be if you could get out of the finance administration and marketing and leave that to someone else or you will be stretched too thin. You will be in for a lot of challenges! Good luck! As paradise Rn pointed out, alot of people are starting up agencies right now and a lot of them fail, usually the owners are not knowledgeable about the health care arena.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thank you guys so much for ur informative feedback!! Met with the owner today........will think about it all.......and "hopefully" get to compare offers and have a choice by Thur.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

P.S.......I'm gonna be hitting u guys up for "what did and what didn't work" if I take the position :-)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion