Hospice or Home Health start up

[Big Blondie, ASN, BSN, MSN, APRN]

I am considering opening a Home Health or Hospice.  Anyone who has done so have any tips..  I am in Texas, but would like to hear what others thoughts and experience has been.  

[Yosemite, RN, ASN, EMT-I]

Hospice, maybe.  But non-hospital based Home Healthcare is, for the most part, a scam on Medicare in my humble opinion.  You would be hiring RNs and LVNs to work like dogs far beyond their actual visit time, especially the RNs.  To work "full time" is a 7 day per week, 12 hours (at least) per day with all of the OASIS charting that, in of itself, must be "short cutted" to keep visits within a reasonable time-frame, including drive times/mileage.

[SunDazed, BSN, RN]

I don't know all the requirements for setting up full time home health or hospice, but I imagine it is a chore!! Wondering what your goal is?

I have a friend in Alaska that had two 2 bedroom modular homes put on her property behind their house. One of them was for twins she and her husband fostered then adopted, many hoops had to be jumped through. By age 6 or 7 they were found to have a genetic issues and were in wheelchairs and had full caregiver needs before age 10. They did not live to 25. 

She had trained as an LVN with me in California. She had the 2 units licensed as something like residential care facilities. One she kept for special needs young adults. The other for elderly or hospice patients. She frequently got calls from the hospital to take hospice patients who did not have enough support to go home. She hired and trained a few residential assistants to work for her.

So she worked closely with hospice and home health, but didn't have the burden of administering those agencies. And she was able to provide people who needed attentive care for a short term or long term , just that. 

Good luck!

[Sully]

I used to work for a home care agency for many years as an administrator.   I do not agree with the comment about home care being a scam on Medicare.  I have seen some great success stories with both home care and hospice.  I have also hired home care agencies for my loved ones.  No matter what company I used, I always had issues with staffing and finding qualified, caring people.  With that being said, there are many regulations to be satisfied.  There is a lot of money involved in the startup and advertising.  The competition is fierce.  

I am an optimistic person.  I believe, if you have the financial backing, a good business plan that you stick to, and a passion for making a difference in this genre of healthcare, you may find it rewarding in many ways.  

Most home care agencies have a difficult time with staffing.  Reliable staffing is hard to find.   Finding truly compassionate and altruistic nurses and nursing assistance is the big challenge.  If a homecare or hospice company can overcome these obstacles, they will be way ahead of the competition.   Do a careful look at your motivation for starting this business.  

I wish you great success if you decide to move forward with this.