Would Love Advice On Private Duty Nursing(Non-Agency) Contractor!

JustBeachyNurse, LPN · Aug 1, 2013

Thread move to entrepreneurs in nursing forum to elicit targeted response. Good luck.

NedRN · Aug 7, 2013

You will be a contractor no matter the type of business entity you utilize. The choices are sole proprietor (the default if you do nothing), and corporate forms: regular, subchapter S, and LLC. You should read a small business book and any one of them will describe each business form and the advantages of each. Go to Barnes and Noble and browse. I think you will find there is no rush to incorporate. Just start and see if you can make a go of it. Then refine your business model based on revenue, taxation, benefits, and liability.

Queendee22 · Dec 19, 2013

Thank you both for your input. NedRN..boy alot has changed since I last posted. I am an independent contractor/sole proprietor--will be doing private duty nursing skilled and non-skilled. All nursing care under the PA Nurse Practice Act. Skilled nursing must be ordered and supported by client physician. Now, all I need is a site who can help me prepare my contract/assessment sheets etc.. I have had a hard time finding legitimate info without paying an arm and a leg!

All suggestions are welcome. I hope to launch by mid to the end of Jan 2014.

Queendee22 · Dec 19, 2013

Excellent info NedRN.

NedRN · Dec 19, 2013

Have you done private duty ever? Good relations with the agency? Ask them for a copy of the contract if you feel comfortable, or even if not. Good relations with any client? Ask them for a copy of their contract. Look at your own work agreement to see if poaching customers is allowed. Probably not and it is unethical, but the contracts should not be under an non-disclosure agreement.

Also try walking into a home health agency away from your area where you will not be a competitor and ask if you can have a copy of their client agreement. No? Make friends and try to pay - perhaps $100 would make it worth it to both of you.

If you haven't worked in this field, you should. Free training for your business, and all the assessment forms you could ever want.

If this is what you want to do, go for it. But it is very unlikely that even the contract (agency) rate for a private duty nurse will be as much as you can make in acute care but I'm not really familiar with the going rates. I think it will also be difficult to work steady by yourself (perhaps you are just going to do this on the side)? When you are working, you will be giving up work that you have now lost for ever. If you set up an agency, you can use others to fill in when you have a client and take over when that job is done.

Queendee22 · Dec 29, 2013

Ned all very insightful advice. Yes, I did private duty many years ago to a high end client via an agency...hence why I want to pursue as my own business.

It is a very lucrative field of nursing...36-40 hrs per week will yield 6 figures..as the owner of course..no more middle man. Acute care , which I do, does not come near those rates. The only place that an an RN BSN can make 6 figures entry level with 20 yrs plus tenure is the VA.

As far as sample contracts, my best bet would be getting a client packet but of course no agency will just hand that info over if no perspective client is in the works. Trying to figure out how to do that.... I have a skeleton contract but it is not specific to private duty RN and client. I have not found any sample templates on the web either.

It will be a full time business once I have either 1 full time client or 2 part time clients at a time. This is something I really look forward to doing and I am sure it will be very rewarding!