If you’re considering starting an Idaho home care agency, doing preliminary research is important. We work with agencies across the country, and we’ve seen both incredible growth as well as agency closings.
When starting any new business, there are thoughtful considerations that must be made before venturing into the realm of entrepreneurship. Here are some suggestions based on our 36+ years of home care industry experience.
Research Isn’t Optional 
Have you ever wondered why a big chain fast food restaurant opened in a specific location in your community? They didn’t just throw darts at a map on a wall and choose randomly. The stakeholders of that franchise did market research – and a lot of it – before choosing that location.
Before investing in a business, it’s important to do your own market research to see if there’s a need for a home care agency in your area.
A good starting point for such research is to see how many veterans are in your area. Check with the Veterans Administration (VA) first, as the VA provides statistical information on the veteran population in each state.
According to Census.gov, “1 in 4 [veterans] is 70 to 79 years old, making this the single largest age group of veterans, while 3 in 4 are at least 50 years old.” This information helps you understand the age range of those listed in the VA’s database.
Once you have an idea of the number of veterans that might need care in your area, you can extrapolate that information to get a good sense of the overall aging population where you live.
For example, if there are 50 veterans in your surrounding zip codes that need care, this could mean there are 400 people who need care.
The next question you need to ask yourself is this: Are other agencies around you already providing care for these people, or is there a need?
Consider These Challenges Before Opening an Idaho Home Care Agency
1. Finding caregivers isn’t a walk in the park. But a walk in the park might help!
Finding and retaining caregivers is a huge issue with agencies across the country. It’s a problem that is increasing rather than decreasing.
The current state of the industry’s regulatory landscape and its impact on profitability should also be considered before opening an Idaho home care agency.
2. Marketing matters. Don’t leave it out of your budget or business plan!
When discussing the difficulties around hiring with one of our agency partners, we learned that marketing is an integral part of agency growth.
According to Dan Story, founder of HomeJoy, a boots-on-the-ground approach along with reaching out to your network of friends, family, and peers, is a great way to get your first clients and continue getting clients down the road.
We interviewed Dan last year about his agency and how he went from one location to being a franchisor. There’s a ton of great information in that blog, so if you haven’t read it yet, I encourage you to do so as soon as you finish this one.
3. Home care is a highly regulated industry.
While the home care industry used to be extremely easy to “jump into,” that’s no longer the case.
In the past 10 years, new laws and regulations have changed the face of the industry. This has both weeded out bad actors in the industry as well as made it difficult for agencies called to care to make the same profits they did over a decade ago.
What does this mean for you? If you decide to open an agency in Idaho (or anywhere else for that matter), keep in mind that this industry is now highly regulated. You will be required to follow current laws and keep up with continued regulations made at both the state and federal levels.
4. Diversify your payor sources.
Agencies looking to help the most clients should consider diversifying their payor sources. While many start-up agencies think they can “do it all,” that might not be the best option for you specifically.
Helping Private Pay clients is typically the best place to start when looking for clients who need immediate services so you can get your business off the ground.
Other payor sources agencies should look into after Private Pay include Medicaid, Long-Term Care Insurance, the Veterans Administration (VA), and even Workers Comp.
While each of these payor sources has its own unique challenges, the important thing to know about Medicaid in Idaho is that Rosemark has an integration with the state’s aggregator, Sandata.
This integration makes it much easier for agencies to submit their Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) data to the state for reimbursement. For more information about Rosemark’s partnership with Sandata, read this blog.
5. The only reason you should start an Idaho home care agency is that you’re called to care.
One of the most important questions entrepreneurs should ask themselves before opening a new business is why they are opening that particular business.
- Are you trying to make a lot of money really fast?
- Are you interested in building a business your children can run one day?
- Were you a former nurse or caregiver who saw a need and decided to step up and fill in the gap?
- Did a family member or friend need home care services that were unmet due to a lack of providers in the area?
There are plenty of reasons why people choose to start home care agencies. What is yours?
If the answer is not that you were called to care, go back and read point number 3..
Have a Growth Plan. Or Not.
At Rosemark, we have some customers who have experienced exponential growth because that is what they were seeking to achieve. We also have some agencies who have reached a point where they feel comfortable, and they don’t want to expand beyond that point.
It’s important to determine up front how much you want to grow. Growing to a certain level or growing past it are both good options, but they will be based on your individual desires, needs, and capabilities.
Rosemark is Here to Help
One of the biggest challenges any home care agency will face is running the business on the operations side. That includes all the not-so-fun stuff like scheduling, hiring, billing, payroll, and more.
That’s where we come in. Rosemark was designed to make the life of a home care owner or operator easier.
Some operators start the business using old-school manual methods, creating binders, and printing out lots of paper. That creates room for error while also taking up a lot of space in your office.
Rosemark’s operational management tools are built to help your agency schedule with ease, provide shift offers and reminders to caregivers, and track when your caregivers clock in and out. In addition, the tools are vital for caregivers, providing them the opportunity to view their schedules, look at client task lists, collect signatures, and so much more.
If you’re on the fence about whether or not your Idaho home care agency should start with or without a home care management software in place, give a member of our team a call today to find out the ins and outs of why you should.