A conversation series with Cathy Thorpe CEO of Nurse Next Door

8 steps for a successful home care business plan

With an aging population, the worldwide home healthcare market was valued at $299 billion in 2020, and is only expected to grow. If you’re an entrepreneur who sees the potential of the home care industry, you may be the perfect candidate to start a home health care service or partner with a franchise to get up and running in your neighbourhood.

But before you can secure financing for your home health care agency, you’ll need a rock-solid business plan to entice lenders and get extra cash flow.

We’re here to walk you through what goes in a business plan for the home care industry.

What is a home care business plan?

A home health care business plan is a written document that details the goals and objectives of your home health care business. It lays out the primary costs of operating your business and how you plan to turn a profit. It can also show the legal structure of your home health care agency, including employees, management structure, a sales and marketing plan, as well as the current financial health of the business.

Why should you have a business plan for home health care services?

It’s a good idea to write up a business plan, no matter what industry you’re in. It helps you see where your home health care business stands and gives you a roadmap to where your business is heading. It’s especially important if you’re looking to obtain a business loan or get outside funding or start up expenses.

If you can show investors that your home care business has cash flow, steady growth in the health care industry, and a solid client base, you’ll be well positioned to receive working capital that can further help your home care business succeed.

Access Your Welcome Package which includes Discovery Video – 15 min overview of this opportunity Franchisee Testimonials The Nurse Next Door opportunity Access to our calendar to book a 1×1 call. .fusion-button.button-1 .fusion-button-text, .fusion-button.button-1 i {color:#ffffffff;}.fusion-button.button-1 .fusion-button-icon-divider{border-color:#ffffffff;}.fusion-button.button-1:hover .fusion-button-text, .fusion-button.button-1:hover i,.fusion-button.button-1:focus .fusion-button-text, .fusion-button.button-1:focus i,.fusion-button.button-1:active .fusion-button-text, .fusion-button.button-1:active{color:#00000;}.fusion-button.button-1:hover .fusion-button-icon-divider, .fusion-button.button-1:hover .fusion-button-icon-divider, .fusion-button.button-1:active .fusion-button-icon-divider{border-color:#00000;}.fusion-button.button-1:hover, .fusion-button.button-1:focus, .fusion-button.button-1:active{border-color:#ffffff;}.fusion-button.button-1 {border-color:#ffffff;border-radius:0px;}.fusion-button.button-1{background: #ec008c;}.fusion-button.button-1:hover,.button-1:focus,.fusion-button.button-1:active{background: #ec008c;}.fusion-button.button-1 .fusion-button-text {text-transform:uppercase;} Watch Now

First steps of creating a business plan for home health care services

You could dive straight into ‘the writing part’ of your home health care business plan, but then you’d miss ‘the thinking part’—arguably the most important step when creating a business plan. By taking a few steps back, thinking about your home healthcare business as a whole, and asking yourself some questions, you’ll have everything you need to write out your business plan.

This exercise will help you spot any gaps in your business operations, while identifying potential unknowns and barriers to entry.

Here are three key business plan elements to consider:

What is the goal of business plan for home health care services?

The most common reason for creating a home health care business plan is to show lenders you’re a viable home health care company when you ask for a business loan or additional funding. For this goal, you’ll need to go into detail about your business, showing exactly how your company operates and how you plan to make a profit.

Other goals include:

Who is going to read your home health care business plan?

Once you’ve decided on the goal of your business plan, make sure you put yourself in your prospective readers shoes.

If you’re onboarding a new hire, you only need to add the essential information, leaving out complicated financial documents. You can add a company profile that speaks to the mission and vision of your home health care business, but you don’t necessarily have to go into detail about your financial forecast (unless one of your new employees is an accountant).

However, If your reader is a potential investor, you can still include details about your business vision, but back them up with concrete details, easily-digestible facts and figures, and a more detailed competitive analysis that shows what sets you apart in the home care market.

What’s happening in the home health care industry? 

This one may sound like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many entrepreneurs skip the research step, only to realize they have to go back when they’re mid-way through writing their business plan. Industry research will give you a crystal-clear picture of who’s in your market and what you’ll need to do to stay ahead of your competitors. It helps you see things through a future lens and can help you take note of any potential roadblocks to your success.

Successful home care business owner with a proper home care business plan

What goes into your business plan?

Now that you know what you need to do before you write your home health care business plan, what comes next?

If you’ve been staring at a blank page, unsure of where to start, we’re here to help. Here are some sample business plan sections applicable to most home health care companies.

1. Executive Summary

Your executive summary is a high-level overview that summarizes the rest of your business plan. It will be the first thing people read so it shouldn’t be longer than one page.

Your executive summary should include a short overview of what your business aims to achieve and all the relevant information on how you run your home health care business.

You can include:

2. Company Description

After completing your executive summary, you need a company description. This section should contain a thorough description of your home health care business so readers can understand what you do and why you do it.

You should add in concrete details like your business structure (are you a sole proprietorship or LLC?) and a snapshot of the home care services landscape and why you stand out.

If you are writing a homecare business plan to get funding for a franchise, look at Item 1 of the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD). Your franchisor likely already has the information you need for your company description.

Your business mission statement should encapsulate your company values in one or two simple sentences. For example, at Nurse Next Door, our mission statement is: “Making Lives Better”

3. Industry Analysis

Here’s where you can give a picture of what the current home care services market is like and how you plan to gain more shares in the market.

4. Management and Organization

Home health care businesses are only as good as the strength of their team. This section should detail the structure of your organization and lay out who works there and why that’s important. This is the spot to mention the expertise of your team as well as any supporting players like advisory board members.

This section proves you’re serious about your new business venture and have assembled the right people you need to reach business success.

5. Home Health Care Services Description

Here’s where you can get into the nitty gritty of the products or services you sell. This part of business planning may be easier than you think. We recommend looking at your FDD again to see if the information has already been provided by your franchisor.

6. Marketing Plan

In this section, you’re answering the question: “how will you acquire customers?” It’s important to provide a comprehensive marketing and sales plan so any potential lenders or investors can see you’ve done your homework, researched other home health care businesses, and are entering into a profitable business model.

Franchises usually have a well-thought out marketing strategy that you can tweak to fit your location and customer base. For example, Nurse Next Door offers a robust training program and supplies marketing support and materials to our franchisees.

7. Financial Projections

This part of your business plan essentially answers the question: “Where do you want to be in five years?”.

Using current financial statements, balance sheet, and cash flow statements along with market research, you’ll need to create a five year business forecast showing how your business revenue will grow over time. Compare the primary costs of running your business with the number of clients you plan on acquiring.

8. Appendix

Your Appendix should contain any documents you reference in the rest of your business plan, plus any relevant or supporting information.

Access Your Welcome Package which contains Discovery Video – 15 min overview of this opportunity Franchisee Testimonials The Nurse Next Door opportunity Access to our calendar to book a 1×1 call. .fusion-button.button-2 .fusion-button-text, .fusion-button.button-2 i {color:#ffffffff;}.fusion-button.button-2 .fusion-button-icon-divider{border-color:#ffffffff;}.fusion-button.button-2:hover .fusion-button-text, .fusion-button.button-2:hover i,.fusion-button.button-2:focus .fusion-button-text, .fusion-button.button-2:focus i,.fusion-button.button-2:active .fusion-button-text, .fusion-button.button-2:active{color:#00000;}.fusion-button.button-2:hover .fusion-button-icon-divider, .fusion-button.button-2:hover .fusion-button-icon-divider, .fusion-button.button-2:active .fusion-button-icon-divider{border-color:#00000;}.fusion-button.button-2:hover, .fusion-button.button-2:focus, .fusion-button.button-2:active{border-color:#ffffff;}.fusion-button.button-2 {border-color:#ffffff;border-radius:0px;}.fusion-button.button-2{background: #ec008c;}.fusion-button.button-2:hover,.button-2:focus,.fusion-button.button-2:active{background: #ec008c;}.fusion-button.button-2 .fusion-button-text {text-transform:uppercase;} Watch Now

Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!

About the author: nurse next door, related posts.

How to Start a Home Health Agency in Iowa: A Step-by-Step Guide

How to Start a Home Health Agency in Iowa: A Step-by-Step Guide

How to Start a Home Health Agency in Georgia: A Guide to Success

How to Start a Home Health Agency in Georgia: A Guide to Success

How to Start a Home Health Agency in Florida

How to Start a Home Health Agency in Florida

How to Start a Home Health Agency in Massachusetts

How to Start a Home Health Agency in Massachusetts

How to Start Home Health Agency in Texas

How to Start Home Health Agency in Texas

senior home care business plan

Get FREE Access to Your Welcome Package

Learn everything you need to get started on your home care franchise business.

senior home care business plan

Home Care Business Plan Template

        You will have a clear, concise idea of what the business is about and how the founder and current president, [owner name], intends to start, grow and continue strong and steady growth.

        The purpose of a business plan is to create a plan, a blueprint or roadmap on paper to follow. It’s for you to really think through how your business will operate and about areas of the business you haven’t thought about. You’ll be most successful when you put in the effort and really THINK about it. Your goal is to develop a fairly simple plan first to start your Home Care Agency which often is enough for most small businesses getting started using their own capital. If you’re seeking one or more investors, a different, more comprehensive plan will serve you better with much more consideration in which case.

Executive Summary

        The Executive Summary is a summary of the highlights of your business plan. While it appears first in the layout of your plan, most find it easiest to complete the Executive Summary last. It should be succinct and no more than 2 pages.

Business Description

        The Business Description provides a complete overview about your business idea/concept/ service/ etc. It differs from the Executive Summary in that it goes into detail about the description. Challenge to yourself to truly THINK about what you see your business described as. Your business should be unique, differing from your competition. Describe who, what, why, where and how it’s different. Use the example to help get you started.

Your  Home Care

        provides  [medical / non-medical]  care services to  [elderly, disabled and people of all ages physical conditions and cognitive abilities]  who would like to remain living at home, yet require assistance with certain daily or weekly activities. Working closely with clients and their families we provide personalized assistance in client’s own home, the hospital, long-term assisted living facilities and other places of residence with things like:

Non-Medical Services

Home Health Care Services (Medical)

        To be known as the crème-de-la-crème of home care providers in our market, providing the very best, first-rate care to clients in our geographical market by employing only proven, hard-working, professional, honest, compassionate and ethical home care providers in the market who are dedicated provide outstanding home care services and improving the quality of clients’ lives.

        To assist every client with improving their quality of life, encouraging independence and allowing them to be comfortable with excellent care in their own homes by providing first-class, professional care with respect, dignity, compassion, the highest ethical standards and honor

Value Proposition

        What makes your home care agency services/products better than all the others? This shouldn’t be price – it will be difficult to defend and by differentiating yourself solely by price, it sets your business up as a commodity driven service – often suffering with poor service in lieu of charging a fair price for excellent services .

Industry Analysis

        What does the home care industry look like? Are there trends in your geographic area? What do your target clients buy, eat, education, income, habits, health levels, lifestyles, etc. The more detail you have the better your chances of success. This is an opportunity to find a specific niche that may be present in your own backyard. No example is provided in this area because you should know this. If you don’t – you need to do the homework to know and understand your market and the industry if you plan to enter it.

Competition

        Who are your competitors? Specifically, by name, location, age of the agency, what they specialize in and how they are different from you. What market share do they have? Are there any other service companies that could be considered competitors? (i/e: really inexpensive care homes, private caregiver market, etc). Even if there are no “direct” competitors, there will ALWAYS be some that are close

Marketing Strategies

        How will you get your product into the marketplace? Think of non-conventional (viral  Marketing) methods that are cheaper than traditional (TV, radio, print) and have a higher  Impact. Examples:

Networking –meeting people and creating the relationships with the many faces who refer clients to various home care service providers. By attending the opportunities for networking, meeting business leaders and more.

Online Promotions

          Website.   Develop an informative website and will include the website address in all online and offline marketing collateral.

          Press Releases.   Work with online press release distribution firms  to generate awareness of our services by issuing press releases to leading search engines and online news sites.

          Social Media Marketing.  Promote your agency on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media channels that may be frequented by your target market. All social sites will be used to generate a buzz about your services and build your agency’s image. The goal is solely to build connections with the health care industry and consumers and convince them to avail your services.

          E-mail Marketing.   Implement an e-mail marketing campaign to target local health care facilities and professionals that could provide client referrals to agency.

          E-mail Program.  Regularly distribute a newsletter to highlight new services, employees, agency certifications and home care industry news. Include links to lure subscribers to visit your website for further information.

Offline Promotions

Business & Health Fairs – Attending and showing the presence at these shows brings more

  Barriers to Entry

        What will stop you from entering your market place? Regulations, competition, cost of entry, monopoly, syndication? Also, how will your setup your own barriers to entry for other potential entrants into the marketplace?

        State and county laws can thwart certain services from being provided by increasing the requirements and certification levels. Are there any present in your area? Maybe it’s obtaining the State Survey sign off or Medicare certification. List the obstacles that could keep you from getting started and growing.

Distribution Channel

        How will you get your services/product to your market? For example – if you cover 3 counties – how will you manage logistics? Who will provide the care? Who will do the follow up visits and ensure care quality? Will you team with another company that provides a complimentary business where you can team with one another?

Team Summary

        Often this can be the most important part of your business plan. Who else believes in the idea of you entering the home care industry and the experience of your team in the various areas?  (Technical, business, marketing, operations, HR, etc.)

Personnel Plan

        You will initially hire four staff members to manage the agency’s operations. Each hired staff member will meet the state of Colorado educational and training requirements. Additional recruiting will occur as the agency enters the expansion phase.

Organizational Hierarchy (example):

        The  Administrative Director  will be responsible for planning, implementing, organizing, and developing in-home care services. This work includes, but is not limited to: operations administration, community/client education and staff supervision. This individual also will assume all social work services during the agency’s initial phase.

        The  Administrative Assistant  will perform routine clerical and organizational tasks. This individual will organize files, draft messages, schedule in-home care appointments and support other staff.

          Home Care Aides  will administer in-home client services. These individuals will assist with activities such as bathing and dressing, and will provide services such as light housekeeping, errand services, personal care and companionship.

  Financial Analysis

Insert all the financial projections and forecasts here. Cash flow, income statements,  balance sheet, as well as start-up income required. This is arguably the most important  part of your business plan, spend plenty of time on this and be able to justify any  assumptions.

SWOT Analysis

        S trengths  W eaknesses  O pportunities  T hreats

        Consider the conditions in which your service business will operate. What are your Strengths and Weaknesses? These are internal (team, company, service). Opportunities and threats are external (local, regional and national market place, trends, etc.)

Opportunities

  Goals and Objectives

        What are your overall business goals? Your financials should include a lot of the income and expense goals. These goals/objectives are about identifying what you plan to accomplish with your business. It could be as simple as create a new career of owning a business or more in depth like using 10% of net profits going to a certain cause you believe in. The possibility of these things

Critical Success Factors

        What needs to be achieved that will enhance chances of your agency’s success? Identify what the possibility of these things happening are.

Exit Strategies

        How will you (or any investors) exit out of this project (if you want to) and make excellent return or to move onto your next “big idea”?

Future Developments

        What future plans do you have for your services (and products, if any)? As your company grows, what other plans do you have for your services? Do you want to grow into a regional or state-wide provider? Maybe you want to expand into medical and non-medical. The sky is the limit to what you’d like to do.

        Add any additional information here that may not fit into the sections above (quotes,  Recommendations, statistics, etc.). Your completed financials & projections should be included in the Financial Projections, however, you could place them in this section.

growthink.com logo

Home Health Care Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

home health care business plan template

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 10,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their home health care businesses. On this page, we will first give you some background information with regards to the importance of business planning. We will then go through a home health care business plan template step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your home health care business as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategy for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan

If you’re looking to start a home health care business, or grow your existing home health care business, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your home health care business in order to improve your chances of success. Your home health care business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Home Health Care Businesses

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a home health care business are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans and angel investors. With regards to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to confirm that your financials are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business.

The second most common form of funding for a home health care business is angel investors. Angel investors are wealthy individuals who will write you a check. They will either take equity in return for their funding, or, like a bank, they will give you a loan. Venture capitalists will not fund a home health care business. They might consider funding a home health care business with a national presence, but never an individual location. This is because most venture capitalists are looking for millions of dollars in return when they make an investment, and an individual location could never achieve such results.

Home Health care Business Plan Template

If you want to start a home health care business or expand your current one, you need a business plan. Below are links to each section of your home health care business plan template:

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of home health care business you are operating and the status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a home health care business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of home health care businesses.

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan. For example, give a brief overview of the home health care industry. Discuss the type of home health care business you are operating. Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers. Provide a snapshot of your marketing plan. Identify the key members of your team. And offer an overview of your financial plan.

Company Analysis

In your company analysis, you will detail the type of home health care business you are operating.

For example, you might operate one of the following types of home health care businesses:

In addition to explaining the type of home health care business you will operate, the Company Analysis section of your business plan needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to question such as:

Industry Analysis

In your industry analysis, you need to provide an overview of the home health care business.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the home health care industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating. 

Secondly, market research can improve your strategy, particularly if your research identifies market trends.

The third reason for market research is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your home health care business plan:

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your home health care business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: parents of elderly individuals, retired seniors, senior community program managers, etc.  

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of home health care business you operate. Clearly, parents of elderly individuals would want different service options and would respond to different marketing promotions than senior community program managers, for example.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, include a discussion of the ages, genders, locations and income levels of the customers you seek to serve. Because most home health care businesses primarily serve customers living in their same city or town, such demographic information is easy to find on government websites.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can understand and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

Finish Your Home Health Care Business Plan in 1 Day!

Don’t you wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your business plan?

With Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!

Click here to finish your Home Health Care business plan today.

Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other home health care businesses. 

Indirect competitors are other care options that people have that aren’t direct competitors. This includes hospitals, nursing homes, and people who help relatives with home health care needs. You need to mention such competition to show you understand that not everyone who needs healthcare assistance will utilize a home health care company.

With regards to direct competition, you want to describe the other home health care businesses with which you compete. Most likely, your direct competitors will be home health care businesses located very close to your location.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their businesses and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as:

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a home health care business plan, your marketing plan should include the following:

Product : In the product section, you should reiterate the type of home health care business that you documented in your Company Analysis. Then, detail the specific products you will be offering. For example, in addition to home health care, will you provide superior customer service, 24/7 call centers, or emergency services?

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your marketing plan, you are presenting the services you offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the location of your home health care business office. Document your location and mention how the location will impact your success. For example, is your home health care business office operated remotely, located near a main highway, near public transportation, etc. Discuss how your location might provide a steady stream of customers. 

Promotions : The final part of your home health care marketing plan is the promotions section. Here you will document how you will drive customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your home health care business, including hiring quality home care professionals, training employees, and administrative tasks.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to serve your 100th patient, or when you hope to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to expand your facility or launch in a new location.

Management Team

To demonstrate your home health care business’ ability to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company. 

Ideally you and/or your team members have direct experience in managing home health care businesses. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act like mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in managing home health care companies or successfully running small businesses.

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statements.

Income Statement : an income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenues and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you assist 50 patients per month or 100? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets : Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $100,000 on building out your home health care business, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a bank writes you a check for $100,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement : Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and make sure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt. For example, let’s say a local senior living community approached you with a $50,000 partnership contract to provide home health care services for their occupants. Let’s further assume the contract would cost you $50,000 to fulfill in terms of increased staffing costs. Well, in most cases, you would have to pay that $50,000 now for employee salaries, utilities, etc. But let’s say the company didn’t pay you for 180 days. During that 180-day period, you could run out of money.

In developing your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a home health care business:

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your Medicaid and Medicare certifications.

Putting together a business plan for your home health care business is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will really understand the home health care industry, your competition, and your customers. You will have developed a marketing plan and will really understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful home health care business.

Don’t you wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your Home Health Care business plan?

OR, Let Us Develop Your Plan For You

Since 1999, Growthink has developed business plans for thousands of companies who have gone on to achieve tremendous success.

Click here to see how Growthink’s professional business plan consulting services can create your business plan for you.  

Home Health Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my home health care business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily complete your Home Health Care Business Plan.

What is the Goal of a Business Plan's Executive Summary?

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of home health care business you are operating and the status; for example, are you a startup, do you have a home health care business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of home health care businesses?

Other Helpful Business Plan Articles & Templates

Business Plan Template For Small Businesses & Entrepreneurs

senior home care business plan

Home Health Care Business Plan Template

Home health care business plan.

You’ve come to the right place to create your Home Health Care business plan.

We have helped over 5,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans and many have used them to start or grow their home health care businesses.

Below is a template to help you create each section of your Home Health Care business plan.

Executive Summary

Business overview.

St. Helen’s Home Care is a new home healthcare business that serves the aging population of Austin, Texas. As individuals age, they are more susceptible to diseases and other conditions and need extra help to receive health care. However, many individuals wish to receive care in the comfort of their homes instead of going to a nursing home or hospital. St. Helen’s will provide this population with the care they need without them needing to travel. Our services include physical therapy, nursing, and other healthcare services that can be conducted in the home. We also provide warmth, compassion, and companionship to create lasting relationships with our clients.

St. Helen’s Home Care is run by Helen Parker, who has been a nurse for twenty years. She has specialized in working with aging populations and has extensive knowledge of the common conditions and needs of this age group. Her experience and connections have helped her find other medical professionals who want to join our company. Furthermore, she was able to establish an initial client base from the list of patients she has been helping for years.

Services Offered

St. Helen’s Home Care offers a variety of home health care services that serve the aging population of Austin, Texas. These services include but are not limited to:

Customer Focus

St. Helen’s Home Care will serve the aging population of Austin, Texas, primarily residents over the age of 65. This population is susceptible to many conditions that make daily living difficult such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, arthritis, and diabetes. This population needs more health care than other age groups, but not all services require a visit to the hospital or doctor’s office. St. Helen’s will provide any medical service that can easily be conducted in a home setting.

Management Team

St. Helen’s Home Care is owned and operated by Helen Parker, a local nurse who has worked at local hospitals for over the past twenty years. She has worked with hundreds of elderly patients and their families and has helped them find adequate and affordable home health care upon being released from the hospital. Helen Parker has realized there is a lack of quality and affordable home healthcare agencies in Austin. She aims to provide the best in-home health care services while also being affordable for the patient and their families.

Aside from the medical professionals she will have on staff, Helen has also employed an Administrative Assistant, Accountant, and Marketing Specialist to help her operate the company.

Success Factors

St. Helen’s Home Care will be able to achieve success by offering the following competitive advantages:

Financial Highlights

St. Helen’s Home Care is seeking $340,000 in funding to launch the home healthcare business. The capital will be used for funding equipment and supplies, staffing, marketing expenses, and working capital.

The breakdown of the funding may be seen below:

The following graph outlines the pro forma financial projections for St. Helens’ Home Care over the next five years:

senior home care business plan

Company Overview

Who is St. Helen’s Home Care?

St. Helen’s Home Care History

Helen Parker has worked with thousands of elderly patients during her career as a nurse. She often found that many people did not need to travel to a doctor’s office or hospital for their care. Instead, these patients often enjoyed a higher quality of life when they received care from their homes. This revelation inspired her to start a business where she and other professionals could provide care to local elderly patients in the comfort of their homes. After conducting the research needed to establish the company, Helen incorporated St. Helen’s Home Care as an S-corporation on May 15th, 2022.

Since incorporation, St. Helen’s has achieved the following milestones:

St. Helen’s Home Care Services

Industry Analysis

According to Grand View Research, the global home healthcare industry was valued at $336 billion USD in 2021. It is also expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.93% from 2022 to 2030 and reach a value of $666.9 billion USD by 2030. This shows that these services will be in great demand, which means it is a great time to start a home healthcare business.

This growth is primarily driven by a growing geriatric population. People are living longer than ever before, and therefore, they will need comfortable healthcare services for much longer. Furthermore, baby boomers comprise a large population and are now entering their retirement years. It is expected that this enormous population will have a significant need for healthcare (whether in the home or doctor’s office) and may create a strain on the current industry. However, this also means there is an enormous opportunity for healthcare businesses to be extremely profitable in the near future.

This is especially true for home healthcare services, which are increasing in demand. Most aging people would rather receive medical care at home than go to a nursing home or hospital. Therefore, there is an incredible demand for these particular services.

The only challenge affecting the industry is a lack of properly trained staff who can take on a healthcare career. However, this will only mean that home healthcare services will be even more valued. These industry trends will only help boost the popularity and success of St. Helen’s Home Care.

Customer Analysis

Demographic profile of target market.

St. Helen’s Home Care will primarily target the aging population of Austin, Texas. This includes anyone over the age of 65, especially those who live with diabetes, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, or other conditions that affect their quality of life.

Customer Segmentation

St. Helen’s will primarily target the following customer profiles:

Competitive Analysis

Direct and indirect competitors.

St. Helen’s Home Care will face competition from other companies with similar business profiles. A description of each competitor company is below.

Travis County Home Health

Travis County Memorial Hospital’s Home Health & Hospice has provided home health services for over a decade. Their staff is composed of dedicated professionals who are committed to providing quality care in the comfort and convenience of their patients’ homes. Their home health aides can assist the patient with grooming and light chores around their home. Home health care will verify if home health aide services are covered by their insurance policy. They accept Medicare, Insurance/HMO/PPO, Medicaid, and Private Pay. The home health care team works closely with the physician to plan the care and monitor the patients’ progress. The nurse will contact the physician with any laboratory results, medication changes, or alterations in their health status.

Elara Caring

Elara Caring is one of the nation’s largest providers of home-based care, with a footprint in most regions of the United States. Elara Caring brings together three award-winning organizations – Great Lakes Caring, National Home Health Care, and Jordan Health Services, into one transformational company. They provide the highest-quality comprehensive care continuum of personal care, skilled home health, hospice care, and behavioral health. Their intimate understanding of their patients’ needs allows them to apply proprietary platforms to deliver proactive, customized care that improves quality of life and keeps patients in their homes.

Encompass Health

Encompass Health is one of the nation’s leading providers of home health services. They continually set the standard of homecare through their people, their approach, and their outcomes.

The patient experience is at the core of everything they do. That’s why they work collaboratively with the patient’s team of experts to craft a plan of care that meets their specific needs. Their skilled nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, medical social workers, and home health aides use a coordinated, interprofessional approach to deliver compassionate, specialized care in the comfort of home. Whether recovering from a surgery, a recent hospital stay, or managing a disease or injury, Encompass Health’s services are designed to meet patients where they are.

Competitive Advantage

Marketing plan, brand & value proposition.

The St. Helen’s brand will focus on the company’s unique value proposition:

Promotions Strategy

St Helen’s Home Care will target elderly residents living in the Austin, Texas area. The company’s promotions strategy to reach the most clientele include:

Local Hospitals

Helen Parker already has great relationships with the local hospitals. She will work to make sure the hospitals send referrals and highly recommend the company to its patients and their families upon releasing them from the hospital.

Website/SEO Marketing

St. Helen’s has a website that is well-organized and informative and lists all our available services. The website also lists the company’s contact information and information about the medical professionals who provide our services.  We will utilize SEO marketing tactics so that anytime someone types in the Google or Bing search engine “Austin home health care” or “Austin health care,” St. Helen’s will be listed at the top of the search results.

St. Helen’s Home Care will have a billboard at a busy intersection where thousands of cars and pedestrians pass daily. The location of the billboard will be in an area of town where there are a lot of doctors’ offices, rehab facilities, and a hospital nearby.

Insurance Partnerships

St. Helens will partner with local and national insurance companies so that our patients can be partially or fully covered for the services we provide. We will ask the insurance companies to recommend our services to their customers and have our business listed on their websites.

St Helen’s pricing will be moderate so customers feel they receive great value when purchasing its services. Services will either be charged directly to the patient or to their insurance plan.

Operations Plan

The following will be the operations plan for St. Helen’s Home Care.

Operation Functions:

Milestones:

St. Helen’s Home Care will have the following milestones completed in the next six months.

8/1/202X – Finalize lease for the office space.

8/15/202X – Finalize personnel and staff employment contracts.

9/1/202X – Begin refurbishment and furnishing of the office space.

9/15/202X – Begin networking at medical industry events.

9/22/202X – Begin marketing campaign to attract the first clients.

11/1/202X – St. Helen’s Home Care opens for business.

Financial Plan

Key revenue & costs.

The revenues for St. Helen’s Home Care will come from the fees it will charge the patients and their insurance for the provided health care services.

The major cost drivers for the company will be the staff payroll, marketing expenses, lease, and office equipment.

Funding Requirements and Use of Funds

Key assumptions.

The following outlines the key assumptions required in order to achieve the revenue and cost numbers in the financials as well as pay off the startup business loan.

Financial Projections

Income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, home health care business plan faqs, what is a home health care business plan.

A home health care business plan is a plan to start and/or grow your home health care business. Among other things, it outlines your business concept, identifies your target customers, presents your marketing plan and details your financial projections.

You can easily complete your Home Health Care business plan using our Home Health Care Business Plan Template here .

What are the Main Types of Home Health Care businesses?

There are a number of different kinds of Home Health Care businesses , some examples include: Nursing care business, Physical home health care business, and Home health care aides.

How Do You Get Funding for Your Home Health Care Business Plan?

Home Health Care businesses are often funded through small business loans. Personal savings, credit card financing and angel investors are also popular forms of funding.

What are the Steps To Start a Home Health Care Business?

Starting a home health care business can be an exciting endeavor. Having a clear roadmap of the steps to start a business will help you stay focused on your goals and get started faster.

1. Develop A Home Health Care Business Plan - The first step in starting a business is to create a detailed home health care business plan that outlines all aspects of the venture. This should include potential market size and target customers, the services or products you will offer, pricing strategies and a detailed financial forecast.  

2. Choose Your Legal Structure - It's important to select an appropriate legal entity for your home health care business. This could be a limited liability company (LLC), corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship. Each type has its own benefits and drawbacks so it’s important to do research and choose wisely so that your home health care business is in compliance with local laws.

3. Register Your Home Health Care Business - Once you have chosen a legal structure, the next step is to register your home health care business with the government or state where you’re operating from. This includes obtaining licenses and permits as required by federal, state, and local laws. 

4. Identify Financing Options - It’s likely that you’ll need some capital to start your home health care business, so take some time to identify what financing options are available such as bank loans, investor funding, grants, or crowdfunding platforms. 

5. Choose a Location - Whether you plan on operating out of a physical location or not, you should always have an idea of where you’ll be based should it become necessary in the future as well as what kind of space would be suitable for your operations. 

6. Hire Employees - There are several ways to find qualified employees including job boards like LinkedIn or Indeed as well as hiring agencies if needed – depending on what type of employees you need it might also be more effective to reach out directly through networking events. 

7. Acquire Necessary Home Health Care Equipment & Supplies - In order to start your home health care business, you'll need to purchase all of the necessary equipment and supplies to run a successful operation. 

8. Market & Promote Your Business - Once you have all the necessary pieces in place, it’s time to start promoting and marketing your home health care business. This includes creating a website, utilizing social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, and having an effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. You should also consider traditional marketing techniques such as radio or print advertising. 

Learn more about how to start a successful home health care business:

© 2023 PlanBuildr.com

Want to Start a Home Health Care Business? Here’s How.

How_to_Start_a_Home_Health_Care_Business

Do you find yourself driven by both entrepreneurial and humanitarian interests? Is it important to you to build a business you can be proud of, knowing you are making a positive difference in people’s lives?

If any of this speaks to you, you could be an excellent candidate to start a home health care business. There’s never been a better time to do so— home health care is one of the largest growing industries , not just in North America, but around the globe.

How_to_Start_a_Home_Health_Care_Business_Divider

What do we mean by “home health care”?

Home health care is a very broad industry which can mean different things to different people. For some, the term covers both skilled home health care as well as non-medical home health care.

Non-medical home health care involves assistance with daily living activities most commonly for senior citizens who wish to remain in their homes. These services can include meal preparation, housekeeping, and transportation.

Skilled home health care, on the other hand, involves nursing or therapeutic services delivered in the patient’s own home which would ordinarily be provided in a hospital or medical clinic.

This article is intended to serve as a step-by-step guide for anyone considering starting a skilled home health care business. For the purposes of this article, the focus will be limited to a business providing skilled home health care services, the most common of which are:

To supplement this guide, I interviewed an expert in the home health care field: Carol Byrne is the National Sales Director for 21st Century Health Care Consultants,  a consulting firm which serves home health care agencies throughout the United States.

The state of the home health care industry around the world: 

In the United States alone, the home health care industry is an $84 billion behemoth with no signs of slowing down.

From 2010 through 2015, the industry saw a moderate but steady four percent growth. This growth is due, in large part, to an aging U.S. population. The population aged 65 years and older is expected to increase from 12.4 percent in 2000 to 19.6 percent by 2030.

There are also societal and political factors at play including a growing acceptance among physicians of the practice of home care, as well as pressure to alleviate the demands placed on hospitals and an overall desire to find cost efficiencies in the health care system.

“In the last little while, there’s been a big uptick in the industry because of all the baby boomers flooding into the marketplace. People want to be in their homes, not in a nursing home. In-home care allows them stay in the home and have more independence in their daily lives,” explains Carol Byrne.

At present, there are more than 386,000 home health care businesses in the U.S., an industry that  employs an approximate 1.7 million people . This represents both the pros and the cons of wading into these waters. With a low barrier to entry and a growing demand, it is an appealing business for eager entrepreneurs. But because of this, there is often tough regional competition which will need to be planned for if a new venture is going to be successful.

To date, North America has dominated the home health care global marketplace due mainly to a more sophisticated health care infrastructure and more resources committed to research and development. In 2013, North America accounted for just over 40 percent of the global home health care revenue.

The trend toward home health care is just as strong across the northern border. The Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) predicts that two-thirds of nurses in Canada will be working in the community by 2020, compared to 30 percent in 2006.

While North America may be the current hotbed for home health care businesses, the fastest growing region is in Asia-Pacific,  where the markets expect a compound annual growth rate of 9.7 percent from 2014 to 2020. This is based on advancements in health care infrastructure in India and China, as well as a rapidly aging Japanese population.

Things to consider before starting a home health care business:

While there is a tremendous growth opportunity in this industry, it’s not a business that is necessarily for everyone. The nature of the business lends itself to intense pressure and can create a high-stress environment.

Carol Byrne believes there is a specific personality type which is best suited to this type of work. “This industry draws people who are driven by compassion and desire to care for their fellow man. It’s a great industry and there is money to be made but you need that drive to help people. If you don’t have that compassion, this is not the business for you,” she says.

Challenges in running a home health care business:

If as the business owner you are also going to be one of the key service providers, there are some unique challenges to providing home health care that should be weighed carefully before entering the field.

Long distance travel

The convenience of home health care is for the patient, not the caregiver.

Most home health care providers will see six to eight patients in a day; if the region is geographically large, that could mean lots of travel, which can cause stress and fatigue. If you are the type of person who finds travel stressful, this may be something to consider before launching a home health care business.

Technological upkeep and maintenance

One of the reasons home health care has become so prevalent in the last decade is thanks in large part to technological advances that have allowed high-tech equipment to be used in the home. Previously, this equipment was only accessible in a hospital or clinic.

However, because so much of modern home health care relies on high-tech equipment, keeping up with the latest technology and managing this equipment is something that a business owner will have to be comfortable with.

In other words, this is not the field to go into if you are a serious technophobe.

Working in isolation

A key advantage of providing health care in a hospital or clinic is that you have colleagues with whom to consult or otherwise ask for assistance. Home health care providers almost exclusively work on their own, without that support network around. This type of work environment is something that one would need to be comfortable with in order to do the job successfully.

If you’ve studied the industry at length, analyzed the market opportunity, considered the unique challenges, and are excited to move forward, the following steps can help you navigate this often tricky process.

Step 1: Formulate your business plan

Home health care is unique in many ways, but the one thing it has in common with every other new business venture is that a lack of adequate planning and forecasting is a sure way to undercut its potential success. You’ll want to make sure you carefully plan out every detail of the logistics in getting the business off the ground and past the troublesome first couple of years.

Carol Byrne stresses the importance of business savvy in achieving long-term success. “It’s important to have clinical knowledge, but it’s just as important to have business sense, because at the end of the day it’s still a business and it must be run like a business to be effective at generating a profit. It requires a balance of skills.”

If you’ve never written a business plan before, you can find out more about the process here on Bplans. Start with a lean plan if you’re eager to get up and running fast or if you’re simply interested in validating your idea. If you’re seeking funding, or would prefer to work through the finer details, a traditional business plan should work for you.

What to include in your business plan:

Regardless of the format you choose, there are some things you’ll need to keep in mind as you write. These include:

Equipment and starting expenses

Providing top quality home health care requires sophisticated and expensive medical equipment. You’ll require a detailed list of everything you need to hit the ground running.

That list of key starting expenses will include:

Financing and cash flow

Once you compile your list of starting expenses,  you need a plan to raise the capital. The most traditional routes are bank loans,   small business loans,  or angel investors.  There may be state level grants geared toward emerging businesses in the health care field as well.

It is almost a given that your business will operate at a loss for the first three to six months while your client base grows and you get on a regular billing cycle with Medicare and Medicaid. This means a carefully thought out cash flow management plan is required to ensure you can get through these key first few months.

Additional resources to help you write the financial section of your plan:

Market research and your competitive landscape

The greatest weapon you can have in your arsenal when it comes to raising capital is a bullet-proof analysis that yours is a great local market for this type of business, and that you can serve a need currently unmet by competitors.

There is no question this is a growing industry on a national and global level; however, if your community is currently over-saturated with home health care businesses, you will have a hard time making it work.  

Also, a strong competitive analysis will help direct you with marketing and recruitment strategies when you identify where others have fallen short in their attempts to penetrate the market.

Additional market research resources include:

Step 2: State and Medicare/Medicaid certification

In the United States, the first step in navigating the certification process involves completing your state’s home care license application and all of the required home care business license paperwork.

This includes incorporating your business and obtaining a Tax ID and NPI number for your home health care business. The home care license and operation requirements and standards will vary from state to state. The best way to make sure you have your bases covered is by contacting your State Department of Health for assistance.

Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance) and/or Medicare Part B (Medical Insurance) will cover a patient’s eligible home health services such as skilled nursing care, physical therapy, speech-language pathology services, occupational services, and others.

Unless you have an unorthodox business model, Medicare and Medicaid will be your primary source of revenue. It is critically important that your business obtains all the proper Medicare and Medicaid certifications.

Medicare accreditation:

To complete the process of Medicare accreditation, you must complete a three-day Medicare survey which is an audit of your business’s operations and patient clinical records. Carol Byrne cautions prospective business owners about the length this part of the journey can take.

“In the United States, it can take a year or longer to open a fully licensed and certified business. It can be a long path,” she says.

In order to be eligible for Medicare coverage for home care services, the patient must meet the following criteria:

Some states will require a new home health care business owner to complete a state jurisprudence exam before granting a license to operate, so be sure to do additional research for your own state.

Step 3: Staffing and management structure

Unlike most other businesses where your employees sell or facilitate your product, with a home health care business, your staff is  your product.

The best way to retain clients and get referrals for others is to build your reputation of providing top-quality professional medical services in a personable manner. This means finding the absolute best of the best to work for your company and serve as the face of the company at the front line level.

“The most challenging part of this business is staffing,” says Carol Byrne. “Finding the right people is critical, because ultimately the person who walks into the home is your representative and they are the face of your business. Finding good staff is by far the greatest challenge a home care business will face.”

What kind of staff will you need?

If you are not a physician or medical professional yourself, your first hire will be a qualified clinical supervisor. It is a requirement of Medicare (and most states) that a physician or a registered nurse with more than one year of experience be in place as a clinical supervisor. The supervisor must be available as a resource at all times for the front line employees providing home health care services in patient homes. Most states also require a certified administrator be in place, although this position can be doubled by the clinical supervisor if that person is certified for both roles.

When it comes to the front line service providers, there are two routes you can explore. If you have the resources starting off, you can simply hire your staff and keep them in-house. This will require a significant cash infusion from the start as your salary demands will outweigh your revenue in the first months of operation.

The other option is to contract the work out to another agency or association of professional physiotherapists, occupational therapists, or skilled nurses. The most common approach is to specialize with one or two in-house professionals (skilled nurse and physiotherapist) and contract out the other fields on an as-needed basis.

Be sure to conduct a thorough background check for all hires. Your business could be liable for crippling legal action if it is discovered there was a problem with the treatment delivered by someone who had been sanctioned or suspended for similar malpractice issues in a previous job. It should go without saying that this is more important in this field than most.

Step 4: Developing your marketing strategy

You’ve developed a bulletproof business plan,  navigated the tricky process of state and Medicare certification, and have a top quality professional staff in place.

Now, the only question remaining is: “How do I get my first clients?”

This is where the home health care business starts to resemble many other businesses—success will depend on effective marketing strategies and some good, old-fashioned hustle.

Marketing strategies for home health care businesses:

The following are some of the most effective strategies for recruiting clients for a new home health care business:

Below you’ll find a list of resources that can help you find out more about what goes into getting your home health care business off the ground.

21 st Century Health Care Consultants:   A consulting firm that specializes in assisting new home health business ventures in the United States. The website offers plenty of resources to help with questions of licensing, certification, staffing issues, and much more.

Home Care Association of America:   The Home Care Association of America (HCAOA) is the nation’s first association for providers of private duty home care, which includes non-medical home care services. The HCAOA is the recognized resource for information and definition of private duty home care practice.

The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC):   A  nonprofit organization that represents the nation’s 33,000 home care and hospice organizations. NAHC also advocates for the more than two million nurses, therapists, aides, and other caregivers employed by such organizations to provide in-home services to some 12 million Americans each year who are infirm, chronically ill, and disabled.

Canadian Home Care Association:   As a national association, the CHCA acts mostly as a professional development and political institution. It boasts an extensive resource library which could be helpful to new or prospective business owners.

Other resources:

Traditional publishing:  One visit to Amazon or your nearest bookstore will give you numerous options for published guides on starting a home health care business.

Some of the titles you’ll find include:

Tony SekulichTony Sekulich

Tony Sekulich

TonySekulich

Tony is a freelance writer and editor based out of Toronto, Canada. After writing for newspapers and magazines, Tony wrote for film and television where he was recognized with a Leo Award nomination for Best Screenwriting in an Animated Series for his work on the APTN animated series Animism: The Gods Lake. You can follow Tony on Twitter here: @TonySekulich

Starting or Growing a Business? Check out these Offerings.

LivePlan

Full Business Plan in Half the Time— and Double the Impact

Save 25% Annually

Bplans Tools

Business Tools

Exclusive Offers on Must-Haves for New and Growing Businesses

$100+ in savings

LivePlan Dashboard

Management Dashboards

All the Insights You Need to Help Your Business Succeed

Works with QBO & XERO

Business Plan Writers

Business Plan Writers

Investor-Ready Business Plans Written In No Time

100% Free Quote

senior home care business plan

Plan, fund, and grow.

Easily write a business plan, secure funding, and gain insights.

Achieve your business funding goals with a proven plan format.

senior home care business plan

Don't bother with copy and paste.

Get this complete sample business plan as a free text document.

Home Health Care Services Business Plan

Start your own home health care services business plan

Wheatland Health Services

Executive summary executive summary is a brief introduction to your business plan. it describes your business, the problem that it solves, your target market, and financial highlights.">, opportunity.

There is a significant need for quality home health care and social services within this region and we believe that by employing competent and well-educated staff and providing them with organized and responsive management, we can become the home health care/social service agency of choice in Southeastern Kansas.

Wheatland Health Services offers a unique combination of premier home health care and community-based social services to Southeastern Kansas. 

The consumer base for Wheatland Health Services (Home Health Care Services) will be patients referred by physicians, health care facilities and other health care professionals. The majority of these patients will be covered by Medicare with a smaller portion being insured by Kansas Medicaid or other private insurance carriers.

Competition

The key factor considered by both consumers and referring professionals when purchasing home health care is trust in the professional reputation, reliability and quality of services provided by the home health Agency.

Wheatland Health Services strives to offer excellent and affordable home health care and community-based social services to individuals and families of Southeastern Kansas.

Expectations

We are projecting growth and total annual sales very conservatively, with high projected expenses. Our cost of sales is relatively low, as this is a service agency and the primary costs involved in providing the services are those related to payroll. The costs of sales reflects the cost of mileage reimbursement to employees, because the services we provide are home- and community-based and require travel to and from service locations.

Financial Highlights by Year

Financing needed.

We will use $70,000: $50,000 five year loan and $20,000 cash from Elizabeth Patzer

Start your own business plan

Your business plan can look as polished and professional as this sample plan. It's fast and easy, with LivePlan.

senior home care business plan

Plan, fund, and grow.

Easily write a business plan, secure funding, and gain insights.

Achieve your business funding goals with a proven plan format.

senior home care business plan

Nextdoor logo

Sign up free

How to craft a successful home care business plan

home care worker with patient smiling

As a home care provider, you run your business with compassion and knowledge of the job and the local community you work with. After you’ve learned more about how to become a caregiver and how to start a home care business , you’re ready to formalize your ideas with a business plan.

How to create a home care business plan

Your business plan is an essential part of the portfolio you’ll present to banks, investors, and partners before launching your company. Every entrepreneur can benefit from a business plan that helps you turn your vision into action and strategize for success. For home care professionals, there are unique additions and considerations for your business plan. From determining your core local clients to developing the marketing plan to reach them, this guide will walk you through nine sections for your home care business plan.

1. The executive summary

The executive summary kicks off your business plan and hooks whoever’s reading it to learn more about your company and your proposal. Think of it a little like a sales pitch for your business and a preview of everything you lay out in your business plan.

A home care business summary should include:

2. The company description

As a home care business working with clients in need, your professional background should be front and center. Your company description offers a snapshot of you and your business, and should include:

Different types of home care services will need different certifications, like medical home care companies compared with senior transportation providers, for example. Make sure to research and include the requirements in your county, city, and state. 

If you’re in the preliminary stages of creating your home care business and haven’t secured the required licenses yet, mention any certifications you’re pursuing in this description.

3. Your business mission and goals

The mission and goals section of a business plan outlines the primary objectives of your company and how you plan to achieve them.

As more Americans advance into the senior age bracket, demand for credible home care businesses is rising. This need can help position your business for success and give you more opportunities to refine your mission and select specific populations to focus on. 

The need for home care help for senior relatives in particular has grown. As home care professional Christine Friedberg reflects, “I used to get on the phone and talk with clients about home care being an option for them or for their loved one, but it was like a new concept…For a long time, we were trying to educate the community about what home care was. Demand is greater than ever now.”

Medicare’s Triple Aim program may provide general inspiration for your own company goals. Their three pillars are :

From a business perspective, working with specific demographics may give you a leg up on funding. Based in Alexandria, VA, Griswold Home Care works with the area’s large population of aging veterans. To reach more of them, Griswold joined the cross-regional VA Community Care Network to provide in-home services to veterans needing extra support at home.

Not only was Griswold able to reach a specific community in need, but the program also helped this local home care business secure funding directly from the Department of Veterans Affairs . “We’ll see anywhere from 5 to 20 hours a week that the VA is covering, in terms of actually contracting with us directly. They pay us directly…so it’s very easy for the veteran to get in, take advantage of this program and take advantage of this care.”

In the home care industry, other demographics include:

Keep your demographic in mind as you refine your company’s identity and plan for growth. It will determine the steps you’ll take to fund your business and reach the neighbors who need you most.

4. Your services

The services section of your home care business plan sets the vision for what your business will specifically do. There are two main types of home care companies and services:

With the growing need for at-home healthcare businesses, some of the most common home care services include:

Get specific about what caregiver duties you’ll provide your clients, narrowing down your list with the most needed services in your local community. With 1 in 3 U.S. households on Nextdoor , you’ll be able to connect with neighbors, and your most important clients, with a free business page.

5. Your management structure

This section of your business plan establishes the legal status of your company, which affects other details, from the extent of your liability as the owner to how you’ll file taxes.

The most common business structures for home care providers are:

To choose the right business structure for you, consider:

While S corporations and C corporations are often better suited for larger-scale companies, it’s possible to change the legal structure of your organization as it grows. Consider hiring experts, like a lawyer and an accountant, to help you with this stage of the process, especially if they have advised other local businesses in your area.

6. Your marketing plan

Show potential funding partners you know the modern home care market and set your local business up for success with marketing goals that cover the following bases:

Anything that makes your home care business unique, include in this section of your business plan. With a growing population of aging Americans, entrepreneurs are getting creative about the types of care they offer to suit different lifestyles.

Take Dr. Bill Thomas . He thought there should be a senior care option in place of the traditional nursing home so he created Minka, a company that builds small dwellings tailormade for seniors who want extra assistance, community, and autonomy in their advanced years. Says Thomas, “I think there will continue to be congregate housing, but the more choices people find in front of them, the more they’ll find something that suits them best.”

7. Your core financials

The next two sections cover your financial history with projections for your home care business’s future. This will be important for your business strategy, as well as for potential lenders, investors, or partners. 

The finance section of your home care business plan should include:

If you plan to enroll as a provider through a network like Medicare, mention in this section of your business plan.

8. Financial projections

This section of your home care business plan is important if you’re asking for an investment of any kind as it covers the funding you’re requesting, what you’ll use it for, and your plan to pay it back.

Financial projections should cover at least three years. Fortunately, the home care industry is slated for financial growth in the coming years. In the U.S. alone, the compound annual growth rate for home health care is projected to be 14.2% between 2021 and 2027.

However you plan to grow your company, speak with your local bank to discuss the full spectrum of financial options before finalizing your business plan. 

You can also connect with fellow home care professionals through Nextdoor for more information on the local home care industry in and around your neighborhood. This will help you get a realistic sense of your financial plan and the next few years operating your business.

9. Appendix

Your business plan’s appendix is where you’ll include any supporting or miscellaneous information for your business goals that didn’t have a place in the earlier sections.

Consider including:

Make local connections through Nextdoor

As more Americans age, local caregivers are increasingly integral to the health of their communities. An effective home care business plan should tell this compelling narrative, sharing why there’s a need for your services and what you’ll do to fulfill them in your area. 

If you’re just building your local home care business, start close to home with a Nextdoor Business Page. Signing up is free, takes just a few minutes, and will help you spread the word, turning your neighbors into your first clients. 

Claim your free Business Page

Get Nextdoor updates

Factor Finders

How to Start a Home Health Care Agency

senior home care business plan

*This is a guide to get your home health care agency started.

We can not help you directly start a home health care agency., please do not contact prn funding until your healthcare agency has factorable invoices.*.

Due to the aging of baby boomers and increased life expectancy, the number of senior citizens over the age of 65 is increasing every year. With that comes the increasing need for medical and personal care as well. This offers great business opportunities for entrepreneurs in the healthcare industry.

If you’re considering owning a business in the home health care industry, you might be wondering “Where do I start?” Before we get into the necessary steps for starting a home health care agency, what actually is a home health care business?

Defining a Home Health Care Agency

The term “home health care” is fairly straightforward. It basically means that medical professionals or professional caregivers go into individual’s homes and provide some sort of help or care.

Medical home health care would be nursing services, wound care, monitoring of one’s health such as blood pressure and mental state. This type of care is needed when someone gets out of the hospital or for senior citizens.

Home care that is provided by caregivers is based around the need for basic day-to-day assistance. For example, home care aides will prepare meals, clean the house, help change or dress an individual or drive them to or from doctors appointments.

This article will discuss the specifics in starting a medical home health care business that is covered by Medicare, Medicaid and private paid.

Starting a Home Health Care Business? Follow These Steps:

NOTE: PRN Funding is NOT an authority on starting a home health care business. PRN Funding’s expertise is with invoice factoring. Home health care companies have the ability to factor once they have invoices lined up. Until your home health care company has invoices, please do not contact PRN Funding concerning funding. 

Step 1: Create a business plan.

This is the first step in starting any type of business. You need to make a business plan for your home health care agency because it is the base of your company and will be needed for each step to follow. A business plan includes the following:

Step 2: Register with the state.

In order to receive payment from Medicare and Medicaid, your agency needs to meet the requirements put in place. Certify your agency by completing your state’s home care application for a license.

You will also need to incorporate your business, get your tax identification and register for your NPI (National Provider Identification) number. These requirements for starting a home health care agency depend on a state-to-state basis.

Step 3: Obtain Medicare and Medicaid certifications.

By obtaining these certifications, your agency will be able to provide health care services such as nursing care, physical therapy, and other services and get paid by Medicare and Medicaid plans.

Be aware that this process of becoming accredited can take longer than you think, sometimes even up to a year. To apply and go through the survey process, visit cms.gov.  In addition to getting these certifications, some states require business owners of home health care agencies to complete a jurisprudence exam .

Step 4: Hire a great staff.

Since your home health care business is providing personal service to patients, you want a staff that represents and reflects what you want your business to be.

There are many ways to go about hiring the perfect workers for your agency. Many businesses take to social media , for example.

Once you interview potential staff members, make sure you conduct thorough background checks to avoid legal action if there is any problem with care from an employee.

Step 5: Get your clients.

Once you have a business plan in place and your ideal staff lined up, it’s time to get clients and start operating your business. This step is one of the most difficult parts of owning any type of business, especially a service-based business like a home health care agency.

Effective marketing strategies are crucial for obtaining clients. Here are some basic marketing ideas you can implement to get your business going:

Step 6: Have a solid financing plan for growth.

PRN Funding does NOT provide startup capital for your home health care agency. However, once you have invoices from customers, PRN Funding may be able to offer your business funding via invoice factoring. 

Once you start billing Medicare, Medicaid or third-party insurers, the slow payment periods can cause some stress on you as the business owner. Accounts receivable factoring is used by home healthcare agencies and businesses to bridge the gap between payment periods.

Invoice factoring allows you to be advanced an amount to pay employees and continue growing your healthcare business. You company will have more money for expenses and take the stress of cash off your mind so you can focus on your business operations.

You might be interested in:

PRN FUNDING PROMOTES RYAN ELLIOTT TO VICE PRESIDENT

IMAGES

  1. Home Health Care Business Plan Template Sample Pages

    senior home care business plan

  2. Senior Care Plan Template in 2021

    senior home care business plan

  3. Senior care business templates

    senior home care business plan

  4. 4 Things You Must Know Before Starting A Non-Medical Home Care Business

    senior home care business plan

  5. Home Care How To

    senior home care business plan

  6. Home Health Care Business Plan Sample [2022]

    senior home care business plan

VIDEO

  1. Preferred Care at Home Franchise Owner Discusses Personal Experience

  2. Let’s Go! You can do it! Start your home care business now!!!

  3. Start Your Home Care Business!!!

  4. HOME CARE AID BUSINESS

  5. How To Start A HOME BASED BUSINESS

  6. Home Care Business

COMMENTS

  1. 8 steps for a successful Home Care Business Plan

    1. Executive Summary · Your home health care business mission and goals · A description of your product or service, and why it's different from

  2. Home Care Business Plan Template

    Your goal is to develop a fairly simple plan first to start your Home Care Agency which often is enough for most small businesses getting started using

  3. Home Health Care Business Plan Template [Updated 2023]

    Discuss the type of home health care business you are operating. Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers. Provide a snapshot

  4. Home Health Care Business Plan Template (2023)

    We have helped over 5,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans and many have used them to start or grow their home health care businesses.

  5. Want to Start a Home Health Care Business? Here's How

    Step 1: Formulate your business plan · Step 2: State and Medicare/Medicaid certification · Step 3: Staffing and management structure · Step 4: Developing your

  6. Home Health Care Services Business Plan

    The key factor considered by both consumers and referring professionals when purchasing home health care is trust in the professional reputation, reliability

  7. How To Start An Eldercare Business in 9 Easy Steps

    Step 1. Choose services to offer. · Step 2. Name your eldercare business. · Step 3. Don't spend money! · Step 4. Legal structure. · Step 5. Insurance. · Step 6. Set

  8. TABLE OF CONTENTS

    Chapter One: What is Senior Home Care? ... Chapter Two: Setting Up Your Senior Home Care Business ...................................... ... Business Plan .

  9. How to craft a successful home care business plan

    How to create a home care business plan · 1. The executive summary · 2. The company description · 3. Your business mission and goals · 4. Your

  10. Starting a Home Health Care Agency

    Step 1: Create a business plan. · Step 2: Register with the state. · Step 3: Obtain Medicare and Medicaid certifications. · Step 4: Hire a great