Starting a Successful Home Care Agency: An Ultimate Guide
Are you planning to step into the home care industry but are confused about where to start? Rest assured, as Fronto Advisory has got your back. Being one of Australia’s leading and most trusted advisory companies, they can help you navigate Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission’s (ACQSC) rules and regulations to become an approved care provider.
The need for in-home care has been gradually increasing over the years. The demand is there, but you need to combine your goal of purpose and profit efficiently to ensure that your agency starts off on the right foot. Fronto Advisory has helped countless providers with business setup and the home care provider application process. Their team would be willing to do the same for you if you reach out to them.
Given below are some pieces of advice that you must consider when starting your home care agency.
1. Ensure that you are eligible to be an approved provider
You must meet some requirements to qualify as an approved home care provider. These include:
- You must be a corporation
- Your key personnel should not include any disqualified individuals
- You must have some experience with providing aged care or other similar forms of services
- You must demonstrate an understanding of your responsibilities
- You must ensure that your agency will have systems in place to meet your responsibilities
- You must have some proof of financial management records and practices if you are already operating as a care provider
2. Draft a business plan
The first and foremost step to strengthening the foundation of your agency is to set up a business plan. You need to include the following in your plan:
- Executive summary-the objective of your agency
- Agency description-your agency’s missions and goals
- Services-list the services you will be offering your customers
- Marketing plan-how do you plan to let people know about your agency?
- Organisation and Management-ownership structure of your agency
- Operational and financial plan-cash flow, balance sheet, break-even analysis
3. Ensure financial security and stability
It is imperative for you to be financially stable when starting a home care agency. Initial costs can often contribute a great extent to your expenses. You must also possess sufficient funds to cover costs involved with direct care services.
4. Hire skilled staff
Since your staff will be the ones directly providing services to customers, it is vital that they are experienced and skilled. Their services will represent your business; hence, you do not want to compromise on this aspect. You can adopt several recruitment methods such as employee referrals, online ads, or magazine and newspaper ads. Also, conduct a thorough background check of each potential employee to avoid legal action later.
5. Develop strategies to attract customers
Once you have your business plan in place and a talented team to transform it into reality, you need to work on your marketing strategies to gather clients. Attracting clients, especially in a service-based business, can sometimes be tricky, but with the right strategies, you can get your business going. Some of these strategies include:
- Have a strong social presence
- Get your agency registered on Google, so people know how to contact you
- Have a specialised aspect and let people know how you stand out from your competitors
- Attend networking events
- Adopt video promotion techniques
- Advertise in newspapers or magazines
Once you believe you fulfil all the criteria for being an approved care provider, you can fill out the home care provider application and submit it to the Commission. The Commission will assess if your application is in line with the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Act 2018 and inform you about their decision within a few days.
Looking for further assistance?
The entire process of starting and running a home care agency can appear to be quite daunting, complex, and tricky. Fronto Advisory specialises in making this process simple for its clients. They will assist you from the beginning to the end until you are completely satisfied and your agency begins operating smoothly.
If you wish to avail any of the services, please feel free to contact them.