When it’s time to look for a nursing home for a loved one, it can sometimes be demanding to figure out what type of facility best fits their needs. This article explains what a nursing home is, what services it provides, and who it’s appropriate for.
Since ‘care home’ is a general term for residential care facilities, it can be confusing when considering available options. In short, nursing homes provide services for people who need more care and assistance than help with washing, dressing, taking their medications, or other personal matters.
What is a nursing home?
Nursing homes sometimes referred to as residential or care homes, have qualified nurses and care assistants who care for your health and provide home care.
The purpose of a nursing home is to provide care and support to people with certain illnesses or disabilities. These may include people who have great difficulty in their daily lives and need extra assistance. In a nursing home, there’s always at least one qualified and registered nurse on site, so residents have access to medical care and qualified nursing support around the clock.
Some nursing homes offer specialized care where staff is trained to care for people with a specific condition. For example, the facility might specialize in caring for people with dementia, severe learning disabilities, substance abuse, etc.
You can choose a nursing home whether you need short-term or long-term care. They are designed for people who need at-home care and do not need to visit a hospital regularly.
For example, a person may need to go to a nursing home if they require intensive rehabilitative care after a stroke or can no longer swallow and need to be artificially fed.
How to open a Nursing Home?
As more and more people need in-house care, there is an increasing demand for nursing homes in almost all regions and states. Opening a nursing home could be significant if you love caring for people and helping families. However, to thrive in this industry, you must conduct careful research, learn all the regulations, and analyze your costs and competition.
Conducting Market Research:
The first step towards opening a nursing home is conducting in-depth market research, understanding the competition, and your state’s regulations.
Learning about the nursing home regulations in your state-
When you are opening a medical business, like a nursing home, it will involve a lot of building codes, zoning, staffing, and insurance. These regulations are based on all the factors that could impact a patient’s health. Your business could shut down if you do not follow all the rules and regulations.
In the United States, each state has its laws regarding nursing homes. Therefore, you should consult an attorney to comply with all the nursing home guidelines. They will help you understand all the complicated regulations and terminologies.
Assessing the competition in your area-
If you live in California, you have to deal with intense competition. Vermont has one of the least numbers of nursing homes. To make your business profitable, you need to assess the competition in your area. You can do this through a quick internet search.
Distinguish your facility with a specialty-
Even if you have a lot of competition in your area, you can make your nursing home stand out by providing unique or specialized care. For instance, you can open up a nursing facility that only serves patients suffering from neurological disorders like dementia. This would distinguish your facility from those that offer general care.
You can also distinguish your facility by encouraging active social life for your residents. This can be done by arranging regular events. By doing this, you’ll be able to attract patients that need assistance in their daily life but would still like to maintain some independence. However, you should remember that adding a specialty to your nursing home would also add to your overall costs.
Setting Up Your Business:
Once you are done with your market research, the next step is setting up your business. This would include all the field and legal work, including setting up entities, leasing the land, and getting supplier quotes.
Forming up a business entity-
A nursing home is a legally licensed business. This means you would be required to form an entity before starting your business. Then, depending on your needs and the number of partners, you can choose the type of entity you want to register.
An LLC is a simple entity that can be formed among a few partners. A corporation is slightly more complicated and includes multiple partners and investors. You can weigh the pros and cons of all types of corporations and choose the best for your business.
Forming an entity is a straightforward process. You must complete all paperwork and file them with the state. Consult a business attorney and get legal advice if you need clarification. Open a separate bank account for separating your business assets.
Contacting suppliers for quotes on equipment-
Your nursing homes would require you to arrange for equipment similar to a hospital. You will need to line up your suppliers early on. You can find these suppliers with a quick internet search and get their quotes lined up. The supplier with the lowest cost and equipment quality would be the most suitable.
Buying in bulk is always a good idea. That way, you will be able to get the lowest prices. For instance, if you know you’ll need gloves daily, you can buy over 10,000 glove packets. You can also contact the manufacturers directly instead of supply companies.
Finding a location for your nursing home-
The size of your facility, location, and the number of patients you can admit are essential considerations. You need a facility big enough to operate and make a profit but not too big for the community you’re serving. You do not want too many empty beds in your home.
Before you decide on your nursing home’s location, ensure you have read your state’s regulations thoroughly. The state has rules about how many beds can be in each room and the amount of space each patient should have.
Setting up your facility to comply with the state’s regulations-
A nursing home must have certain facilities to adhere to the state’s laws. These include being equipped with handrails, ramps, and bathrooms for all the residents. You must ensure that your nursing home is up to the local regulations; otherwise, you will not get the required license.
A few consulting firms can help you ensure that all the regulations are met before you file for a license. It is always a good idea to get your place checked through one of these firms in your area.
Applying for Licenses and Hiring Employees:
Once you have set up your facility, you need to get your nursing home licensed before you can admit residents. You also need to hire medical and administrative staff to run your establishment smoothly.
Obtaining all the required licenses:
A nursing home requires multiple licenses and certifications to run. The list of these certifications would vary from one state to another. You can check the local regulations and determine which licenses you would require to run your facility. As a nursing home, you would require a license for each of your services, including long-term care or intermediate care.
Before you are issued a license, an authority visits your facility and checks it for compliance. You would also need a transparent background to start your nursing facility. This means that you have to submit your fingerprints to an FDA-approved center. These centers would forward your state and national criminal record to the licensing agency. FEFPS is an FDA-approved livescan fingerprinting center where you can submit your prints to get a background report. We have centers in multiple locations.
Once you and your facility are cleared, you will receive the licenses and certifications for your nursing home.
Applying for insurance certification:
You will mainly work with older people in your nursing home, and they will have health insurance to cover their costs. You should have the required insurance certification to accept Medicaid. You need to contact the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to receive your certificate.
You shouldn’t start operating the facility without an insurance certification. The CMS would inspect your facility and business plan before approving the accreditation.
Hiring staff to carry out the day-to-day tasks:
You cannot run a nursing home by yourself. You would need to hire medical professionals to take care of the patients and other staff numbers for tasks like cleaning and accounting. Posting your job ad on websites like Indeed can help you get more applicants.
You need one physician and several nurses to run your nursing home successfully. You need to make sure that you comply with the local staffing regulations. You can outsource the job instead of hiring a full-time employee, especially for administrative tasks.
Confirming that all the employees are licensed and qualified:
All the staff you hire, including the nurses, technicians, and receptionists, should be qualified and possess the required license to work in a nursing home. If you hire staff without a proper background check, it can hurt the reputation of your nursing home. You need to check all of their applications before hiring them.
Additionally, the AHCA required you to submit the employee’s fingerprints. All of the employees should have a clean criminal record. You can submit their prints at a reputable FDA-approved fingerprinting center. These centers would forward your state and national criminal record to the licensing agency. FEFPS is an FDA-approved livescan fingerprinting center where you can submit your prints to get a background report. We have centers in multiple locations.
Takeaway
The demand for a good nursing home is ever-rising in the United States. If you are looking to help the elderly and serve your community, opening up a Nursing Home is a good option. However, you would need to look into all the regulations and certifications required by your state to establish the institution.
You would also need a clean criminal background to get your license approved by the AHCA. You’ll need to submit your fingerprints to an FDA-approved center like FEFPS. We have multiple locations and offer high-quality fingerprinting services. The fingerprints are forwarded the same day, and the reports are generated within 3 business days.
Submitting your prints at a reputable center would help quicken your licensing procedure.
