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Remember when doctors used to make house calls? No? Me either. But I'm told by several very reliable sources (one of whom is my mother) that at one time doctors actually ventured out of their surgeries and attended their patients in their very own homes! Hard to believe? Well, not for long. It appears that a groundswell of demand for in-home medical attention is reviving the good old housecall but in a decidedly 21st century kind of way.

The Entrepreneur.com start-up kit gives a good general overview of what's involved. Essentially, a health care agency works with doctors, nurses and other caregivers to coordinate patient care for clients in their own homes. Health care agencies can take the form of fully-fledged nursing agencies or just a referral agency. A nursing agency is a much bigger type of operation and anyone wanting to start a home-based operation would be well-advised to start out as a referral agency and expand later into a nursing agency if that's the future direction of the business.

Useful sites:

American Federation of Home Health Agencies

Entrepreneur Magazine Start-Up Kit

Tender Loving Care

Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services

Books:

Home Health Agency Handbook
Rector Press, Limited

The Home Health Agency Policy Manual
by Marilyn D. Harris