Before You Start a Home Health Agency: Understanding the Certificate of Need Process
The Pre-Licensing Requirement Many Aspiring Home Health Agency Owners Don't Know About When aspiring entrepreneurs tell me they want to start a Home Health Agency, one of the first things they usually want to know is: “What do I need to do to get licensed?” But depending on the state, licensing may not actually be your first major hurdle. Before some prospective Home Health Agency owners can move forward with the traditional licensing process, they may first have to answer a much bigger question: Will the state allow another Home Health Agency to enter this market? Welcome to the world of the Certificate of Need , commonly referred to as a CON . And if you're considering opening a skilled Home Health Agency, this is a regulatory process you need to understand BEFORE you spend thousands of dollars building a business around the assumption that obtaining a license is simply a matter of completing an application. What Is a Certificate of Need? A Certificate of Need is a state regu...
