Starting a CNA Practice at Home
In America, the entrepreneurial spirit is stronger than ever, and there are plenty of opportunities to start your own business in healthcare. As a certified nursing assistant, or CNA, you may reach out to numerous people who require your expertise in helping family members with daily living activities, the recovery from surgery or provide consulting services that teach people to perform self-care. Follow these guidelines to get started in your own CNA business.
What Services Can a CNA Provide?
Often, family members do not want their parent or grandparent to leave their home and move to an assisted living facility or nursing home. For aging or debilitated people who only acquire minimal assistance with dressing, meal preparation or the reminder of medication, it is prudent for a family to employee a CNA to visit the home and perform a particular task or stay the length of a shift. CNAs may assist their clients at home with the following:
- Taking Vital Signs
- Simple Meal Preparation
- Light Housekeeping and Home Safety
- Dressing, Bathing and Personal Hygiene
- Shopping for the Basics
Professional Staffing Agency
You may also elect to start a service that offers CNA staffing exclusively to hospitals or nursing homes. When staffing is short, the facility may call you to fill their shift vacancies. This area may be highly competitive for new businesses, but you may be immediately successful on a local level.
The Business Plan
Your plan may begin as a draft that outlines and defines the expenses you want to divert to the business, advertising ideas, and your strategies to protect your business. However, the most important statement is your goals for the business and the reasons you believe they are attainable. When building a business plan for a CNA staffing agency, it is important to research the following:
- Competitive Agencies
- Medical Business Plans
- Evaluate Your Financial Situation
- Consult with a Commercial Liability Insurance Agent
CNA Business Startup Details
Decide on how you would like to present your services. You may begin to build a website with contact information, rent an office space or network with family members and neighbors. If you have decided to offer your services to healthcare facilities, visit the nursing coordinator or scheduler and inform them you are available if needed to fill CNA shifts. Always be prepared to present a compensation structure that displays the costs and rewards for clients using your CNA services. In addition, ensure that you visit other areas of client care such as:
- Adult Day Care Services
- Senior Centers
- Assisted Living Facilities
- Respond to Personal Ads that Advertise for CNAs or Caregivers
Location is Important
If you rent an office for your business, consider a location that is near a medical facility or physician’s group office to increase your visibility. Networking with other medical facilities may help you promote your home health services. However, many small businesses begin from the owner and operator’s home that saves money and overhead costs.
Recruit Qualified CNAs
Staff your CNA agency by calling CNA graduates from vocational, technical and community colleges. Place ads for CNA opportunities in local and neighborhood papers. Offer a referral bonus to your staff when they refer new CNAs to your agency.
Advertising Strategies
In addition to word-of-mouth advertising, text ads, and printed materials are necessary to provide information about your business and to present a professional appearance and reliability. Other advertising strategies include the following:
- Online Newspapers and Bulletin Boards
- Handout Brochures, Business Cards and Contracts
- Local Newspapers and Flyers
Provide Optimal Care
Policies should reflect the best practices that are required by CNAs to care for your clients. Ensure that CNAs and clients are aware of assignment policies, cancelation penalties and your definition of standards of professional practice is clear. By creating a premiere business that provides clients with a high satisfaction of services, you may ensure your successful CNA business.
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Hello Cathy
Thank you for the information. I am looking to start a school that will train and place CNA’s in the field. Can you give me an idea as to how much this will cost?
LOLITA
Hello Lolita!
Thank you for taking the time to comment. I’d imagine your cost only going as far as it cost to rent a space so that you can hold your training classes. That can cost anywhere between a few hundred to at most $1,000-$2,000 depending on how fancy you want to get. If I were you and wanted to test the waters, I’d sign a short term lease with a small space and see how that does. If that does well, then I’d look for a bigger space and continue to grow. Hope that helps!
I am an RN and I am considering starting this same type of business. Have you had any success?
Thank you for this information. I do have a quick question in order for me to run my own CNA agency do I have to have a nursing degree! I have a CNA certificate and was a CNA for 14 years and have certificates for mentorship.
Hi Shively,
I do plan on updating this information in the near future but to quickly answer your question. Yes it is required that you have at least an associate or bachelor’s degree in nursing to start your own CNA agency. And you’d have to be a certified Registered Nurse as well. Now that doesn’t mean you can’t start your own caregiving agency where you recruit CNAs to provide care for your clients. Hope this helps!
Thank you for this article. It was exactly what I was looking for. I am planning to add my CNA license to my fitness business as I work with medical exercise patients.