Abstract
Homecare providers play a significant role in delivering a variety of health care and supportive services to the community. The homecare professional may be for-profit or not-for-profit depending on the agency or the source of funding for the healthcare services offered. The following paper provides an analysis of the Best Healer home based Wound Care Company aimed at offering wound care services to African Americans living in Jackson, Mississippi. The need to overcome health care disparities among minority communities in the country supports the company's establishment. The company is expected to serve more than 700,000 persons. The analysis shows that the expected revenues will be U.S. $394,000, 450,000, and 534,000 for years 1, 2, and 3 respectively. The company is expected to make profits of U.S. $190,800, $208,000, and 230,850 in three years respectively. It was recommended that good communication and having more people register for comprehensive medical insurance would help increase the number of people seeking home based care in the US.
Introduction
Homecare providers play a significant role in delivering a variety of health care and supportive services to the community. The homecare professional may be for-profit or not-for-profit depending on the agency or the source of funding for the healthcare services offered. Many people are migrating to urban areas in search of employment opportunities and earning a living while the few left in the rural areas receive less medical attention. Many communities in the US experience significant health disparities because of the lack of access to quality care and health care resources to address their health needs. People suffer from a wide range of healthcare problems including chronic diseases, communicable diseases, and many others. The today's fast growing interest in wound care creates a higher desire to start a home based wound care center at the community level. The following paper analyzes the establishment of the center focusing on the cost of starting the home-based wound care, revenues generated, profit gained, and recommendations for future growth.
The company and the community
The Company name is Best Healers (BH) Home-based Care that will be located in Jackson, Mississippi, USA. The reason for selecting the location was because it holds the biggest percentage of community that the company targets. The home based wound care targets African Americans living in the US. African Americans (Blacks) face many challenges accessing quality, safe, and cost-effective care; hence, the need to take medical services close to their doorstep. The total population of Black or African American in Mississippi as at July 1, 2015, was approximately 1.125 million people, representing 37.6 percent of the total population in the state. Additionally, 16 percent of the population aged 65 years and below do not have comprehensive health care insurance (United States Census Bureau, 2016). The report from the US Census shows that the company will have an estimate of 50,000 patients per year.
Company’s mission statement
The BH home based care is expected to serve more than 60 percent of the black population living in Mississippi and the neighboring states. On the other hand, minority groups in Kenya face significant challenges when it comes to routine checkups because many come from low socioeconomic classes where they barely earn enough to cater for frequent health checkups especially after discharge from hospitals. The BH home-based care will take care of such patient by providing home health care to such patients. According to the Alliance Staff (2014), patients who access home health care immediately after discharge from hospital record improved patient outcomes regarding wound improvement, pain management, and accelerated healing.
BH home-based care is a for-profit company; therefore, the management must ensure the company acquires adequate revenues and gets higher profits. Many organizations have failed in establishing an effective home based wound care because most entrepreneurs think it is a straight forward process. All key components such as the company policy and procedures and a comprehensive marketing plan should be included in the initial establishment of the company to ensure its success.
Services offered
The company will hire only qualified and smart healthcare providers, practitioners, and nurses to provide excellent and unique care to clients. Wound care is rapidly gaining demand in the country especially for home care services requiring the expertise of well-trained and experienced clinicians in wound management, healing, and the selection and use of appropriate wound management products (Interim Healthcare, 2015). The organization will offer services such as standardized, evidence-based wound treatment protocols for different types of wounds. Clinicians will also recommend materials and medical products to support body surfaces affected by the wound and any other device that helps hasten the healing process. Clinicians will educate patients on matters such as self-monitoring, identifying signs and symptoms of complications, and personal management of wound while not under the care of the expert. Additionally, clients will be taken through regular counseling on the appropriate diet, food supplements, and activities that promote wound healing. Finally, the organization will always maintain constant communication with the client for easier follow-up and quick response.
The significance of the home based wound care to the community
Home health care in the US is the most effective method of delivering quality and safe healthcare services to patients. The service involves the patient in his or her personal planning; hence, producing best results. The future of the US healthcare is moving to the home based care as more medical professional continue establishing home based care centers to cater for different health conditions. The establishment of the BH home-based care will be of greater advantage to the African American community living in Mississippi. The service will be open to people of all ages, but more emphasize will be on older people. The Alliance Staff argued home-based care is the best medical program that helps promote the health of many Americans, but experts are yet to establish methods of delivering such services to the old and physically challenged people (Alliance Staff, 2014). On the other hand, charges for the service will be pocket-friendly to ensure every person affords to receive care irrespective of their levels of income or socioeconomic class.
The amount of revenue expected
Many wound care centers in the country record significant lower healing rates because many specialists take view the service on the marketing perspective without considering the patient's outcome. The aim of the BH home based wound care is to improve patient outcome and make profits. The company is expected to gain high amount of revenues based on the target population and the location in the country. The company targets 60 percent of the population; especially the people discharged from hospitals with surgery wounds. The company executive will advertise its services through the media, on the billboards, and through the company website to create awareness to the community.
Start up cost
BH Home Based Wound Care is in its start-up stage and requires high amount of capital to start. The expected money needed for the initial start up of the company is approximately U.S. $150,000. Figure 1 shows the breakdown of the start-up capital.
Figure 1: The breakdown of the startup cost for the Best Healers Home Based Wound Care.
Market analysis
Based on the growing population of the aging people in the US, a bigger percentage of people will prefer home based care to hospital care shortly. The primary market segment includes these people, especially people in the older age bracket, requiring health services from home-based nurses. Approximately 70 million old adults living in America suffer from one or more chronic conditions. Many of these patients end up in surgeon's desks and experience difficult moments trying to heal surgery wounds. The BH Company will offer excellent home based wound care for such people to ensure positive outcome.
Expected revenues
The most significant element of the company's financial plan is the cost of operations. The amount of revenue generated should exceed the cost of operating the business each year for the company to make profits. The main source of reimbursement for the home based wound care services at BH Company will be Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurances. Additionally, people with no medical insurance cover will be allowed to pay cash for the company's pay bill numbers. The following assumptions are made:
The economy of the country will continue to grow with no major recession
There will be no changes in the federal policy or health insurance reimbursements in the next three years.
Projected annual income
Figure 2: Expected revenue for the year ending June 2017
Figure 3: Projected yearly revenues for BH Company for three consecutive years
Profits gained from the revenue
The comparison between table 1 and table 2 shows the company is expected to make a lot of profits in its three years of operations. Figure 4 shows the amount of profit the company expects to make each year for the coming three years.
Figure 4: BH Home Based Wound Care profit yearly
Recommendations
The lack of awareness by some communities causes disparities in healthcare experienced in the US. The Best Healer home based wound care should advertise its services through different forms of advertisement to create more awareness and make more people seek home-based care services for a better health outcome. One of the best recommendations that help reach more people in the community is the establishment of communication ‘network'. Forming patients' networks help communicate about a new service quickly through mobile phones, social media, and other online platforms. According to Cioroiu (2013), the most effective communication networks that work best for home based wound care are caregiver to patient/family, patient/family to caregiver, nurse to physician, and the proper use of technology. Second, the government should create a policy that ensures all citizens register to a health care insurance to ease the burden of paying for home-based medical services. Many patients have higher desires to get these services, but the lack of a comprehensive cover becomes a stumbling block.
Conclusion
The Better Healer Home Based Wound care will assist African Americans living in Mississippi access to quality and safe wound care at their homes. The company will offer services at lower costs and without and discrimination to ensure every client acquires the best service. The financial analysis of the organization shows it is more likely to grow and make more profits.
References
Alliance Staff. (May 2014). The Future of Home Health Care Project. The Alliance for Home
Health Quality & Innovation.
Cioroiu, M. (2013). Improving communication in the wound clinic. Today’s World Clinic, 7(3).
Interim Healthcare. (2015). Wound care. Retrieved June 28, 2016, from
http://www.interimhealthcare.com/services/home-care/information/wound-care
United States Census Bureau. (2016). Quick facts: Mississippi. Retrieved June 28, 2016, from
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/28
