Home-based health care services are one of the fastest growing industries in Canada.
Right now home-based health care in Canada is a market worth about $6.6 billion annually - which is less than four percent of all the money spent on health care by governments in Canada. However, home care is going to continue to grow rapidly, according to John Schram, president of We Care Health Services, as governments realize the value of making home-based health care services a bigger part of health care delivery (Derek Sankey, "Private sector attracts growing number of nurses", Vancouver Sun, May 16, 2009).
I've been writing about senior/home health care as a great business opportunity for years (see Senior Care Franchises a Good Business Opportunity, for example) and named it as one of the better business opportunities around on several of my best business opportunity lists, including Best Business Opportunities 2009.
Our rapidly aging population makes this business idea a no-brainer. (Thirteen percent of our population is 65 or older right now and that number is predicted to grow to 25 percent over the next 20 years, according to Statistics Canada.)
A recently released paper by the Canadian Healthcare Association cited Canada's rapidly aging population, people's preference for getting care in their own homes, improved technology that allows caregivers to do more in the home setting and governments' increasing recognition of home-based health care as a "cheaper" alternative as the four main reasons home-based health care is growing so quickly.
As an example, the Vancouver Sun article says that Nurse Next Door, a franchised home care services business, has grown 25 percent in the last six months alone.
Obviously this is one business idea that's not dragged down by recession. I like it so much that I even featured it in Best Small Business Ideas for Businesses That Will Prosper in Tough Times!
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I've been writing about senior/home health care as a great business opportunity for years (see Senior Care Franchises a Good Business Opportunity, for example) and named it as one of the better business opportunities around on several of my best business opportunity lists, including Best Business Opportunities 2009.
Our rapidly aging population makes this business idea a no-brainer. (Thirteen percent of our population is 65 or older right now and that number is predicted to grow to 25 percent over the next 20 years, according to Statistics Canada.)
A recently released paper by the Canadian Healthcare Association cited Canada's rapidly aging population, people's preference for getting care in their own homes, improved technology that allows caregivers to do more in the home setting and governments' increasing recognition of home-based health care as a "cheaper" alternative as the four main reasons home-based health care is growing so quickly.
As an example, the Vancouver Sun article says that Nurse Next Door, a franchised home care services business, has grown 25 percent in the last six months alone.
Obviously this is one business idea that's not dragged down by recession. I like it so much that I even featured it in Best Small Business Ideas for Businesses That Will Prosper in Tough Times!
Image (c) Photodisc / Getty Images
Follow Me on Twitter.
Great idea.
I would add that nearing the end of the summer the growth is definitely keeping up. Nurse Next Door has 4 more locations going through training next month including Halifax, Nova Scotia. Although most of our growth will be in Ontario over the next 12 months, we should sell out in Canada pretty quickly.