Advertising an in-home health business

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(FORTUNE Small Business) -- Dear FSB: I have started an in-home health business and want to know the best way to get my company off the ground. Also, what's the best way to advertise it?

- Michael Oliphant,Cashmere, Wash.

Dear Michael: First, make sure your licensing is in order. "Washington is one of only a few states that licenses in-home services," says Donna Cameron, outgoing Director of the Home Care Association of Washington, a trade group for home healthcare workers. In Washington, several licenses qualify your company to provide different levels of medical and non-medical services. Learn the specifics at doh.wa.gov.

"If you want to expand your business by providing services for Medicare and Medicaid patients, there's an additional certification process," adds Allison Henry of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The website explains all the necessary paperwork.

Begin promoting your business by identifying medical providers in your community. "Look for primary care practices and internal medicine practitioners and send a flyer or letter of introduction about what services you have to offer," says Joe Cobo, President of the National Society of Certified Healthcare Business Consultants. "Also send them to surgical practices. Those patients need services when they're released." Cobo also suggests advertising in community newspapers in areas that contain an older population or adult communities.

"Connect not only with physicians who make referrals, but also discharge planners at hospitals," says Wendi Lynagh, Executive Director of the Home Care Association of Washington. You can list your business on her organization's web site, where users can search by region or by the type of service they're looking for.

"Don't isolate yourself," says Cameron. "There's a lot of networking involved. In this state, the agencies are competitors by definition, but also very collegial. We're all facing the same workforce shortage issues. Sometimes an agency will get a call and just not have any more therapists or nurses. There are a lot of referrals within the community."