Ask Mike - Considering opening my own respite/habilitation facility

Dear Wants to Open Own Facility

Thanks for writing. You state that you have been a respite/habilitation services worker for six years. You have been considering opening your own facility to provide these services. The agency that currently employs you doesn't have a facility and sometimes you are uncomfortable working in people's homes. You particularly are interested in being able to be paid by the state DD administration.

In order to undertake such an endeavor, you will need to be ready to deal with a lot of rules and regulations governing provision of these services in a facility as well as licensure requirements for both the facility and for your staff. These all vary from state-to-state. You will need to gather up as much of this information as you can so as to be able to make an informed decision about whether to move ahead with the idea of opening your own facility. Our website can be of assistance with this critical first step.

Go to the PAS Center's Agencies Related to PAS page, click on your state and on the next page click on "Medicaid Agency".

Use the contact information provided to get in touch with your state's official, designated Medicaid agency and start asking questions and getting the information you need such as rules and regulations governing provision of respite and habilitation services. What are the training, certification and/or licensure requirements for hands-on staff? What are the record keeping and reporting requirements? Are there bonding requirements for staff? Liability insurance requirements? Are there staff to participant ratios that must be met and maintained for facilities? Etc. Etc.

Are there rules and regulations for facility-based services? How many people do you plan on serving? How big will your facility need to be? Are there architectural and/or construction rules and regulations? Do you plan on serving food such as lunch? What are the rules around that?

These are just a few examples of information you may need and of the types of questions you may want to consider asking of your state Medicaid agency.

You will also need to consider what type of agency or company you want. Will your facility be for-profit or not-for-profit? Will you have partners? Will you incorporate? Where will it be located? Will you need an architect? A general contractor? You will likely need legal advice here so you should consider hiring a lawyer with expertise in these kinds of matters.

As you can see, this is a complicated undertaking and there are a whole host of questions, issues and possible directions you could take; more than can be covered in a simple, little advice and information column. The main thing is to be organized and comprehensive as possible in your thinking and planning, and again, to get expert advice and assistance from lawyers and/or consultants.

Good luck!

Mike Oxford