With changing patient demographics and continuous rise in hospitalization costs, the demand for home healthcare is expected to have rapid growth over the next decade. Healthcare has been moving from hospitals to homes since the 1990s which has created a steady boom in the in-home care industry.

This article will tackle some of the reasons for the shift to home healthcare, where the industry is headed, and some emerging markets arising from this trend.

Why healthcare is going home

Home healthcare has an already established client base in the geriatric population. This continues to grow as medical advances have increased longevity, boosting the number of seniors requiring care. But aside from the elderly, we are now seeing younger patients and even those without chronic illnesses choosing in-home care instead of hospitals. A huge driver of this change is the recent COVID-19 pandemic which pushed hospitals at near capacity. With hospitals turning away patients and stay-at-home culture becoming a norm, home treatments have increasingly become more popular. Financial and social factors also play huge roles in this shift. In-home patient care is revealed to be 52% on average less costly compared to hospital care. Aside from saving on hospital accommodations, patients are also spared from unnecessary tests typically performed in hospitals. Patients are also much more comfortable staying in a familiar environment in the presence of loved ones. Unless 24/7 assistance is requested, home healthcare workers only visit patients on schedule and much of the personal caring is left to relatives.

New market opportunities

With the home healthcare industry expected to have a revenue of $253.4 billion in 2030, new business opportunities are also riding the wave. One of the emerging markets benefiting and supporting this trend is telehealth. Telehealth has given patients access to virtual consultations, and depending on the nature of the illness, allows the necessary treatment to be administered at home completely skipping hospitals. In 2022, the telehealth market has reached a valuation of $83.5 billion and is projected to grow further by 45% in the next five years. Home healthcare agencies are also growing, with about 11,000 agencies already existing in the US alone. Aside from the rising number of patients shifting to in-house care, there are also other reasons for the rapid boom of home healthcare agencies. Among these reasons is the ease of registration where you don’t have to be a medical professional to set up a home healthcare agency. There are also reputable agencies that can be franchised, making a home healthcare business very accessible to willing entrepreneurs. The growth of home healthcare agencies is also partly due to the availability of business process outsourcing (BPO) companies that specialize in that niche. While home healthcare operations are straightforward in their front-end, the back-end requires a lot of administrative tasks, logistical support, and paperwork for operations to run smoothly. BPO companies provide all the back-end support allowing agencies to focus efforts on delivering quality care to their patients. Luckwell Solutions specializes in providing administrative support for home healthcare agencies with crucial tasks like patient intake coordination, medical data entry, physician’s order processing, authorization processing, customer satisfaction surveys, quality assurance reviews, and many more. We also offer consultation services for small to medium-sized home healthcare companies. Consultations are intended to streamline operations and reduce overhead costs by 60% through enhanced system efficiency. If you run a home healthcare company and want to take advantage of outsourcing your business processes, get in touch with one of our representatives to learn more about our services.