The U.S. is already home to more than 14,000 drug rehabilitation centers. They treat millions annually and generate billions of dollars worth of profits.
This might lead you to believe that learning how to start a rehab center would be a waste of time. There are so many drug rehab centers already, so is there really a need for another one?
The easy answer to this question is “yes!” Although many drug rehab centers are out there, many are filled to capacity. It’s why you should consider starting a rehab center in your area.
Before you attempt to do it, though, you need to know how to start a drug rehab center. You also need to get additional insight into rehab center management.
Do you want more information on how to open a rehab center? Continue reading to find out how it’s done.
Conduct a Feasibility Study
When you’re first trying to figure out how to start a rehab center, you might be tempted to create a business plan for it. But you’ll be making a huge mistake if you do this.
Before doing anything else, you’ll need to conduct a feasibility study. It’s a study that will help you determine which kind of rehab facility you’ll start.
It’ll also help you decide:
- Where you’re going to put a rehab center
- How large a rehab center will be
- How many beds will be situated in a rehab center
A feasibility study is often going to cost you thousands of dollars. It’s why you might wonder, “Do I really need to do this study?!”
But you’ll regret not doing it later if you don’t go through with it. It’ll equip you with all the information you need to make smart decisions as you learn how to start a rehab clinic.
Obtain a License
You obviously wouldn’t be able to open a doctor’s office or a hospital without being licensed. So it shouldn’t be a huge surprise to hear that you also can’t start a rehab center without a license.
That being said, every state operates differently when it comes to licensing rehab centers. You’ll need to find out how your state handles licenses and do whatever it takes to get your hands on one.
Create a Business Plan
You might be intent on starting a rehab center to help people with addiction. But you should also realize that, at its core, a rehab center is a business.
For this reason, you’ll need to create a business plan for a rehab center just like you would make a business plan for any other business. It’ll include everything from a mission statement to a clear outline of what your rehab center will entail.
Having a clear-cut business plan will be super important if you need to borrow money to open it up. So you should spend plenty of time carefully crafting your business plan from start to finish.
Raise Money
More often than not, opening a rehab center will cost at least a few hundred thousand dollars, if not more. You might even be considering spending millions of dollars on a rehab center if you have to build it from the ground up.
With this in mind, you will more than likely need to raise money to create a rehab center from scratch. This will call for you to either take out loans or sell stakes in your rehab center to investors.
Either way, they’ll want you to walk them through your business plan to prove you have something worthwhile for them to invest in. It makes your business plan an essential part of your rehab center.
Hire a Staff
If you get to this point and things are still moving in the right direction, you can hire a staff to work for your rehab center. Your team will need to include:
- Executive Director
- Medical Director
- Doctors
- Nurses
- Counselors
- Case Workers
- Administrators
You should play a vital role in the hiring process for the staff for your rehab center. You’ll want to put together a passionate team fully committed to getting your rehab center off to a strong start.
Get Accredited
You don’t necessarily have to get accredited to start a rehab center. But many insurance companies have begun to require rehab centers to be accredited before they’ll pay for their services.
It isn’t easy to get accredited. But it would be worth trying to get accredited by the:
- Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF)
- Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO)
If you can get accredited by just one of these organizations, it’ll work wonders for your rehab center.
Come Up With a Marketing Strategy
Since there are so many rehab centers scattered throughout the country, you’ll need to work hard to help yours to stand out. This will call for you to put a strong marketing strategy in place.
This marketing strategy should include some combination of radio and TV advertisements, social media marketing, and even good old word of mouth. It’ll help your rehab center gain traction and make more people aware of your mission.
Start Accepting Patients
After everything else is done, it’ll finally be time for you to start accepting patients. You can open your front doors and let people begin coming to you for help.
The only other thing you’ll need to worry about is billing your patients and collecting profits. These substance abuse billing services will really come in handy and put your company in a position to be profitable from the beginning.
Knowing How to Start a Rehab Center Is Important
You aren’t going to be able to jumpstart a rehab center overnight. It’ll take months and maybe even years to get it moving in the right direction.
But as long as you know how to start a rehab center, you should be able to keep going down the correct path. It’ll have you helping people sooner than you may have anticipated.
Look for more tips to help you launch a new business venture by reading through more of the articles on our blog.
