Understanding Private Home Care in Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia’s rapidly aging population is driving demand for home care services. There’s also government interest in facilitating care at home, such as the launch of a CAPABLE pilot program to help Nova Scotians age in place.

Demand for Disability Home Care Services

You’ll find that it’s not just older Nova Scotians who need your private home care services. 37.9% of the population also live with disability, a number that’s higher than anywhere else in Canada.

By advertising home care services for people with disability, you can widen your market reach. But, bear in mind that some clients may have more complex needs that could affect your recruiting strategy. 

Depending on the client’s age and disability, you may also want to involve their family members in their care. You can use the ShiftCare Connect portal to instantly share updates, schedules and billing information with approved users.

Tackling Caregiver Workforce Shortages 

Like many of Canada’s provinces and territories, Nova Scotia is currently facing acute care worker shortages.

Until recently, high immigration levels had mitigated the impact. But with the Nova Scotia College of Nursing’s recent decision to offer an expedited licensing process for nurses from seven countries, that’s changed.

That’s because a sizable number of immigrant caregivers are actually qualified nurses in their home countries. They’ve been working as caregivers while applying for their Nova Scotia nursing license, a lengthy and often expensive process.

However, the new, expedited licensing process allows them to quickly land a nursing role — causing many of them to resign from caregiving.

As you start your private home care agency, you’ll need a well-thought-out caregiver recruitment plan. We’ll explore that in more detail later on in this article.

Creating Your Nova Scotian Private Home Care Business’ Legal and Financial Structure 

Registering with the government of Nova Scotia is an essential step to starting your private home care business. Make sure you tick off these four tasks:

1. Choose Your Home Care Business Structure

In Nova Scotia, you can operate your private home care business as a sole proprietorship, partnership, company, co-operative or society. Your choice of legal structure dictates your personal liability, tax rates, business ownership, workers’ compensation rights and more. 

It’s a good idea to seek legal and financial advice to help you make the best decision.

2. Register Your Private Home Care Business

Unless you’re operating under your own name, with no alternative business brand or name, you’ll need to register your private home care name and business with the Registry of Joint Stock Companies.

3. Apply for Licences and Permits 

Find out which permits are required in your municipality via the Nova Scotia Permits Directory or BizPaL.

4. Sign up to the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) Nova Scotia

You’ll need to sign up for workers’ injury insurance with WCB Nova Scotia as soon as you have three employees. If you’re a sole proprietorship or partnership, you don’t need to include yourself when counting employees. However, directors and officers of companies are counted, even if they don’t receive a wage.

Building Your Private Home Care Team

Unless you plan to operate alone, your private home care agency’s success will be dependent on having a team of talented, passionate caregivers. But recruitment and training can be expensive, especially for a newly launched business. 

To help you find the right caregivers in a cost-effective manner, start with a detailed business plan. Where will you operate? What services will you provide? What profit margins and cash flow can you expect? 

Your answers will help you decide how many caregivers you need to recruit and which skills they should possess. Our list of caregiver interview questions will then help you narrow down the ideal candidates.

A well-designed weekly schedule will enable you to make the most of a small team. Use the ShiftCare scheduler to balance caregiver availability with clients’ preferred visit times. You can also allow your care team to bid on shifts via the job board, reducing your admin workload.

Professional Help and Resources for Nova Scotia’s Private Home Care Businesses

As you start your Nova Scotian private home care business, professional associations can support you with training, networking and funding. We look at national associations in our guide to launching a Canadian home care business. But in this article, we’ll keep the focus on Nova Scotia.

Caregivers Nova Scotia

Caregivers Nova Scotia supports professional home caregivers and care recipients through educational workshops, peer support groups, telephone and email support, an online directory of private home care agencies, online resources and more.

Continuing Care Association of Nova Scotia (CCANS)

CCANS provides its members with free training, networking, professional development events, registered pension plans and social media promotion.

Atlantic Canada Business Grants

You’ll find free educational guides and information about business financing in Nova Scotia, including Indigenous business grants.

Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS) Business Hub 

ISANS runs business training and mentorship programs to support immigrants in Nova Scotia in starting and growing their businesses.

Immigrant Women Entrepreneurship Program (IWEP) and Network (IWEN)

Operating under the ISANS umbrella, IWEP and IWEN provide additional training and networking opportunities.

How to start a private home care business in Nova Scotia

To start a private home care business in Nova Scotia, make sure to register your business name and structure with the government, create an account with WCB Nova Scotia and follow our tips for hiring caregivers.

What is home care in Nova Scotia?

When you start a private home care agency, you don’t just start your own business. You help ensure that older Nova Scotians and Nova Scotians with a disability can continue living comfortably and safely in their own homes. Your work supports your clients in maintaining their connection with their community, living with greater independence and experiencing a better quality of life.

Running a private home care business isn’t always easy. From taxes and accounting to recruitment, scheduling and marketing your business, there’s always another task on your to-do list. That’s why it’s important to have the right tools and systems in place from day one.

ShiftCare’s home care software takes care of the admin side of running your private home care business, so you can focus on what really matters: delivering excellent care and growing your business. 

It comes with a scheduler, document management system, time-tracker, digital shift records, auto-generated invoices and accounting and payroll integrations. Plus, there’s an app for your caregivers and a companion portal for your clients’ loved ones.

Try ShiftCare for free.