How to Start a Rehab Center

The Essential Steps of How to Open a Treatment Center

So you’ve decided you’d like to enter the substance abuse space as the owner of a treatment facility – but you don’t know where to start. This comes as no surprise, considering undertaking to open a treatment center is a daunting task.

Do you want to know how to start a rehab center? Get your pen and paper ready – because the list is long and extremely detailed. However – by the end of this article, hopefully, you’ll have a much better idea of what it takes to open and operate a treatment center, from your business plan to your marketing budget, and everything in between.

It’s crucial to emphasize the importance of having a strong marketing strategy, including digital marketing techniques, marketing budget allocation, and branding and marketing services partnerships, to attract clients and ensure the center’s success.

As an added bonus, you will see the many areas in which Ads Up Marketing can help along the way and get actionable insights you won’t find anywhere else!

Defining the Purpose of Your Rehab Facility

The first thing you need to be aware of is your mission. If you want to learn how to start a rehab center, your goals and duties must be clearly defined. So, what is a drug rehab center?

A treatment center, frequently found in the form of a residential recovery center, is a healthcare provider specializing in drug and alcohol addiction recovery, including residential treatment. This type of care is crucial as it involves conducting a feasibility study and market analysis to determine the most desirable location, type of program, target populations, competition, and local regulations.

Opening Residential and Specialized Rehab Programs

Residential treatment centers also provide support for licensure applications and regulatory requirements, along with full business startup support including marketing, program materials, and options for non-residential treatment. Clients may also be suffering from physical or mental health conditions.

When combined with substance abuse disorders, this is what is known as a co-occurring disorder. It’s worth noting that not every recovery center offers solutions as a dual-diagnosis treatment center.

The primary function of all treatment centers is to help clients take control of their lives again and lead a more productive existence. Accomplishing this might entail group therapy, physical therapy other exercises, and medicated detox.

Does the Need Exist for Your Own Treatment Center?

The next question you should answer is whether the need is present for treatment centers in your area. In order to start a rehab center, the demand must exist – otherwise, you won’t have any clients. Unless your area is the exception to the rule, it’s probably safe to say that a market exists.

There’s no corner of the United States that’s been left untouched by the sweeping epidemic of substance abuse – so your treatment centers will likely have plenty of takers. Now, it’s all a matter of coming up with a business plan and forming the outline that will be your facility.

3 Reasons for Opening a Treatment Center

A wide array of reasons exist for creating the goal of opening a rehab center. If you’ve decided to pull the move forward, chances are you’re driven by one of the following motivations:

• The explosion in demand. With the rise of addiction cases, the need for substance abuse disorder therapy has also grown.
• There are several gaps and unmet needs in your area, leading to unsatisfactory or subpar treatment. One of the primary factors includes a lack of specialized areas of focus like dual-diagnosis treatment.
• Starting a treatment facility allows you to give back to your community, changing the lives of neighbors and making it an overall more satisfying place to live.

Crafting a Business Plan for Rehab Ownership

We will cover specifics like an addiction treatment marketing budget later in the article – but for now, let’s focus on your overall business plan. What are your goals as a business owner?

• What do you want your facility to be known for?
• What services will you provide?
• Will you offer an outpatient program to complement your inpatient treatment program? How about a virtual IOP offering?
• How will you design your addiction treatment center? Will it be purpose-built or turnkey, or a mix of both approaches?
• Will you have business partners or are you the sole owner?

After deciding on the ownership specifics you need to decide on proposed capital expenditures – how much will it cost to go live? You need to set a financial budget and leave yourself with some wiggle room in case you go overboard.

After formulating all of these specs, you can begin to create the framework for your organizational structure. Engaging an addiction marketing company early on to plan ahead in the addiction marketing arena ensures your marketing strategy is comprehensive and effective, covering all bases from organic search to lead generation and utilizing various channels like TV, radio, and social media.

Creating Your Organizational Hierarchy

This step involves creating pivotal roles within the facility and what those roles entail. You don’t necessarily have to do the hiring at this stage, but you want a rough draft that outlines what positions are included and what their daily role looks like.

Staff Specifics

Pinpoint the key staff roles within your organization and break them down by importance: medical staff, counselors, administration, support, maintenance, etc. It’s crucial to highlight the role of the medical director, not only in developing the program and Policy & Procedures manual but also as a key member of the C-Suite responsible for program development and leadership within the treatment center.

Next, decide the minimum experience and qualifications you’d like from each position. This is when you include the licenses required from staff in order to satisfy regulatory compliance. Our expert team can help in a consulting capacity and let you know exactly what is required for your plans.

It’s important that you don’t overlook this step, as failure to adhere to license needs can lead to fines or worse.

What are Your Sources of Funding Going to Be?

Now for one of the more crucial components – coming up with the money. This is the part that no owner wants to deal with, as it’s never easy parting with such large sums of money.

However, if executed properly, you should have no problem experiencing a 20-30% return on your investment year over year if you play your cards right.

Developing Your Budget

Preparing a budget includes laying out a detailed plan that highlights your startup expenses AND your operational costs. Things like rent, salaries, equipment, supplies, utility bills, and other expenses. If you’re getting a loan, you’ll need to account for at least six months of operational costs in addition to startup costs so you can stay open until you begin building a customer base.

Potential Sources

If your credit isn’t terrible, you’ll likely have several options for funding. This includes bank loans, equity investments, and others. If you’ve been saving you can self-fund, but this requires a significant infusion of cash.

There’s also the option of crowd-sourcing, which is when you raise money from anonymous investors online. Your income as a rehab center owner can depend on part in the type of credit retained to launch your facility, so this is an important consideration.

Generating Rehab Revenues: An Overview

After you get off the ground (well, before) clients will be interested in the prices for your services, what insurance you accept, whether you offer sliding scale or billing, and a plethora of other questions. You must be prepared to answer these on the spot – so reserve some time for planning these items.

You’ll also want to brainstorm additional sources of revenue. This is money that you’ll make separate from the actual care of clients. This revenue can come from partnerships with healthcare providers, fundraising initiatives, and others.

You can also pick up government contracts – highly sought-after offers working with the state or federal government, as well as with certain community recovery organizations.

Facility Requirements and Equipment Needs

Your physical space is a huge part of your identity as a brand and business. You need to outline and detail exactly how you want your facility and its grounds to look. However, you must first create a rough outline and piece together the intricacies of the facility.

How many treatment rooms and detox rooms are available? How many offices are reserved for your doctors and counselors? Will you include one common area or two? These are all pertinent matters you must include in your planning before opening.

Similar to a private medical practice, a rehab center also requires careful consideration of accreditation and zoning considerations during the setup and operational planning stages to ensure compliance and optimal functionality.

Take the time to list the equipment you’ll need to get started. Your equipment, tech needs, and supplies should be high on the list, as these will dictate many of the factors outlining the quality of your services. Be sure to include cost estimates for all of these items.

Marketing Efforts and Business Development

Now that you’ve created your facility – on paper, it’s time to find your target market and decide how you’re going to get them through the doors.

Nobody wants an empty facility on opening day, so you’ll want to put the proper amount of time into these decisions and planning.

Branding and Identity

If you haven’t already – now is the time to figure out your branding and brand identity. You’ll need a brand story, a logo, colors, and a general message that aligns with your core mission and values as an organization.

Create materials like brochures, and flyers, and craft a high-quality website. Ads Up Marketing can help with all of these items.

Develop a Referral Network

One of the strongest ways to secure new clients is by creating a solid referral network. By building and establishing relationships with other healthcare providers in the area – including primary care physicians, mental health specialists, and other organizations, you can feed off their business and vice-versa.

The best way to cultivate these relationships is by attending industry events, workshops, conferences, and other local and regional speaking seminars to connect with referral sources and promote your facility.

Legalities and Certifications

You’ll need to research every regulatory agency in the area at the county and state level, as well as national organizations such as LegitScript. You should already be aware of most of the federal bodies – and if you’re not, now is a good time to do it. Find out who is responsible for issuing licensing and certification for rehab centers.

Whether you are choosing to go mostly with PPC advertising, or starting off with a focus on local SEO, the right accreditations are needed.

You’ll need to go through the application process which means prepping all of your paperwork and submitting the required documents that meet licensing board requirements. This ensures that you’re in compliance and run your facility according to regulations laid out for all healthcare facilities to follow.

Meeting the Proper Requirements

Research all of these agencies before you submit your paperwork. Then use other successful businesses in the area for comparison. Get an idea of what the inspectors and officers like and what they don’t like and prepare your facility to accommodate these preferences.

The next step is to get your accreditation – choose the healthcare accreditation that’s applicable to your area. This is generally the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities or the Joint Commission.

Before you obtain these approvals you’ll need to implement policies and organizational procedures that are in tune with their standards. Afterward, you’ll take the accreditation survey.

Healthcare Standards

Develop your compliance protocols. This includes working with HIPAA and OSHA for client privacy and employee safety. To ensure things are going smoothly and you’re not in violation, schedule regular audits and inspections in the areas that matter the most.

Staff Training and Insurance

The final major steps after your business plan is in place for your rehab center, and after highlighting your target market, are deploying staff training and obtaining the proper insurance. If you want to begin employing a successful rehab center, your insurance must come first before you put anyone to work.

Shop around for the best insurance rates but make sure you have ample coverage for employees and clients. It’s never a bad idea to overinsure slightly so you know for sure you’re covered.

Once you’re approved for your insurance, you can begin hiring and staff training. This is when you’ll train all of your employees on your brand and create a company culture. This outlines what’s expected of your staff in the context of your company’s mission, morals, and values.

With a little ingenuity, a large investment, and a lot of planning – if you’ve made it this far, you’ve got a real shot at becoming successful. However, it never hurts to have a helping hand.

Ads Up Marketing Can Help You Leave the Ground Floor

At Ads Up Marketing, we can help you with your initial marketing efforts, in addition to several other critical areas if you’re a startup facility. This includes budgeting, public relations, and every step along the way in planning.

To find out how we can help you leave the ground floor and accomplish your goals, contact our expert team for a complimentary consultation today!