Home health care offers an increasingly attractive alternative to hospital care for many clients. Patients often prefer to remain in their homes rather than in a hospital setting, and many medical procedures can be done in the patient's home. Home health care offers a growing field of employment. For individuals in Illinois who want to open a home health care business, they need to start at the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Review the rules and regulations for opening a home health care business in Illinois. The Illinois Department of Public Health contracts with home health care businesses to provide care to clients in the client's place of residence. Home health care staff must demonstrate that they administer care according to a physician's written health care plan. The home health care business must employ licensed caregivers, and the caregivers must maintain complete medical records for each client. The attending physician must ascertain that the client will have his medical, nursing and social needs adequately provided for by the home health care business.

Apply for a license as a home health care business through the Illinois Department of Public Health. An application can be downloaded online. Together with the application, submit documentation of a Certificate of Insurance which shows minimum liability coverage of one million dollars per occurrence and three million dollars in the aggregate. Also submit the name, address and location of the agency, the business's governing structure and sponsoring organization (if any), a description of the provided services, information about the home health care business's staffing, as well as the geographic area served by the home health care business, the fee structure of the home health care business and copies of any affiliation agreements with other health care providers.

Insure that the health care staff working for the home health care business maintain current licenses from the Illinois Department of Public Health. Home health care businesses in Illinois must demonstrate that any staff member who administers health care holds a current recognized license in their field from the Illinois Department of Public Health. Check each staff member's license status through the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation.

File a registration form for the home health care business with the Illinois tax authorities. This will set in motion the process of paying business taxes and withholding employee taxes. Register the home health care business with the IRS for federal employee withholding payments for Social Security and federal taxes. Obtain an EIN (Employer Identification Number) as an employer.

Notify the local branch of the Illinois Department of Human Services about the home health care business to obtain referrals for clients. Post fliers in doctors' waiting rooms, rehabilitation centers, hospitals, and other community organizations where potential clients and their families may be.