US business makes a bee line for Canadian home care

The National Post section "Entrepreneur" ran a piece yesterday that suggests increasing business interest in Canadian home care.

The article spent some time on two new Canadian "master franchisees" for the America company BrightStar, which has 229 locations in the USA. The two Canadian master franchisees are Brian Evans and Jim Jacoboni:

Both acknowledge the huge potential in a burgeoning industry that some estimates peg at 18% annual growth. BrightStar plans to open about 50 franchises in the next three to five years, with 22 in Alberta and British Columbia, and 25 in Eastern Canada to be overseen by Mr. Evans. "The health care sector demographics are obvious," Mr Evans says. "The squeeze on provincial budgets is an obvious factor, as well." Although provincial governments are delivering some home care services directly, the private sector is moving quickly to fill in gaps in service and could even be contracted out by governments...."The gaps are just going to get wider," Mr. Jacoboni says. "It's becoming more acceptable to have a combination [of public and private sector services]." .... "There's no escaping that the current facilities out there can't accommodate the explosive Boomer growth - over the next 20 years," Mr. Evans says. "It's going to overwhelm the system."

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