One-stop shop. The houseworks experience: redefining innovations in private-pay home care.

For more than thirty years, forward-looking gerontologists and entrepreneurs have realized the potential market for private-pay home care services and have proposed creative approaches to meeting the projected demand. Innovative ventures ranging from "life care at home" to "virtual retirement communities" have been launched throughout the country in an attempt to meet a growing need while responding to an unprecedented business opportunity. While these ventures reflect intriguing ideas, the story of an unconventional private-pay home care company in Greater Boston suggests that innovation and creativity are most needed to transform the fundamentals of private-pay service delivery: responsiveness, reliability, customer service, and sales.