Those of us in home care know that senior adults prefer staying independent in their homes. Until recently, and particularly since COVID, healthcare has moved more toward home-based care, with the agreement that home is the safest place to be.

Recently, I sat in on a webinar hosted by Home Care 100, a preeminent leadership conference exclusively for leading home care and hospice providers, on the future of home-based care.

One of the charts presented in this webinar highlights the promising opportunity for our industry:

source: Home Care 100

The chart  shows the anitcipated trends in senior care through 2021. Home Care (shown as “PC”, for Personal Care) is expected to reach its pre-COVID volume as early as October 2020 and increase by more than ten percent through December 2021.  Other sectors, such as Senior Living, are not expected to reach their pre-COVID volume until August of 2021, with several expected to plateau through 2021.

What does this tell us?

Home Care agencies must prepare for the rebound and growth.

How can you prepare? Two key ways: consistently market, and plan to hire.

1. Market

At Veterans Care Coordation, we provide a Veteran-focused campaign each month to reach Veterans from all walks of life, not just those who may be eligible for the Pension with Aid and Attendance. We’ve also found that our campaigns often reach non-Veterans who appreciate a Veteran-friendly agency. For August, our marketing campaign focuses on the benefits of Home Care in supporting all seniors as they are living longer, more productive lives. Campaigns such as this can reach and benefit your entire community. We are also here to help you implement campaigns and increase your client base.

2. Hire

Caregiver recruitment and retention go hand in hand with marketing. An agency never wants to be in a position in which they must turn down new business because they cannot staff it. Today, recruiting and retention are critical—at the same level as marketing—for new clients.  Agencies that do not focus on full-time recruitment while also establishing and maintaining a retention program, fall behind those that do. It is a best practice to have a bank of caregivers to pull from for new clients. Steve “The Hurricane” Weiss, Owner/ Founder at Hurricane Marketing Enterprises, recommends that you have 1.5 caregivers for every active client. This helps to avoid turning away new business by offering you flexibility with call-offs. This can be done with a solid recruiting and retention plan.

This is good news for home care but will require each agency to implement a marketing strategy and a strong recruitment and retention plan.

Want more information? If you’re a Partner Provider, ask your Account Manger how you can utilize our Veteran-focused marketing materials and Caregiver Recruitment/Retention tip sheet.

Posted in Aging Veterans Care, Aid and Attendance, Aid and Attendance Benefit, Aid and Attendance Tips, Care for Aging Veterans, Home Care Benefits, Home Care for Veterans, Partner Support, VA Aid and Attendance Pension Benefit, VA Benefits For Home Care, Veterans Care
Avatar photo

About Cheryl Hammons CFE, CSA

Cheryl Hammons is an experienced home care professional, published author, and frequent speaker. She has held several roles throughout her 12 years in the home care industry, including training, support, and operations. She currently serves as Strategic Partnership Director at Veterans Care Coordination where she focuses on building value-driven relationships, developing revenue-generating programs, and creating educational materials for home care partner companies. Cheryl is the author of "Embracing a New Normal: Dealing with Grief" and "Respecting Religious Differences in Home Care."