As 2024 approaches, home care leaders are embracing AI, alternative payer sources, employee-centric solutions and much more.

Home Health Care News heard from nine home care industry leaders, who shared their views on the biggest trends, challenges and opportunities that will define home care in 2024 and beyond. Some also noted where their organizations’ efforts will be focused next year.

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The home care market continues to expand due to growth in an aging population, increased prevalence of chronic conditions, and a continued consumer preference for the comfort and familiarity of home over institutions. While elder care is growing more quickly, I predict in the next 2-3 years, we will see an increase in home care utilization among a more diverse group of demographics — mainly helping support those with chronic conditions.

In 2024, I expect to see continued advancement in the integration of health care and home care fueled by technology and data collection. Remote monitoring for vitals and fall risks will help provide a more complete picture of patient health. Patient touch points will expand, furthering the collection of patient data. Increased capacity for predictive modeling through AI will empower home care leaders to enhance service offerings to improve the quality of care, patient health, comfort and independence.

Home care companies positioned to provide an integrated and individualized care plan leveraging new technologies will see the most significant consumer interest and build revenues through enhanced partnerships with referral sources.

— Emma Dickison, CEO and President at Home Helpers

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Due to the increased cost of private-pay home care and economic uncertainty around a recession, we believe 2024 will be marked by shorter length of stay than we saw pre-pandemic. Like 2023, this will be driven by consumers delaying the start of care and/or ending services in favor of more cost-effective options such as family-provided care. This may be a challenging time for some operators, especially those without a mature sales funnel.

Outside of scaled operators, which are the minority in private-pay home care, M&A may continue to be slightly challenging for sellers. There may be less buyers for the average home care agency than in years past, meaning fewer LOI’s and softer offers. While Family Tree Private Care is still an active buyer, we expect that challenging debt markets in the first half of 2024 will compress most buyers’ ability to finance deals or support a purchase price that the average seller has come to expect.

These challenges, we believe, bring opportunity for any high-quality agency with strong referrals to survive uncertainty, but more importantly to capitalize on rebounding demand driven by positive consumer sentiment and willingness to spend as early as the second half of 2024.

— Daniel Gottschalk​​​​, Co‑CEO of Family Tree Private Care

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Balancing the need for appropriate home care regulations while preventing overregulation is crucial for the industry. Baseline regulations that set forth good business practices to keep clients and caregivers safe are essential. Now, each state licenses private-duty home care, but if nationwide licensure is implemented it would create basic, minimum standards and would also give the industry more recognition as a legitimate player in the health care continuum.

It’s important that the home care industry supports fair and achievable licensing standards to prevent states from implementing overly burdensome regulations. This will also create a trusting relationship with regulators and show that everyone has the same goals — the best quality of, and access to, care. Appropriate regulations also help maintain the public’s trust in the industry.

Excessive regulations can stifle growth and innovation, create distrust by home care companies, and impose excessive operational and financial costs, which will ultimately have a negative impact on clients and caregivers. For example, excessive paperwork, reporting, and documentation demands diverting resources away from direct client care, increasing administrative burdens and the cost of care for clients.

I look forward to the future when each state’s private duty home care license is consistent nationwide.

— Neal Kursban, CEO of Family & Nursing Care

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The industry can anticipate a rise in instant pay options for caregivers, such as platforms like Daily Pay or Tapcheck. Moreover, social media-like applications for interacting with caregivers and employees, such as CoachUp Care, are likely to gain prominence, ensuring seamless communication and coordination.

Recruiting caregivers will remain a significant challenge for home care agencies. Additionally, the industry will witness a shift towards dominance by big franchises and private equity-backed agencies, posing a threat to the competitiveness of independent agencies. Moreover, factors like inflation and recession will contribute to the growing cost of labor, leading to increased prices for services. This may make home care unaffordable for many seniors, potentially forcing them to consider less desirable alternatives like nursing homes.

The aging population, particularly the increasing number of baby boomers, presents a substantial opportunity for the home care sector. As this segment continues to age, the demand for home care services will surge, creating a significant market for providers who can cater to the unique needs of this demographic.

In summary, the home care and senior care industry in 2024 will witness a shifting landscape defined by emerging trends such as instant pay options and social media-like applications, alongside challenges in recruiting, industry consolidation, and affordability. However, the growing market of aging individuals presents an opportunity for providers to tailor services to meet the rising demand. Adaptation and innovation will be key for players in the industry to navigate and thrive amidst these defining trends, challenges and opportunities.

— Qiana James, CEO and Founder of Friendly Faces Senior Care

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Home care in 2024 will experience another year of rapid demand and increasing complexities. Competition among home care agencies will intensify, leading to higher levels of innovation. Businesses will need to navigate the changing market using adaptive strategies, market differentiation and strategic partnerships. Businesses will set themselves apart by proactively addressing today’s community health challenges.

There will be a rise in businesses employing people-first strategies ranging from employee-centric solutions to person-centered care plans. Success will be further defined by a business’ ability to demonstrate positive health outcomes, employee satisfaction and community partnering.

The need for home care workers will continue to vastly outpace the workforce. Because of that, home care agencies, community members and our government must – and will – work together on solutions for sustainability. I see sustainability coming from health promoting strategies. My vision extends to a world where health independence serves as a strategic prescription for prosperity and enduring well-being for generations to come.

— Sara Wilson, President and CEO of Home Assist Health

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The rising cost of care is a trend I see most prevalent in the home care space and an area personal care providers need to prioritize in order to prevent challenges for their operations in 2024. Margin compression and reductions in reimbursement rates along with current unfavorable macroeconomic conditions for consumers means providers must find strategic ways to drive efficiency, reduce costs, and deliver quality care and successful patient outcomes. To address these challenges, home care and personal care providers will need to continue investing in processes to strengthen and streamline their operations while reducing costs without compromising the quality of their services. I expect a continued trend of centralization of functions to achieve scale that can support a business case for the adaptation of automation and eventual AI augmentation.

In 2023, my network initiated the development of multi-unit operating models that leverage the centralization and scaling of functions, which were piloted across our BrightStar-owned agencies. We have already had success introducing automation into the revenue cycle with robotic process automation that dramatically decreases the amount of human intervention in recurring administrative functions including payroll, billing, and revenue-cycle-management optimization.

— Shelly Sun, CEO and Founder of BrightStar Care

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As we approach 2024, Executive Home Care is poised to address the evolving landscape of home care, focusing on market differentiation, employee satisfaction, community partnerships, and data-driven insights. In an increasingly competitive market, consumers demand transparency and excellence in home care. They seek compelling reasons to trust providers with the care of their loved ones. This necessitates a clear articulation of our community commitments and unique service offerings. At the same time, the challenge of staffing shortages underscores the importance of fostering a work environment where caregivers feel valued and supported, a crucial factor in attracting and retaining talent.

Beyond basic referral networks, we are strengthening community partnerships through clear and effective communication, aligning our goals with those of our partners to enhance care quality. Additionally, our strategy heavily relies on data analytics. By analyzing client and caregiver data, along with key business metrics, we can swiftly address care needs and manage specific conditions such as Alzheimer’s and COPD. This not only improves our responsiveness, but also cements our position as specialists in senior care. These focused efforts in 2024 will ensure that we continue to provide exceptional care and support to seniors and their families.

— Kevin Porter, Brand President of Executive Home Care

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The biggest trend affecting not only the home care industry, but nearly every industry, is artificial intelligence.

There are a range of ways AI can be applied to caregiver recruitment and retention. From writing job postings, to chatting initially with applicants, to scheduling interviews, AI can eliminate several time-consuming steps in the hiring process. Once onboarded, AI can drive ongoing caregiver engagement to measure job satisfaction, provide rewards, give recognition, and even assign training.

Similarly, AI-enabled CRM technology can improve client acquisition and retention. In the home, AI powered passive monitoring technologies can help keep our clients safe, even if we aren’t present. The power of applying predictive analytics to client data captured by both caregivers and AI technology can warn us of fall risk, provide early detection of urinary tract infections, give medication reminders, and more. This can reduce avoidable rehospitalization and keep our clients healthy in the home longer.

AI technologies are changing and improving faster than we can implement and will impact the future of home care indefinitely.

— Michael Slupecki, CEO of Griswold

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The biggest opportunities in 2024 that will define home care will be around alternative government payer programs that now exist in home care. Home care has established itself as a positive impact to health outcomes when it comes to the cost of health care for our seniors.

Whether it is VA, Medicare Advantage, or Medicaid, there are significant upside to these programs for home care. In addition, there are several Medicaid specialty programs that are worth evaluating in markets across the country. To maximize these opportunities, home care providers need to focus on data that supports these better health outcomes. This data will go a long way in separating these providers from their competitors when these payers review their best partners to work with in their markets. Also, this data will help these providers get the best reimbursement rates, because you are lowering the total cost of care.

— Peter Ross, CEO and Co-Founder of Senior Helpers

The post 2024 Executive Forecast: What 9 Home Care Leaders Expect Next Year appeared first on Home Health Care News.

Over the course of preceding two years, rates had risen by about 25%, it seemed. But 24 Hour Home Care President Ryan Iwamoto said they had risen by as much as 40% in certain markets.

Shortly thereafter, 24 Hour Home Care – a traditionally private-pay provider – acquired a Medicaid-based home care provider in New Mexico. It was a sign of the times.

Nearly a year later, the rise of billing costs has not abated. C-suite executives see that as an existential threat worth addressing.

Some providers have leaned further into government payer sources, such as Veteran Affairs (VA), Medicaid or Medicare Advantage (MA). But not many have figured out one solution just yet, though plenty have suggested new home care business models are in order.

“I’m sure everybody’s seen this through the pandemic,” Alex Bonetti, the founder and CEO of Family Tree Private Care, said last month at Home Health Care News’ FUTURE conference. “Particularly with the labor market squeeze, we’ve seen rates and wages rise, probably somewhere in the range of 30% to 35%.”

The question has become less about whether billing rates will eventually level, and more about what providers need to proactively do to keep their businesses sustainable. That could mean new service lines, new payer sources, or completely different business models.

That is the topic of this week’s exclusive, members-only HHCN+ Update.

Searching for sustainability

Rates rising as much as 30% to 35% may mean more profits for some home care providers in the interim. But that could be at the risk of losing market share.

The percentage of Americans that can afford private-pay home care is already low. As costs rise, that percentage is likely to become lower.

“We don’t see [rates] coming down,” Bonetti said. “I think that does mean that the number of people that can afford what we do [dwindles]. On the whole, this space is accelerating and growing, but it’s kind of decelerated growth, because fewer people that need these services can now afford what we do. It’s gotten expensive.”

Family Tree offers concierge-level caregiving, private nursing and care management services in Colorado and Texas.

For franchises – of which many of the top home care providers are – that issue creates a further problem. Any effort to diversify revenue or change course would have to include franchisee approval, which is tough, especially because many of those franchisees are seeing higher profit margins than ever.

That is, in part, why companies like BrightStar Care have built out larger company-owned footprints, where it can toy with new models, new payer sources and new technologies.

Bonetti was on a panel with HomeWell Franchising CEO Crystal Franz and Kevin Porter, the brand president at Executive Home Care, which is also a franchise. While each provider operates in different markets, all three agreed that billing rates had not tapered.

Anecdotally, the audience agreed. Both Bonetti and Franz acknowledged the heads in the crowd nodding in agreement as they discussed their rising rates.

Private pay still represents about 85% of Executive Home Care’s revenue, but it has had to make a concerted effort to expand into other payer sources of late.

A part of Evive Brands, Executive Home Care provides personal home care services across 12 states.

“We have infused more VA into our our daily operating referral sources, which has been fantastic,” Porter said. “We’re starting to see that, in some markets, the Medicaid rates are [at a point] where they’re beneficial to consider. It just really depends on the margins, right? From the franchise perspective, it’s a marginal business.”

Franz discussed implementing more technology, but not in the home necessarily. While in-home technology could help augment care, it’s not HomeWell’s focus just yet.

HomeWell Franchising Inc. provides personal care through 50 locations across more than 100 territories in the U.S.

For now, Franz is thinking about technology like many Medicare-certified home health providers are.

“We’re looking at creating efficiencies on the operation side,” Franz said. “I think that’s our focus when we talk about innovation – the operational efficiencies at the agency level.”

On Family Tree’s end, Bonetti is also considering what alternate business models could work in the future, adding that his primary goal is to make sure, for now, his company is focusing on executing their current business plan.

“I think there’s a lot of opportunity for innovation,” he said. “Some of the interesting ideas that I think about, for instance, are subscription model services for what we do. Building an ‘assisted living at home,’ and having payment models that support that.”

A subscription model could work in the home, but it would likely require an insurance-type approach.

In other words, a provider would need a large amount of subscribers, and also a large range of clients based on complexity. In order for the model to work, there would have to be low-utilizer clients to make up for the high utilizers.

Adult day models are another area some providers have teased getting into. They offer daytime care for seniors from families that can afford some care, but not bunches of hours of in-home private-pay services.

In the end, each new model offers opportunity, but also an array of additional challenges.

For the home care agencies that have the capital, though, it may be time to wade into uncomfortable areas and see what sticks, and what doesn’t.

The post ‘Decelerated Growth’: Home Care Costs Continue To Climb For Providers, Clients appeared first on Home Health Care News.

For them to continue to flourish, however, they may have to bring new ideas into the fold.

“One of the biggest opportunities out there is collaboration with your competitors in your local market,” HomeWell Care Services CEO Crystal Franz said during Home Health Care News’ FUTURE event in Nashville. “Some of our franchise owners have territories right next door to each other, and what we find is that when they work together with a fellow competitor, all ships rise even higher.”

HomeWell is a Burkburnett, Texas-based home care franchise with over 80 locations across the U.S.

While home care providers are bound to compete with each other in every market, Franz sees natural ways for competitors to learn from each other – in ways that ultimately better the lives of patients.

“When you have a lack of caregivers, you’re able to share knowledge, share caregivers and share referral sources,” Franz said. “If you can’t service a client but your fellow neighbor can, then it’s an ‘I scratch your back, you scratch mine,’ mentality. The demand is always going to be there.”

With staffing shortages, not every agency can take on every referral they receive. Clients who don’t receive care in a timely manner generally run the risk of experiencing worse health outcomes.

“I tell our employees all the time that we can’t do this alone,” Family Tree Private Care CEO Alex Bonetti said on the panel. “Family Tree is not going to be the only company to do this, hence why we collaborate with people all over the country to share best practices and ideas.”

Family Tree offers concierge-level caregiving, private nursing and care management services throughout Texas and Colorado.

Bonetti said he wishes he saw more collaboration across the space.

“At the end of the day, what I want to see from a lot of home care owners, is them taking a similar approach to the one we’re taking,” he said. “I want to see them get in the home more often and see them take on more service lines that allow a real continuum throughout the client’s journey.”

Opportunity for innovation

One of the main ways home care leaders are trying to advance their businesses is through data tracking.

“I think the opportunity for innovation is internal and external,” Executive Home Care Brand President Kevin Porter said on the panel. “I think there’s an opportunity in the health care space to be more diligent with gathering data. Taking the opportunity to truly understand where your business is coming from, and the impact that you have on the broader health care spectrum.”

That data collection doesn’t have to stay in house, either.

Sharing data with payers, health systems and other providers also helps the patient.

“In the past, when you’ve seen the collaboration between agency competitors, the satisfaction is higher,” Porter said. “We’re WellSky customers, but it would be really great to start seeing our SaaS platform partners pulling some collaborative data so that we can actually present that to the higher health care systems and to promote the continuum of care.”

The burden to collect and share reliable data doesn’t have to be on the shoulders of agencies and franchise owners, Porter said. It should be an industry-wide effort.

“It’s going to be extremely important that we let these other providers in the continuum of care know how we’re helping them with readmission rates, fall rates,” Franz added. “As home care agency owners, it’s been the wild west for a really long time. But I think there’s an opportunity to be more savvy in your own data, in your house, under your roof.”

Franz pointed to referral sources as being a key data point – that should be tracked meticulously – in order to make informed, cost-effective decisions.

“It’s so important to really track where those referrals are coming from so that you know what you want to double down on or what you’re wasting your money on,” she said. “For instance, finding out what chronic diseases have a longer length of stay so that you can not have so much turnover with your clients. Then talk to your referral sources and say, ‘I want those specific people.’”

The post Home Care Leaders Are Banking On Data Tracking To Be Their Next Best Bet appeared first on Home Health Care News.

In Kevin Porter’s view, home care was once the little kid on the basketball court hoping that his older brother and his friends would just throw the ball his way.

But now home care is all grown up. And it’s in a perfect position to play ball, to help health plan and health system partners care for patients with conditions such as COPD and CHF.

In fact, those are the patients that Porter considers perfect clients for Executive Home Care, where he serves as brand president.

“They’re still this active senior, who’s trying to be out in the community, trying to be active in their home, but just due to their diagnosis, they need a little help,” he told Home Health Care News during the latest episode of TALKS.

During the conversation, Porter also touched on the formation of Evive Brands – Executive Home Care’s parent company – the elasticity of the home care market, diversifying revenue streams and much more.

HHCN: Just for our audience, if they’re not familiar with you, Kevin, do you mind giving a quick background on yourself and an overview of your experiences?

Porter: I’ve been in the home care space since 2008 working for three major organizations at this point, supporting franchisees across the country. Started off in the field support role, then moved into a more strategic role supporting, again, home care operators across the country growing their businesses and providing care for seniors in their communities.

HHCN: You were named the brand president in February. Previously, you were the SVP of operations. What has that transition been like?

Porter: A very seamless transition, really smooth. Got the opportunity to come in and connect with the operators at Executive Home Care. We changed our name. We were Executive Care, prior to my joining the team, and the organization and the executives felt like, “Hey, we need to really embrace the home concept.” We changed our name.

Got the opportunity to meet the owners across the country and fantastic operators. When I got the opportunity to be promoted, I just kind of moved from the passenger seat over to the driver’s seat after getting gas at the rest stop. It was really seamless, but a great opportunity.

HHCN: Kevin, since February, what have been your top priorities?

Porter: Yes, top priority since February is really coming in and establishing a strong foundation for the network. There were some loopholes, there were some open gaps, there were some potholes. If you’re from the Midwest, you know what a pothole is. There were opportunities for us to partner with some really powerful players in the market.

We’ve been strengthening our partnerships to help our operators with their day-to-day operations. All of them have been tremendously beneficial for the network. We made an adjustment over to the WellSky ClearCare platform at the end of 2022, which was fantastic.

We also then made some adjustments to working with some local SEO organizations such as Choice Local, partnering with them. Those have been the top priorities, really to establish the operational elements. The next thing that we’re working on is protecting, providing services and resources for our operators to strengthen their retention rates across the country, and to continue recruiting more, and continuing to support their caregiver population. They’re essential workers, they’re vital to the success of our organization and this industry. Those have been some of our priorities to really strengthen our organization for growth, and prepare for our future growth.

HHCN: I assume when you’re choosing those partners, technology partner or otherwise, that can be a stressful process. I imagine it’s a relief to get some of that implementation in the rear view.

Porter: It’s one of those things where you don’t appreciate the journey until it’s complete. There was an adjustment phase for the network to switch over to a different platform. Once that adjustment and transition had been made, all of the operators were tremendously happy with the adjustment.

HHCN: Just before we go any further can you explain all the services you deliver, all the locations that you have, and what the footprint looks like?

Porter: We are a personal care, companion care organization. We are located in 12 states across the country right now. Our focus is growth. We have a tremendous growth opportunity. We provide care for about 1,500 clients across the country at this stage of our existence, and are looking to continue to grow.

We’re in the Northeast, we’re in the Southeast, and we’re actually in what I would call mid-Atlantic area, the Virginia area. But we’ve just expanded out into Colorado, and we’re excited about that opportunity as well.

HHCN: You mentioned that entrance into Colorado. Are there specific geographic areas that you really want to attack, in terms of growth over the next year?

Porter: We’re open to every option. As a franchise network, it’s always fantastic to have as many flags as you possibly can. We’re looking at the major markets and the mid-markets as well. Metropolitan USA is on our radar, as well as Suburbia America. Again, as we continue to strategize on where we’d love to be, we’d love to make our way from the East to the West, but the opportunities of growing within the Texas market are tremendous.

Wonderful state down there for home care opportunities, and the population can benefit from an additional home care provider in that area. Again, we’re open, but we do have a strategy to move from East to West so that we can continue to provide quality care for our clients across the country.

HHCN: Based on all the experience that you do have, what do you feel like are the two or three trends that are really shaping home care right now? Are those the same as they have been for a long time, or have they changed of late?

Porter: I think every executive in this home care space will talk about the infusion or engagement with technology in the home. That’s a no-brainer. It’s just finding the perfect opportunity to make it work. There’s some fantastic organizations out there that have tremendous technology.

I think every one of the executives across the country are looking at how to infuse more technology into their business. I think the other thing is just having solidified data. As you and I have talked about in the past, how does home care align with the major health care systems of America? In order to do that, those individuals want to see what we bring to the table. Data collection and data integrity is truly important.

Finally, from my perspective, we are really interested in making sure that we take care of our caregivers, those individuals that work for us on a daily basis. Investing into their education, working on establishing growth opportunities for them within our organization. Some individuals come into this, and they become a caregiver, and they want to go and be a registered nurse, and they want to go and practice at another level.

We are encouraging that, we’re excited about that, because we know that their foundation will come from our organization. We’ve partnered with CareAcademy, which has an opportunity to provide additional education towards your RN degree. We understand that this is an opportunity to support caregivers. Those essential workers, they want a career, and they have a career, and sometimes they want more, and so we want to be able to be there for them when that time comes.

HHCN: A couple follow ups on that. First of all, I wrote up a story yesterday on HCP’s recent data. The turnover rate has gone up again. It’s been a problem in home care for a while, but seems to be, again, becoming more of a problem. Two of the things that you mentioned, training and career opportunities, and that recognition, those seem to be the biggest things that keep caregivers with your organization.

That seems like something you’re focused on. I am curious: Have you seen turnover tick up again, or has that been better across the organization of late?

Porter: I could say, yes, I’ve seen some positive trends, and then next week I’ll tell you, we lost the game when it comes to recruiting. It’s probably just as volatile as the Dow Jones at this point in time. We are seeing a tremendous opportunity, at least, from my vantage point, on applications and interviews.

We got to at least get them into the office for an interview. If we can at least engage in an interview with them, we have a good opportunity to get them employed, get them scheduled and working in a client’s home. Hopefully, if they stay with us, 90 days to 120 days, we may have a lifetime caregiver.

Then, we see a couple of months in a row, where we’re just losing caregivers to other opportunities. Availability is always a struggle and a challenge. We have to work through that. You have to strategize on making sure that you meet the caregivers where they want to be met.

If you say, “Hey, I got 30 hours a week that I want to give to you,” and I only schedule you for 20, you’re looking for that other 10. Caregivers in this industry work from shift to shift. Let’s just be honest. If they don’t work, they don’t get paid. It’s our responsibility as executives, and owner-operators to ensure that they have hours that fit their availability. It’s a puzzle piece. It’s a Rubik’s cube that we’re trying to maneuver on a regular basis. The operators that take the initiative to learn their caregiver population, understand their availability, understand their constraints, their personal and professional situation, I think those individuals are the ones that have a really good hold on their retention, and have a positive impact on retention.

HHCN: You mentioned the application process. Have you noticed that speed is really paramount in today’s environment, where you need to make sure that you’re following up quickly?

Porter: If you don’t have Usain Bolt or Carl Lewis on your team, you are not going to win the race. This is a competitive industry for caregivers, but we can lose our caregivers to another industry. We can lose our caregivers to Amazon, Walmart or Target, because of the minimum wages and the opportunities that other industries offer. It is paramount that you are, hopefully, the first person to respond.

There are solutions out there, we partake in them just like some of the other agencies do. We’re answering our phones 24/7 when it comes to potential caregiver opportunities for employment. You have to be there. If you don’t answer within two minutes, you might lose them.

HHCN: Going back to another one of the trends that you mentioned, that data piece. I assume data tracking has become far more popular in home care since you’ve been around. Are there any key metrics you can share? Things that you’ve really noticed pay off when you’re tracking them?

Porter: Well, I think when I first started in 2008, I had a mentor always telling me, “Data’s going to be king, data’s going to be king.” Then you realize that the platform systems were not set up to track the data that you needed. You tried to elaborate, you tried to abbreviate, you tried to make up stuff, basically.

Length of stay was always one. From my perspective, my vantage point, I think we have to be more cognizant of the disease states that are not only beneficial to the home care space, but then the disease states that require a lot of hands-on attention from a caregiver – COPD, Alzheimer’s, congestive heart failure, those diagnoses are paramount.

They’re really the sweet spot, or a really great client to have, because there’s still this active senior, who’s trying to be out in the community, trying to be active in their home, but just due to their diagnosis, they need a little help. With medication, they can, not necessarily obviously cure congestive heart failure or COPD, but they can have an excellent quality of life with a caregiver by their side.

One of the things that we’re trying to do here at Executive Home Care is just making sure that we are approaching the medical community to let them know what we’re able to do from a COPD, CHF, Alzheimer’s perspective. I think that’s an industry standard. We have been on our WellSky platform for six months, so do we have tremendous information to share about a major impact? No, not at this time.

We are working towards that goal because I think the health care systems, the doctors at home, they want to know how can you support these clients. Because these are clients that will be in need of services for an extended period of time, and they want to have a dedicated organization to meet their needs.

HHCN: That last sentence is a great jumping-off point to another thing I’m super curious about, in terms of the brands in Executive Home Care. You have all these senior-focused organizations that you’re now able to work with underneath the same umbrella. I think that’s really interesting because, obviously, you’re trying to help the seniors with their life at large. It’s not just about specific care. Can you explain the thought process behind that, and how that’s helped so far, or how you think it’s going to help in the future?

Porter: You’re referencing Evive Brands. Evive Brands is now the umbrella organization that oversees Executive Home Care, Assisted Living Locators and Grasons. Each one of our organizations can impact the quality of life of a senior at a different stage. We’re providing personal care, companion care in the home. Assisted Living Locators is that organization that can support a client, patient, family member when they want to relocate to an assisted living facility.

Grasons is an estate sales organization. If the family relocates mom or grandma to an assisted living facility, and they want to work with an organization to help them sell off the trinkets, or the things that mom just no longer needs, or help close down the house before the home is sold, then they can work with our partner, Grasons. That’s the vision of Evive Brands — to do our best from an oversight perspective to help a client, and meet the client where they may be, and that will be the future for the next organization that we bring under the umbrella.

It’s a really good partnership, and all of our organizations work well together. We have synergistic opportunities in marketplaces, so it’s been a real good partnership across the board.

HHCN: Switching gears here a little bit, Kevin. Last time we spoke, we were talking a little bit about home care’s value, and how you present that to some health plans. What has that been like? I know home care is more recognized by the general public now. It’s more recognized by even the Biden administration. The whole industry has been elevated to a certain extent. Has that been recognizable in plan negotiations, or talking to health plans about the value you can provide to their members?

Porter: Yes. I went through the pandemic, and as an organization, where we saw opportunities just springing up left and right. Some of them were tremendous opportunities, where, because of the pandemic, the health care system automatically start saying, “Wait, we can’t handle all of these clients coming into the hospital. We need to have resources in the home.”

I’ve seen organizations partnering with other organizations and providing the care in the home, which is spectacular. It’s what should be done, and what needs to be done. Here at EHC, we’re working on opportunities like that. You have to be able to present a solid front across the board, you have to be able to meet the expectation of, not only the health care system, but the partnering organization that you’re working for.

When you tap into those opportunities, that’s when Medicare funds are being provided. It’s a more stringent approach, it’s a more stringent payer source, and they have expectations that the home care space has now been able to elevate themselves up to. Yes, I believe that’s going to be the trend. It’s going to be the new wave of opportunities for health care systems to partner with companies like Medically Home, where they provide the care right there.

They’re basically bringing the hospital environment to the home, and monitoring the client 24 hours from a triage center, and then you have the ancillary organizations such as DME and skilled home health or hospice coming in, supporting the patient and the client where they are. It’s definitely cost effective. It’s definitely a safer environment. A lot of people want to be in their home. Why should we not give them the opportunity to have that option?

You’re almost like the shortest kid on the court saying, “throw me the ball, throw me the ball,” with all your big brothers and your friends from the neighborhood. Some of the smaller players have the most impact in the game. Right now, I think home health is growing. The home care space is growing. They’re recognizing that there are tremendous caregivers across the country. There’s some fantastic organizations providing care.

You just have to be in the right place at the right time, and they also have to know what you bring to the table. That’s why I think data is so important. If you can show what you bring to the table, how you’ve impacted a particular grouping of people, and then that those individuals are the ones that the health care system is most concerned about, the frequent fliers, COPD, CHF, Alzheimer’s, you can show the data and the impact that you bring to the partnership.

HHCN: Is there a sense that you want to diversify revenue streams at all moving forward?

Porter: You always want to diversify revenue streams. You don’t want to be stuck in one bucket versus another. When you diversify a revenue stream, and you make that initiative to working with the health care system, there are some positives that can occur. Then, there’s also some, I won’t say negatives, but some additional constraints that you have to adhere to.

A health system may not pay you for 30 to 45 days. In the personal care space, you’re invoicing sometimes weekly or biweekly. You don’t want to, obviously, jump head-first into some relationships. You just want to let them grow organically.

HHCN: We’re almost halfway through the year. What’s the biggest thing you’re focusing on for the rest of 2023? Is it that growth aspect?

Porter: That’s in ‘23, ‘24, ‘25, ‘26 … and so on. That’s always going to be our initiative. If that’s selling more franchise locations, increasing our population of clients that we provide care for, yes, that’s always happening. For the next six to nine months, my team and I are just really focusing on solidifying the culture of each one of our locations to the best of our ability, partnering with organizations that bring resources to our caregivers to help, again, with their quality of life.

Financial education, continued education, opportunities for them to utilize resources outside of the workplace — those are the things that we’re working on.

HHCN: What’s one under-the-radar challenge that you feel is not being talked about enough?

Porter: I think the one that really continues to knock on my door at night when I’m sleeping is, how much can we charge? What is the elasticity of the market across the country?

In some areas, they’re charging $50 an hour for home care, and in some areas they’re charging $30. Down South it might be $27, $28. The question is, how much more can we increase the hourly rate to accommodate the minimum wages that are out there? Then, no one truly pays minimum wage. When it comes to caregivers, they’re probably $3 to $5 more than minimum wage from a payment perspective.

It’s not flying under the radar, because I think every brand president thinks about it, and questions it on a daily basis. As we continue to provide care for clients and service people in our country, I think every day we’re wondering, “Is an extra 50 cents too much, is a dollar too much, and what’s our competitor charging?” I wonder when the bubble’s going to burst, or when we’re just going to hit our ceiling.

The post Evive Brands’ Executive Home Care Striving To Become ‘Usain Bolt’ Of The Staffing Race, Valuable Health System Partner appeared first on Home Health Care News.

BrightStar Care has promoted Teresa Celmer to chief marketing officer.

Prior to her appointment, she had served as the company’s senior vice president of marketing since 2019.

“I am thrilled to be stepping into the role of chief marketing officer of BrightStar Care and am expertly positioned to continue leading the BrightStar Care marketing team with passion and resilience,” Celmer said in a press release. “From the start, I have been committed to BrightStar Care’s vision of enriching lives, and I am ready to continue leading the brand forward through creative and innovative channels.”

The Chicago-based BrightStar Care is a home care and medical staffing franchise with more than 370 locations nationwide. The company provides medical and non-medical services to clients in their homes, as well as supplemental care staff to corporate clients.

In her new role, Celmer will be in charge of the overall strategy and execution of all marketing programs and initiatives under BrightStar Group Holdings, which includes BrightStar Care, BrightStar Senior Living and BrightStar Care Homes.

Additionally, Celmer will strengthen consumer B2B and employer branding.

“Teresa Celmer truly embodies the heart and soul of BrightStar Care, and through her tremendous work, she has taken the brand to extraordinary heights,” BrightStar Care CEO Shelly Sun said in the release. “The state of the healthcare workforce has fluctuated over the years, and being the solution-oriented professional she is, Teresa has swiftly pivoted marketing efforts towards attracting health care workers. Teresa is a trailblazing marketer who focuses on the interconnectedness between our customers, staff and partners and strategically aligns marketing to fit each audience seamlessly.”

Prior to joining BrightStar Care, Celmer was brand director of consumer marketing at Ace Hardware.

Addus gets a new board member

Addus HomeCare Corporation (Nasdaq: ADUS) announced that Heather Dixon has been added to the company’s board of directors as an independent board member.

Dixon is taking over a seat on the board that was previously filled by Steven Geringer. She will serve as a member of the audit committee.

“We are delighted to welcome Heather as an independent member of the Addus board of directors,” Addus Chairman and CEO Dirk Allison said in a press statement. “One of our top priorities is to have a board of directors that brings together individuals with diverse skills and backgrounds to create balanced, objective, and thoughtful decision-making that supports sound corporate governance practices and best serves shareholder interests. Heather brings extensive financial and strategic experience across leading health and wellness companies that complements the work and expertise of our other board members.”

The Frisco, Texas-based Addus currently provides home-based care services to approximately 46,500 consumers through 202 locations across 22 states.

Currently, Dixon serves as the CFO of Everside Health, a primary care provider. Before joining Everside Health, she was the senior vice president, global controller and chief accounting officer of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (Nasdaq: WBA).

Additionally, Dixon is also an independent board member of Signify Health (NYSE: SGFY).

Pennant makes changes to its board of directors

The Pennant Group Inc. (Nasdaq: PNTG) has named Barry Smith as chairman of its board of directors and Brent Guerisoli as a member.

The Eagle, Idaho-based Pennant is a holding company of independent operating subsidiaries, with a network that includes 95 home health and hospice agencies and 49 senior living communities located across the U.S.

Smith has served on Pennant’s board since 2021. Previously, he served as chairman and CEO of Magellan Health Inc., a provider of behavioral health services and pharmacy benefit management services. He succeeds Daniel Walker, who has served as the company’s chairman since 2019.

Brent Guerisoli is currently Pennant’s CEO.

“In more than a decade with Pennant, I have had the opportunity to lead an individual operation, cluster, market and company while also supporting the service center,” Guerisoli said in a press release. “In every part of my Pennant journey, I have seen the incredible impact of individual leaders united by our mission, culture and operating principles. I look forward to joining Barry on the board and working closely with these distinguished leaders to drive the organization forward.”

Executive Home Care promotes new brand president

Executive Home Care has named its former senior vice president of franchise operations, Kevin Porter, to the position of brand president. He first joined the company’s leadership team in June 2022.

As brand president, Porter will be responsible for overseeing the strategic direction and overall performance of Executive Home Care.

“We are thrilled to have Kevin step into this new role,” Executive Home Care CEO Tim Hadley said in a press release. “His passion for delivering exceptional care, combined with his extensive experience helping franchisees grow and succeed, make him the perfect candidate to lead our brand as we continue to expand. We are confident that under his leadership, Executive Home Care will continue to provide top-quality care and service excellence to clients and families across the country.”

Executive Home Care is a personal care and companion care company. Currently, the company has more than 20 franchise locations across the country.

New chief revenue officer joins Homethrive

Homethrive has hired Patrick Twohig as the company’s chief revenue officer.

“Pat is one of the most creative, curious and gritty colleagues with whom I have ever worked,” Homethrive co-founder and co-CEO Dave Jacobs said in a press release. “We believe strongly in the need for family caregiver support, and Pat is the right person to help us accelerate awareness and adoption far and wide.”

Homethrive is a tech-enabled provider of non-medical care management and personal assistance services. The company’s staff of social workers provides clients with a comprehensive care plan for older adults, as well as coaching, personal assistance and concierge services.

The company services the private-pay market, long-term care insurance companies and Medicare Advantage plans.

In general, Homethrive has been beefing up its leadership team. Karan Chawla, a former Uber (NYSE: UBER) executive, recently joined the company as its chief product officer.

The post BrightStar Care Hires New Marketing Chief; Addus, Pennant Make Changes To Their Boards appeared first on Home Health Care News.

Those additions, the companies believe, will allow them to unlock opportunities and stand out among their peers.

A prime example is Best of Care Inc., which purchased Moving Mentor Inc. – a move management, organizing and consulting company – at the start of the year.

“What they do is help families or individuals who are either ready to move, thinking about moving, strategizing a move, downsizing, right-sizing, reorganizing, decluttering, or just sort of reimagining their space,” Best of Care CEO Kevin Smith told Home Health Care News. “They help to consult with families and prepare every angle of the move, including the emotional angle, because for those of us who have either moved, or helped move a parent, or dealt with the passing of a loved one, we know how overwhelming that process can be.”

Best of Care is a Quincy, Massachusetts-based personal home care agency. The company has over 400 home care aides, administrative staff, care managers, nurses and move managers. The company also has a care management division, TUCKed In Eldercare.

When it came to Moving Mentor, Smith said he immediately had a “light bulb moment.” He identified the overlap between what the company does and home care.

“Moving Mentor is in people’s homes for significant periods of time, and working with clients and families who are in either a moment of crisis or a vulnerable position,” he said. “That’s usually the same starting point of entry for home care. There’s been some kind of key event or change in a person’s condition, or status that warrants some sort of an intervention. In the same way that Moving Mentor gets involved in people’s homes and their lives, so does Best of Care.”

Along with the commonalities, the acquisition now positions the two companies to feed into each other.

In other words, a moving mentor manager who enters a client’s home might recognize their need for home care services as well. On the other end, a Best of Care staff member can do the same with move management services.

Overall, the acquisition is a move to become a broader aging-in-place and care services provider.

“It just fits this holistic approach that Best of Care has been trying to build for a number of years now,” Smith said. “With move management expertise under our roof, there’s no shortage of service that we can provide to a person or a family member.”

Smith sees Moving Mentor differentiating Best of Care from its home care peers.

“Perhaps it does give us sort of a different footing than some of our peers, insofar as we are one phone call away, or one email inquiry away, from helping you with any number of things that you might not have even known that you needed help with yet,” he said.

Looking ahead, Smith predicts that more home care leaders will gravitate towards unconventional acquisitions.

“It all goes back to the ongoing workforce issues,” he said. “In my opinion, home care agencies are wise to look at different ways to diversify their revenue streams and service offerings.”

Executive Care’s divergent path

Executive Home Care Holdings LLC recently bought Grasons Co., an estate sales and business liquidation service.

The Hackensack, New Jersey-based Executive Home Care is a personal care and companion care company. Currently, the company has 20 franchise locations across the country, predominantly on the east coast.

The acquisition was part of the creation of Evive Brands LLC, a multi-branded service organization that brings together franchise systems – including Executive Home Care and Assisted Living Locators – under one umbrella.

“With Evive Brands, we get a very similar customer and demographic,” Executive Home Care CEO Tim Hadley told HHCN. “You have complementary services across the different brands, so as we look to add additional brands under the umbrella, and be able to provide different benefits and services to our existing customers, we’re looking for things that complement one another.”

While Grasons will continue to operate independently, the move is another example of a home care agency thinking outside the box.

Hadley believes that placing these companies under one umbrella creates a sort of one-stop-shop for multiple services.

“I think it definitely creates a trusted relationship that can become seamless — from, we’re providing care in the home to now you go to one of the other brands,” he said. “We help you find the appropriate assisted living center for your loved one, and then at the same time, we also help you downsize the estate or liquidate the estate. This becomes a lifelong client for us.”

It’s been six months since Executive Home Care acquired Assisted Living Locators, another purchase that falls outside of traditional home care. The company helps seniors find the right senior care placement, including in assisted living facilities.

“Assisted Living Locators has been doing tremendous,” Hadley said. “We’ve been working with them on really creating a more robust infrastructure to help support their franchisees.”

Ultimately, Hadley sees a lot of growth opportunities for Grasons too.

“Grasons does estate sales and business liquidations – that’s something that can be done anywhere in the country,” he said. “There’s a tremendous amount of opportunity for the franchisees to get their territory, and have quite a bit of open space to be able to service the needs of people.”

The post Home Care Companies Are Making Unique Acquisitions To Diversify Revenue, Differentiate Themselves appeared first on Home Health Care News.

As seniors age, it’s critical to find the right setting for them to do so. For many, that’s aging in place while receiving home-based care services. For others, it means moving into an assisted living facility.

With this in mind, a number of home-based care providers are getting into the business of helping seniors find placement into assisted living facilities.

Thus is the case for Always Best Care of Wallingford and New Haven, Connecticut. Linda Craig — the owner of this Always Best Care franchise location — calls assisted living placement the second half of her business.

“We’re looking for the best possible way to help our clients, and sometimes the home and care in the home is not the best way possible,” Craig told Home Health Care News. “We’re a franchise that is able to offer another alternative. For example, maybe a person has dementia … or maybe they’re not steady enough on their feet to walk upstairs. An assisted living facility might be more comfortable for them.”

Roseville, California-based Always Best Care is a home care franchise company that operates across 225 territories in 30 states and Canada.

When new clients come to Craig’s Always Best Care location for home care services, assisted living is presented as another option up front.

The company’s placement services arm functions as a sort of concierge service.

“When we meet the client, we talk to them about what their likes and dislikes are,” Craig said. “Different assisted living facilities cater to different types of lifestyle, one might be more of a social model while another has a more medical model.”

Always Best Care also factors in logistical needs, such as clients needing to be in a facility that’s close to where their family lives or near their physician’s office. The client’s finances are also considered.

“After looking at all those things, then we sort of tailor it to two or three places,” Craig said. “What’s nice is we’ll call up and see if they have room. We set up a tour, and we accompany them on the tours. We also try to set it up where we have lunch there, so that they have the opportunity to sample the food and see the activities going on. We’re very unbiased and we are trying to find the best place for them.”

After this vetting process with Always Best Care, the client makes the ultimate decision.

“After each tour, we’re able to sit down with them and say, ‘Hey, what did you like, what did you dislike?’” Craig said. “Through a process of elimination, they pick out the best place for them to move into.”

For its services, Always Best Care racks in a referral fee.

Most home care companies don’t provide assisted living placement services. But because of the nature of the industry agencies are uniquely positioned to lean into this offering.

“We work with assisted living facilities routinely,” Craig said. “We have caregivers going in, we provide care for some of the residents. We’re dealing with these places to begin with, so we know what makes them special and what makes them different. It’s all about helping the client or the senior find the best place to live, whether that’s the home or assisted living.”

Craig has plans to continue to grow this part of her business. She recently hired someone on the sales side whose sole focus is scaling the company’s assisted living placement services.

While Craig declined to detail the revenue that this portion of the business brings in, she did comment on how well assisted living placement services have done for other Always Best Care franchise locations.

“We anticipate that this business will grow in the future,” she said. “There are other franchises within the Always Best Care system that rely very heavily on assisted living placements and they’re gearing up for like $100,000 per month in placement fees.”

Executive Home Care buys Assisted Living Locators

Another company, Executive Home Care, recently entered the assisted living placement business as well.

On its end, Executive Home Care accomplished this through its acquisition of the Assisted Living Locators brand and franchise system. The Scottsdale, Arizona-based Assisted Living Locators aides seniors in finding the right senior care placement, including assisted living facilities.

Assisted Living Locators was on the company’s radar due to how forward-thinking the organization was, according to Executive Home Care CEO Tim Hadley.

“They kind of originated that business in general, assisted living placement services,” he told HHCN. “Having a talented group of leaders come on board and stay on board to run the business, as we continue to move forward and grow, was very attractive.”

Hackensack, New Jersey-based Executive Home Care is a personal care and companion care company. Currently, the company has 20 franchise locations across the country, predominantly on the east coast.

Hadley noted that demographic realities would continue to drive the need for both home-based care and assisted living.

Unlike Always Best Care’s business model, Assisted Living Locators — while part of Executive Home Care — will operate as a separate entity.

“While there’s a tremendous amount of synergies that we’ll continue to leverage at the corporate level, I think the businesses themselves are structured quite differently, but they lend themselves to being sister businesses to one another,” Hadley said.

Ultimately, Executive Home Care’s goal is to be able to provide the continuum of care for its clients.

Looking ahead, Hadley wouldn’t be surprised if more home-based care companies entered the assisted living placement services business.

“I think everybody’s trying to diversify their product and their business,” he said.

The post Another Revenue Driver For Home Care Companies: Assisted Living Placement appeared first on Home Health Care News.

Wiedder has nearly two decades of experience in building brands, most of those years being in home care. He spent 10 years with Senior Helpers, helping the nationwide home care agency grow from zero to 300 franchises around the country.

In December, Wiedder was brought on alongside CEO Tim Hadley to Executive Home Care, a home care provider with 20 locations spread across the Northeast and Florida. Now, the company is planning to grow nationally through franchising, it announced this week.

“We do expect to have some pretty big growth plans, because a lot of the big players in our industry are basically sold out nationwide,” Wiedder told Home Health Care News. “At the same time, we have almost every major metro market in the United States wide open. That’s the exciting part for me. I’ve been with brands that I basically sold out, almost. Having all this white space out there gives us the opportunity to start fresh and build a fresh brand.”

Specifically, Executive Home Care operates in New Jersey, Connecticut. Virginia, Pennsylvania and Florida.

The company plans to have 28 locations by the end of 2022 and hopes to double that number by the end of 2023, Wiedder said.

In order to do that, he said Executive Home Care has to find the right franchise partners with the right intentions.

“We’re just looking for good people,” he said. “People with empathy, compassion and a heart for helping people. We’re going to grow with the quality of people that we get.”

Executive Home Care isn’t pinpointing where exactly it wants to grow first. The leadership team — with new members such as Hadley, Wiedder, CFO Greg Esgar and Senior VP of Franchise Operations Kevin Porter — will focus on main metropolitan areas first, but will listen to any solid franchise hopefuls in the coming months.

As for why the desire to expand now, Wiedder said he personally believes this is as good of a time as any to branch out, given the momentum in the industry.

Even though the country’s economic picture is murky, leaders at Executive Home Care see an opportunity for growth.

“The economy has the same type of feel that it had back in ‘07 and ‘08 when we were about to go into a recession,” Wiedder said. “Our industry is fairly recession-resistant. When people are trying to save money, they’re going to stop going to restaurants, the gym, but they’re not going to stop paying for their mom and dad for in-home care.”

The caregiver shortage is at the front of everyone’s mind in the industry, including Wiedder’s, but he’s not giving up hope on a turnaround.

“You look at the demographics and where we’re going, the upward trajectory of growth [in home care] goes up to 2050,” he said. “The caregiver shortage is a big deal for everybody in the industry, but take a look at the last time there was a recession. There were tons of people ready to be put to work, so that could be changing here, you never know.”

As it’s set up now, Executive Home Care will charge future franchise hopefuls $49,900 for one territory and $39,900 if they are approved for a second territory at the same time.

Including the franchise fee, the initial investment for an Executive Home Care franchise is between $99,000 to $175,000, Wiedder said, depending on what part of the country the franchise is located in.

Long term, Executive Home Care hopes to build out into the rest of the U.S. in three to five years. It’s tough predicting these lofty growth goals, but Wiedder feels confident in the mission.

“When I came into the industry in 2005, it was like the industry was a kid in preschool,” he said. “There was really no awareness of in-home care. We’re 17 years later now and businesses are bigger. I’ve seen it go from preschool to high school and maybe now into college. It’s grown up a lot. I’m excited about where it’s going in the future.”

The post Executive Home Care Set to Expand Nationwide Through Franchising appeared first on Home Health Care News.