Cultural competence also emphasizes the importance of culture without making assumptions about a patient based on race, country, religion or sexuality. Ultimately, it is recognized as essential to reducing racial and ethnic disparities in health care.

“Cultural competence in home care is crucial for creating an inclusive environment where every individual feels welcomed, respected and safe,” April Kohnen, director of home care services at Griswold Home Care for North San Diego, told Home Health Care News. 

Blue Bell, Pennsylvania-based Griswold Home Care is a home care franchise with over 160 locations across the U.S. 

Kohnen said that Griswold North San Diego prioritizes cultural competence through caregiver training. The company also enforces policies and practices that foster an inclusive environment for everyone, ensuring that care services are customized to meet clients’ specific backgrounds and needs. Griswold North San Diego regularly collects feedback from caregivers and clients to enhance and adjust its services to be more culturally sensitive and respectful.

Collecting demographic information and sending surveys to the communities where an organization offers services is essential to providing culturally competent care. This helps the organization understand the needs of current and potential clients.

Increasing the diversity of the organization’s workforce can improve client-caregiver matches, leading to better service for clients. Providing interpreter services can facilitate client conversations, ensuring a comprehensive discussion about care planning rather than a summary. This helps clients understand their care and enables them to actively participate in decision making.

Focus on person-centered care

Person-centered care allows caregivers to establish meaningful connections with clients.

“We have to remove ourselves from the equation initially,” Dr. Carol Anderson, regional medical director at Woundtech, told HHCN. “We must consider that we’re treating someone different from ourselves and be open and nonjudgmental. Communication and empowerment of the patient are key. Don’t assume anything, and do your homework on who the patient is before stepping in the door.”

Woundtech is a Hollywood, Florida-based home care provider focused on wound care and chronic wound management.

Six person-centered care concepts should be emphasized, according to Activated Insights. These include effective listening, valuable conversations, shared decision-making and goals, respect for choices, successful care planning and emotional understanding.

“Culturally competent care partners play a key role in reducing health disparities by offering inclusive and personalized care,” Kohnen said. “Understanding and addressing specific needs can prevent miscommunication and build stronger client relationships. This results in more accurate assessments, better adherence to care plans and improved health outcomes.”

LGBTQ+ focused care

According to a study by Dr. Karen Fredriksen Goldsen, there are about 2.7 million adults in the U.S., age 50 and older, who identify as LGBTQ+. About 1.1 million are older than 65, and these numbers are expected to double by 2060.

Compared with their heterosexual counterparts, LBGTQ+ elders are more likely to be single, live alone, not have children, be in poor health, and have faced poverty and homelessness. They are also less likely to frequent senior centers and benefit from meal programs and other vital services.

Access to trusted and reliable home health services benefits this group because they are much less likely to have a support system or family caregivers who can provide support after injury, surgery or illness.

“LGBTQ+ elders often face unique challenges, including concerns about discrimination and feeling misunderstood,” Kohnen said. “We strive to create a welcoming and inclusive environment by providing care partners with LGBTQ+ cultural competency training guided by SAGECare. This training helps our care partners better understand the life experiences and identities of LGBTQ+ elders, aiming to make them feel safe, valued and supported.”

SAGECare, a division of SAGE headquartered in Los Angeles, provides service providers with training and consulting on LGBTQ+ aging issues.

“Patients have expectations of us as providers,” Anderson said. “They’re expecting us to address their issues and resolve them. However, we won’t get anywhere if we don’t listen to them and their unique needs or beliefs. As a provider, you must be culturally aware of what is going on with the patient because if you have not identified where they are coming from, you won’t understand if they are non-compliant.”

The post The Importance Of Cultural Competence In Home-Based Care appeared first on Home Health Care News.

One of the reasons providers continue to struggle with turnover is because they aren’t focusing enough on preventative turnover, according to Victor Hunt, CEO of Ava.

“We really have to focus on the preventable turnover, those folks who are leaving and going to another agency,” he said during a recent panel discussion at Home Health Care News’ FUTURE conference last week. “These are the people who we really want to zero-in on, and understand what is it that’s breaking the relationship, and why is it that we’re not catching this soon enough to actually address the root cause and bring these people back into the fold?”

Ava — a home care-focused, New York-based AI rewards platform — has cemented itself in the space by working with agencies to help improve turnover and retention pain points. Currently, the company has partnerships with Griswold Home Care, Senior Solutions, Right at Home Gainesville and others.

In Senior Solutions’ partnership with Ava, the ability to implement automation to streamline a caregiver rewards system has been key.   

“The biggest thing has been automation — some level of very quick response from a reward and recognition standpoint,” Senior Solutions CEO Kunu Kaushal said during the panel discussion. “The caregivers, at the end of the day, want the reward and recognition. They don’t necessarily need to know somebody spent five hours pulling six spreadsheets to figure out that they’re the one that should be recognized.”

Senior Solutions is a Tennessee-based home care provider and one of the largest privately-owned agencies in the state.

Instead of more traditional recognition programs, such as ‘caregiver of the month,’ Senior Solutions has been able to set up ‘caregiver of the day’ due to automation.

Griswold has seen a notable improvement in turnover since its collaboration with Ava began a year ago. Specifically, the company has seen a 20% reduction in turnover, according to CEO Mike Slupecki.

“I think it’s really, the ones that you have, keep them engaged, keep them on board, and keep them working, and then again, try to find the new ones,” he said.

The Blue Bell, Pennsylvania-based Griswold is a home care franchise. It provides personal care services in 30 states.

In terms of recruitment, Griswold recently piloted a function that allowed them to reach out to former employees that weren’t on the ‘do not rehire’ list. The function allowed them to gauge which former Griswold caregivers would be interested in returning.

“Our business is a personal touch business, but anything we can automate, anything we can throw AI at – that doesn’t impact the relationship we have with our clients and caregivers – we should,” Slupecki said.

Kaushal believes that it’s important for home care leaders to get comfortable with turnover and its inevitability.

“We actually enjoy turnover,” he said. “We’re digging for gold. We look at it as an opportunity for figuring out who the good ones are. You have to hire, you have to be open to the applications. You have to let them come in through the door, and for us, we are not as scared of turnover as some organizations are. I think we look at it as, finding a diamond somewhere in the rough.”

More broadly, Senior Solutions believes that it’s important to go after potential hires that don’t have the traditional caregiver background.

“We’re hoping we introduce caregiving to a lot of people that have not seen what caregiving can be, the fact that we’re not a sitter service, we are not this antiquated model of what caregiving was, and introduce them to, eventually, the health care world in general,” Kaushal said.

Ultimately, Hunt doesn’t believe turnover is necessarily a lost cause for all home care providers.

“If you’re an agency with 20 caregivers, and your goal is to stay at the 20-caregiver mark, then there’s no issue with retention,” he said. “You know all those [caregivers] names, and you can address issues immediately. You’re responding to text messages. But if you’re like most providers and want to break past that inflection point of being a small business, and become a growing enterprise that can actually scale to hundreds or thousands of caregivers, this becomes a lost cause if it’s done manually.”

The post Home Care Providers Are Successfully Leveraging AI To Hold Onto Caregivers appeared first on Home Health Care News.

Home health providers have lately been hamstrung by payment rate cuts, staffing woes and Medicare Advantage (MA) penetration. However, despite these obstacles, the industry still holds significant potential and numerous untapped opportunities.

Looking ahead to 2025, it is anticipated that M&A, updated payment models, and innovations in staffing and retention will be key themes. Additionally, home health providers are keenly interested in artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential impact on care.

Anticipating an uptick in transactions

Since 2023, there has been a significant decline in the volume of transactions in home health care. This decline has been primarily attributed to inflation, uncertainty surrounding Medicare payment changes, high interest rates, and sellers’ reluctance to accept valuations considerably lower than the unprecedented highs seen during the pandemic.

This decrease in transaction volume over the past couple of years has resulted in a backlog of home care agencies looking to sell in the coming year, according to The LTM Group CEO David Kerns.

The LTM Group, based in Dayton, Ohio, provides home health, personal care, hospice, and rehabilitation services through multiple locations. The organization collaborates with health care systems and payers to deliver care to patients in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Texas.

Another significant factor that could be creating acquisition opportunities is the retirement of home health operators. Every day, over 11,000 Americans are turning 65, according to the American Association of Retired Persons.

“It is estimated that over the next few years, we will see one of the most significant business shifts from one generation to the next as local home care agency owners retire after having spent their entire lives building companies,” Kerns told Home Health Care News. “They want to see their legacy continued and this often means a sale to a larger organization.”

Reimbursement changes could lead to a promising future

An increase in the number of Medicare Advantage (MA) participants could lead to significant changes in the upcoming year, according to William A. Dombi, president of the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC).

Currently, providers are experiencing financial losses due to reimbursement rates, as the number of patients enrolled in MA continues to rise.

“I believe we’re reaching a point where plans are starting to be more open-minded, intelligent and willing to do two things: Listen to data on value and consider trying more innovative [approaches],” Dombi told HHCN.

Dombi believes that to see more positives in home health care, there must be a shift to updated payment models, rather than the per-visit discounted rates providers have worked with for years.

“If we don’t see this opportunity materialize and be realized, we will have an incredibly challenging future,” he said. “You can’t survive when a growing portion of your patient census costs more money than you’re bringing in. However, signs indicate that companies are finally realizing that trying to cut costs leads to poor results.”

Dombi said that states are realizing that reimbursing providers at a discount isn’t effective for staff retention. As a result, some are increasing payment rates to enable care agencies to pay a more livable wage.

“An opportunity lies in the continued improvement of reimbursement rates from state Medicaid programs as well,” Dombi said. “This will, to some extent, address the workforce shortage crisis, especially in the personal care attendant and home care aide sectors.”

The rise of AI

As the population ages, people are seeking more home care, whether for healing, rehabilitation, or personal care. This calls for staff that is currently in short supply. Thus, many organizations are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to provide efficiencies, allowing caregivers to spend more time with patients and less time with paperwork.

“When evaluating potential acquisitions, we employ the fax machine method,” Kerns said. “This involves identifying manual processes such as faxing, hand-entering orders and manual authorizations – areas where our organization can add significant value post-acquisition.”

Over the past five years, The LTM Group has focused on automating processes and enhancing technological capabilities, according to Kerns. These automations include everything from revenue cycle to documentation.

While AI can assist providers with documentation, it can also keep physicians updated on their patients.

“AI in home care elevates and enhances the level of care available to our clients as they seek to age in place,” Bruce McReynolds, the CEO of a Griswold home care location, told HHCN. “We can better implement preventative services to keep our clients at home longer and prevent significant events that negatively impact their quality of life. From a business perspective, AI helps us speak the language of our partners in acute care. We can better demonstrate value within the overall care continuum.”

Griswold Home Care is a large non-medical home care company. McReynolds operates a location in Greensboro, North Carolina.

“We must establish connections with primary care physicians and monitor patients more closely,” Bayada President and Chief Operating Officer Heather Helle told Home Health Care News. “Overall, [with using AI], we will see a greater integration and coordination of care within the home, which is crucial for providing the best care for clients.”

Bayada, headquartered in Moorestown, New Jersey, provides a full range of clinical care and support services in the home for children and adults including hospice, behavioral health, and rehabilitation.

Helle believes the home care industry will continue to see new services, some of which may not be hands-on care, but other tools and technologies that help people thrive and live comfortably, independently and with dignity in their homes.

“Home care is an exciting sector to be a part of,” she said. “I think there’s a lot of growth opportunity and I think we’ve got a lot of tailwinds. It’s a great place to be right now.”

The post Home-Based Care Leaders See M&A, New Payment, Technology As Biggest Opportunities For 2025 appeared first on Home Health Care News.

Home care agencies that are part of larger franchise networks get to reap the benefits of operating under established names and reputations. But that doesn’t stop franchise owners from thinking up various ways to stand out in the crowd. 

Franchise owners at companies like Always Best Care, Right at Home and Griswold Home Care are doing this by offering services that fall outside of the norm.

At Griswold Twin Cities, this means incorporating therapy dogs, Scout and Ruby, into their care services.

The idea to bring therapy dogs into the mix started because of Griswold Twin Cities Owner Nicole Myhre’s love of dogs. She began working with Canine Inspired Change — a Saint Paul, Minnesota-based non-profit organization — to put Scout and Ruby through therapy dog training.

“Most people, I know, like animals,” Nicole told Home Health Care News. “It really was just a matter of wanting to have animals around us, and then the support that they bring to our team.”

The Blue Bell, Pennsylvania-based Griswold is a home care franchise. It provides personal care services in 30 states. Nicole co-owns Griswold Twin Cities with her husband Brett Myhre.

The agency brings therapy dogs into initial assessments and bi-weekly hospital visits. Brett noted that feedback from Griswold’s clients has been extremely positive.

“Some of these people no longer have a dog, whether because of where they live, or because they’re not able to care for an animal anymore, but they are still animal lovers,” he told HHCN. “We’ll get calls from some of our clients, wondering if we can come out and just do a quick home visit. We’ll bring the dogs out to do visits with people that don’t have the opportunity to have an animal anymore, and it just brightens their day.”

Brett and Nicole have also seen the advantages of having Scout and Ruby when trying to connect with the community.

“When we’re at community events, and we have a booth, or something like that set up, it’s definitely a good icebreaker to get people to come up and talk to us,” Brett said.

Parkinson’s support

Always Best Care of Central Connecticut has separated itself by getting heavily involved in the Parkinson’s disease community. The company has leaned into educating people about what to expect with a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis.

Taylor Lajeunesse — the director of operations at Always Best Care of Central Connecticut — began working with the American Parkinson’s Disease Association (APDA) in 2022.

Always Best Care of Central Connecticut decided to lean into Parkinson’s as an area of focus when the company started seeing an increase in clients coming in with the disease.

“A lot of our clients that have Parkinson’s are actually our VA clients, through their community care network,” Lajeunesse said. “These are mostly Vietnam veterans, because they were exposed to Agent Orange and different toxins that they think are associated with Parkinson’s. I’d say about 10% of our clients are VA, and maybe about 25% of them have Parkinson’s.”

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

Though the New Haven area has a lot of these different Parkinson’s programs through Yale University, areas like Hartford and Tolland did not, according to Lajeunesse.

“For somebody that’s coming from our area, that can be anywhere from a 45-minute drive to an hour and a half drive,” she said. “For somebody with Parkinson’s, it’s not practical to be taking an entire day to go for a doctor’s appointment or an hour-long program. We’re really trying to bring that up this way, with the help of the APDA and their program coordinator.”

Last year, the Central Connecticut location rolled out a web page that shared information about what to expect at each stage of Parkinson’s disease, as well as what services the agency suggested. The site also includes video content.

Lajeunesse is also in the process of starting a new support group in town.

Plus, the agency talks to clients and their families about the APDA and all the resources the organization offers.

“A lot of our families don’t really know where to start,” Lajeunesse said. “I think in being able to be that guide, we’ve had families that are really appreciative of those connections we can make.”

Avoiding scams

Scams and scammers have become a popular topic for documentaries and true crime podcasts, but Right at Home Orlando wants to ensure that its clients aren’t targeted.

Seniors are often targeted by scammers. In 2022, there were 88,262 fraud complaints which led to $3.1 billion in losses from individuals aged 60 and older, according to the National Council on Aging.

Though Right at Home Orlando doesn’t have a formal scam prevention program, the agency helps educate its clients in order to protect its clients from financial fraud and other scams.

“As a home care agency, we’re very opposed to elder abuse and people taking advantage of seniors, so all of our caregivers have always been trained to look for the signs of any of those situations,” Nikki Magyar, owner and president of Right at Home Orlando, told HHCN.

For example, during past tax seasons, the agency has been able to spot when people who were meant to help their clients file were taking advantage and charging exorbitant fees.

“They think that the elderly person is not going to balk at it because they’re more polite, or that they’re not tech savvy, so they won’t even notice,” Magyar said.

Magyar has also seen situations where people have entered their client’s life for nefarious reasons.

“We’ve had a few cases, sadly, where people have a boyfriend that is asking them to wire money, or brings into the bank a lot — we’ve had to advise the family that this person has become part of [our client’s] life,” she said.

Caregivers at the agency have also been trained to screen suspicious phone calls where the person on the line is claiming to be someone who they’re not, such as IRS agents.

Ultimately, it’s important for individual franchise locations to live up to the company’s standards while also going above and beyond.

“You want to make sure that you’re following the franchise’s lead, but then you also want to make sure you’re doing the most dynamic thing you can and taking it up a notch,” Magyar said. “You want to make sure that you’re doing your part for the community around you.”

The post Scam Prevention And Therapy Dogs: How Franchise Owners Are Setting Their Home Care Agencies Apart appeared first on Home Health Care News.

Personal home care providers have begun to ditch blanket approaches, instead opting for more patient-by-patient specificity.

Going further to meet individual client needs enables home care to make a greater impact, while also increasing client satisfaction.

“One of my favorite geriatricians once said, ‘If you’ve seen one senior patient, you’ve seen one senior patient,’” Senior Helpers CEO Peter Ross told Home Health Care News. “It’s really important that we customize the care plans for each of the individuals, because everybody has a different situation they’re dealing with.”

Personalized home care

Patient-centric care is not a new idea. However, it may look different these days in comparison to a decade ago when technological advancements weren’t there yet in the home care industry.

Today, providers like the Maryland-based Senior Helpers are tailoring their service offerings with a more personalized philosophy using apps and other data-centric tools.

Senior Helpers is a home care company that operates over 380 franchise locations in the U.S., Canada and Australia. It’s one of the largest franchise companies in the home care space and was recently bought by Waud Capital.

A few years back, Senior Helpers launched its Life Profile assessment tool, an app that uses 20 years of data to assess the individualized needs of a senior.

“It’s an app we use with the family that provides a score — almost like a fuel gauge — and that score will basically dictate the chance of that person being readmitted into a hospital,” Ross said. “We’ve done almost 30,000 assessments with this tool and have learned we can create customized care plans while leveraging our care management, our care services, as well as our technology, to provide the best level of care.”

Advocate Health – Senior Helpers former owner – and the U.S. Veterans Administration (VA) have been strong advocates for the app.

“It’s something that’s very unique to Senior Helpers. There’s nothing like it out there in the marketplace,” Ross said. “It truly gives us a leg up on creating a customized care plan that goes right into our software center and allows the caregiver to understand exactly what we need to do for any given member.”

Technology, Ross added, has taken a lot longer to take hold in the home care industry than it should have. Now that seniors are getting more comfortable with wearables and smartphones, that allows providers the ability to leverage that technology to curate a more personalized care plan.

Curating a person-centered care plan

Every person’s care needs are different. With that in mind, a person-centered care plan is often based on an individual’s group of needs.

For many providers, compiling an exhaustive list of needs has become part of the home care process.

“With a common patient panel with diabetes or COPD, treatment is tailored uniquely to those characteristics or demographics,” Home Assist Health CEO Sara Wilson told HHCN. “We also look at a lot of interventions that target social determinants of health based on where somebody lives. Considerations such as food deserts, transportation, environmental surroundings — I would liken it more to a thumbprint versus a blueprint.”

There are so many factors that play into our general health, Wilson said, that it would be insufficient not to take all of it into consideration.

Educational limitations, literacy issues, language barriers are all lifestyle factors that mean more to an overall care plan than most would think.

Creating individualized care plans also creates buy-in from the members and patients.

“We ask, ‘What’s going to get you motivated to control your health?’” Wilson said. “Once a member identifies their wishes and aspirations, then you have buy-in. Now you get a client or patient who’s more motivated to participate in healthy habits.”

Another tactic Home Assist Health and its caregivers use is something called motivational interviewing.

“There are so many factors that you can’t simply resolve with a food pharmacy,” Wilson said. “In home care, sometimes we are the best entity to get into the home, listen to understand and build those authentic relationships using motivational interviewing to understand what does this person ultimately want out of their life. How are we going to use that one wish for themselves to be what motivates them to take control over their current health status?”

Moving care forward

In order to properly assess a home care client, there has to be a foundation built on trust and good data. Sometimes the first part of that equation is even harder to build.

“Our clients often exaggerate their abilities,” Griswold Home Care CEO Michael Slupecki told HHCN. “They understate their challenges. By having something like a wearable or other technology in the home when we’re not there, you can get a baseline for how folks are actually doing today versus last week. It allows us to address issues in a more personalized way.”

With more than 160 locations, the Blue Bell, Pennsylvania-based Griswold provides home care services in 30 states.

Slupecki has thought about the intersection of home care and home health a lot over the last few years. His experience as the former COO of Interim Healthcare has given him a unique perspective in how to better personalize home care.

“Today, I would say about 90% of the industry still does what it was doing 30 years ago,” Slupecki said. “That is assisting a person with activities of daily living. Which isn’t a bad thing. What we’re trying to do is be a little bit in between traditional home care with the intent of actually addressing the social determinants and all these other factors that we’ve now realized have a big impact on people’s health.”

One example at Griswold is the addition of virtual nurse visits.

After a traditional home care assessment, clients with Griswold will then meet virtually with a nurse to set up a clinical assessment.

“Depending on the client’s needs and chronic conditions, this nurse can deploy cuffs, scales, and odometers at virtually no cost to the client,” Slupecki said. “We’ve had interventions with these virtual nurses who may notice somebody’s blood sugar has gotten out of control. Those nurses will then tell a family member or a primary care physician who then mitigate likely disasters.”

The future of a more personalized home care environment is tied to innovative technology, a well-rounded caregiver support system and strategic partnerships with a shared vision.

“It’s all about collaboration,” Ross said. “It’s all about working with health care providers that continue to make adjustments and improvements to the care management and care coordination for these members.”

The post How Personalized Health Care Is Changing The Role Of Home Care Providers appeared first on Home Health Care News.

In order to be ranked on the list, a franchise company needs to be courting new franchisees in the U.S. or Canada. Companies that made the list also need to have had at least 10 units open and operating as of July 31, 2023, with at least one U.S.-based franchise.

Factors such as franchise cost and fees, size and growth, network support and brand strength determined each company’s evaluation.

Companies like Interim HealthCare, Home Instead and Senior Helpers ranked the highest of the home-based care franchises that managed to grab a spot on the list.

Interim HealthCare

— Rank: 59

— 2023 Rank: 55

— Units: 655

— Based in Sunrise, Florida, and a part of Caring Brands National, Interim is a franchise that provides home health, hospice, palliative care and other services across locations in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.

Home Instead

— Rank: 149

— 2023 Rank: 155

— Units: 1,217

— Home Instead is a Omaha, Nebraska-based personal care franchise company that has locations in over a dozen countries. In 2021, the home care technology company Honor acquired Home Instead.

Senior Helpers

— Rank: 172

— 2023 Rank: 172

— Units: 361

— Maryland-based Senior Helpers has a national personal care network, as well as adult day centers. The company was acquired by Advocate Health Enterprises in 2021.

Homewatch CareGivers

— Rank: 222

— 2023 Rank: 208

— Units: 222

— Denver-based Homewatch CareGivers is a home care franchise company that operates in over 30 states and seven countries. The franchise employs over 4,500 caregivers.

Griswold Home Care

— Rank: 252

— 2023 Rank: 267

— Units: 186

— The Blue Bell, Pennsylvania-based Griswold is also a home care franchise. It provides personal care services in 30 states.

ComForCare

— Rank: 254

— 2023 Rank: 402

— Units: 229

— ComForCare is a home care franchise organization that has hundreds of territories independently-owned and operated in Canada and the U.S. ComForCare operates as At Your Side in Houston, Texas. ComForCare operates under parent company Best Life Brands. Another Best Life Brands company, Blue Moon Estate Sales, also ranked on the Franchise 500 list.

BrightStar Care

— Rank: 279

— 2023 Rank: 141

— Units: 373

— Chicago-based BrightStar is a provider of home care, senior living and supplemental staffing. The organization has been deliberately increasing its company-owned footprint of late.

Assisting Hands Home Care

— Rank: 280

— 2023 Rank: 229

— Units: 193

— Assisting Hands Home Care offers both medical and non-medical assistance for seniors, including meal preparation, companionship, chores and more.

HomeWell Care Services

— Rank: 283

— 2023 Rank: 347

— Units: 136

— HomeWell is a Burkburnett, Texas-based home care franchise that operates across the U.S. The company offers companion care, personal care, as well as specialty care.

Right at Home

— Rank: 318

— 2023 Rank: 260

— Units: 716

— Omaha, Nebraska-based Right at Home is a home care franchise company with locations in the U.S. and six other countries.

Nurse Next Door

— Rank: 418

— 2023 Rank: N/A

— Units: 183

— Vancouver, Canada-based Nurse Next Door is a home care franchise system that operates in the U.S., Canada and Australia. As an organization, the company provides personal care, companionship care, homemaking services, dementia care and more.

FirstLight Home Care

— Rank: 438

— 2023 Rank: 327

— Units: 197

— Cincinnati-based FirstLight Home Care is a provider of non-medical home care. The company also has a specialized care program aimed at seniors with dementia.

Synergy HomeCare

— Rank: 449

— 2023 Rank: 483

— Units: 453

— Synergy is a Gilbert, Arizona-based non-medical home care franchise. The company offers companionship services, in addition to personal assistance, housekeeping, live-in care and 24-hour home care services.

Home Helpers

— Rank: 475

— 2023 Rank: 396

— Units: 308

— The Cincinnati-based Home Helpers is a home care franchise that provides personal care, nutrition and companionship services, among others. It serves over 1,000 communities in the U.S.

Visiting Angels

— Rank: 479

— 2023 Rank: N/A

— Units: 692

— Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania-based Visiting Angels is an in-home senior care company that provides companion care, personal care services and more.

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As the demand for home care grows, so do the industry’s largest providers. In particular, franchises are expanding rapidly across the country, adjusting operations slightly along the way.

BrightStar Care and Griswold Home Care are two examples of that growth. Both companies earned spots on Franchise Times’ annual ranking of the largest franchise systems in the country.

This year, BrightStar Care signed almost 40 franchise deals, and 17 owners expanded into 28 new territories across the U.S.

“It’s a year where we welcomed a lot of new franchisees on board, but we’ve seen a lot of our existing owners expand,” Pete First, chief development officer at BrightStar Care, told Home Health Care News. “That’s a strong testament to the brand and to where things are going in the future.”

Chicago-based BrightStar Care is a provider of home care and supplemental staffing. The organization has more than 380 locations nationwide. It also has a senior living portfolio.

On its end, Griswold Home Care saw 12 franchise sales in 2023, and expanded into five new territories.

“We’ve exceeded our goals in network same-store sales and year-over-year growth,” Griswold CEO Michael Slupecki told HHCN. “We look at growth in two different ways, the top line, with the network as a whole. We also look at the percentage of the network that grew year-over-year versus the percentage of the network that had a decline year over year. We were happy to have exceeded our goals.”

The Blue Bell, Pennsylvania-based Griswold provides home care services in 30 states. The company has more than 160 locations.

More than half of Griswold’s new franchise sales have been in the state of California. It’s a market that is considered both fruitful and challenging due to its wage and hour laws, according to Slupecki.

“It’s the sixth or seventh largest economy in the world, and there’s certainly a vast population of seniors that need our services,” he said. “We can’t just shy away from business climates that are challenging. We just have to figure it out, and be there for our clients.”

In general, the regulatory climate and senior population are factors that weigh heavily on Griswold’s decision to pursue expansion in a specific market.

Additionally, the company has seen the value in focusing on what are known as “secondary markets.”

“We prefer a secondary market over what some people call a primary market,” Slupecki said. “We see a lot of saturation in the major metropolitan areas, so focusing on smaller markets is appealing to us.”

For BrightStar Care, its entrance into new markets has been the result of research and strategic planning.

“We look at the demographics and where the demand is,” First said. “We have key markets and key states, like Washington State, that we’re looking to expand into. We also take a network strategy approach – [we look at] franchise development, look at the open markets, and we also work with our national accounts team, and we work with our operations team.”

BrightStar Care’s growth coincides with its focus on clinical outcomes data.

“It has allowed us to really prove the outcomes of what we’re able to do, and that continues to attract interest from not only consumers, but other payer sources from national accounts,” First said. “Being able to provide some of these clinical studies that we’ve done has given us an advantage, and our franchisees an advantage, because we can actually prove what we’re doing. That’s provided a lot of opportunity for growth.”

At Griswold, much of the focus has been on rebranding to embrace innovation.

“We felt like our other former brand was a little bit dated,” Slupecki said. “How could we talk about being a forward-thinking innovative company, when you look at the brand and it looks a little bit dated?”

In particular, Griswold has increased focus on things like caregiver engagement utilities and client monitoring technologies.

More broadly, Slupecki also believes that the company has “a different level of energy” in recent years. This has translated into a slightly more hands-on approach with the company’s franchise owners.

“Every franchise is an independently-owned and operated business, so each franchise could have something that’s specific and unique to them that’s either helping them grow or holding them back,” he said. “Our operations team is really problem solving, and helping them optimize their business.”

In addition to its franchise locations, BrightStar Care also has a number of company-owned locations. These locations continue to be a vital tool when it comes to testing new technologies, marketing strategies, payer sources and more.

One example of this is BrightStar Care’s ability to test automation and AI.

“We’ve been able to integrate and test some of those features, which are going to provide great benefit for new franchisees, whether they have one location, or they have multiple locations,” First said. “It’s about being able to streamline and become more efficient with some of the day-to-day tasks.”

BrightStar Care still sees some key markets in both the Northeast and the Midwest.

“Even though Brightstar care has been around for 20 years, we still have territories that are available and open where we know that providing new franchisees into that market will be a definite asset to the community,” First said.

Ultimately, Griswold is looking to continue raising the bar at its organization.

“Resetting the expectations around care and delivery of services — making sure we’re all aligned in what we’re trying to do – is critical,” Slupecki said.

The post ‘Can’t Shy Away From Challenging Business Climates’: Griswold, BrightStar Care Share Top 2024 Priorities appeared first on Home Health Care News.

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

***

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.

The list is based on last year’s global systemwide sales — total sales for both franchise and company units — performance.

In order to earn a spot on the list, a company needs to be a legal U.S. franchise. It should also own at least 10% of the company’s total units.

At-home care franchise companies Home Instead Senior Care, Right at Home and Interim HealthCare managed to crack the top 100 portion of the list, alongside big name companies like McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD), Dunkin’ (Nasdaq:DNKN) and The UPS Store (UPS:NYSE).

Home Instead Senior Care

— Rank: 44

— System Sales: $2,400,000,000

— Total Locations: 1,217

— Home Instead is a Omaha, Nebraska-based personal care franchise company that has locations in over a dozen countries. In 2021, the home care technology company Honor acquired Home Instead.

Interim HealthCare

— Rank: 65

— System Sales: $1,288,000,000

— Total Locations: 655

— The Sunrise, Florida-based company – a part of Caring Brands International — provides personal care, hospice care, palliative care, pediatric care and staffing services.

Visiting Angels

— Rank: 90

— System Sales: $900,000,000

— Total Locations: 697

— Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania-based Visiting Angels is an in-home senior care company that provides companion care, personal care services and more.

Right at Home

— Rank: 100

— System Sales: $778,386,711

— Total Locations: 712

— Omaha, Nebraska-based Right at Home is a home care franchise company with locations in the U.S. and six other countries.

BrightStar Care

— Rank: 117

— System Sales: $653,907,370

— Total Locations: 370

— Chicago-based BrightStar is a provider of home care, senior living and supplemental staffing. The organization has been deliberately increasing its company-owned footprint of late.

Comfort Keepers

— Rank: 124

— System Sales: $625,000,000*

— Total Locations: 645

— Irvine, California-based Comfort Keepers is one of the largest personal home care providers in the U.S. It recently was acquired by The Halifax Group.

Senior Helpers

— Rank: 176

— System Sales: $387,243,000

— Total Locations: 327

— Maryland-based Senior Helpers has a national personal care network, as well as adult day centers. The company was acquired by Advocate Health Enterprises in 2021.

ComForCare Home Care

— Rank: 225

— System Sales: $238,000,000

— Total Locations: 223

— ComForCare is a home care franchise organization that has 270 territories independently-owned and operated in Canada and the U.S. ComForCare operates as At Your Side in Houston, Texas.

Home Helpers Home Care

— Rank: 230

— System Sales: $231,856,454

— Total Locations: 304

— The Cincinnati-based Home Helpers is a home care franchise that provides personal care, nutrition and companionship services, among others. It serves over 1,000 communities in the U.S.

Synergy HomeCare

— Rank: 236

— System Sales: $223,257,894

— Total Locations: 417

— Synergy is a Gilbert, Arizona-based non-medical home care franchise. The company offers companionship services, in addition to personal assistance, housekeeping, live-in care and 24-hour home care services.

Always Best Care

— Rank: 245

— System Sales: $212,591,506

— Total Locations: 232

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

Homewatch CareGivers

— Rank: 246

— System Sales: $211,550,548

— Total Locations: 224

— Denver-based Homewatch CareGivers is a home care franchise company that operates in over 30 states and seven countries. The franchise employs over 4,500 caregivers.

Griswold

— Rank: 251

— System Sales: $199,100,000

— Total Locations: 178

— The Blue Bell, Pennsylvania-based Griswold is also a home care franchise. It provides personal care services in 30 states.

FirstLight Home Care

— Rank: 257

— System Sales: $188,207,247

— Total Locations: 195

— Cincinnati-based FirstLight Home Care is a provider of non-medical home care. The company also has a specialized care program aimed at seniors with dementia.

Assisting Hands Home Care

— Rank: 299

— System Sales: $124,305,162

— Total Locations: 175

— Assisting Hands Home Care offers both medical and non-medical assistance for seniors, including meal preparation, companionship, chores and more.

Caring Senior Service

— Rank: 475

— System Sales: $35,050,000

— Total Locations: 51

— San Antonio, Texas-based home care franchise company Caring Senior Service offers personal care, meal preparation, transportation, companionship, housekeeping and more.

The post 16 Home-Based Care Companies Earn Spots On The Franchise Times’ Top 400 List appeared first on Home Health Care News.

Personal home care and home health care are both branches connected to the post-acute care family tree. As such, home care leaders believe that there are numerous ways that their organizations can help alleviate home health provider pain points.

One major pain point that can be seen across home health care are referral rejection rates. Last year, the industry had a 76% referral rejection rate, compared to 54% in 2019, according to data from WellSky.

Jeff Bevis, chief operating officer at Caring Senior Service, sees home care as a natural ally for home health providers that are struggling in this area.

“It’s been a matter of time [that we] partner with them,” he told Home Health Care News. “[One way we do] is by trying to limit the hours, or the time, that the home health nurse is spending with their client. In other words, when the home health nurse is with a client for 15, 30 or even 60 minutes, home care workers can pick up more of the non-medical client needs to keep them happy and healthy in the home.”

The San Antonio, Texas-based home care franchise company Caring Senior Service has roughly 50 locations across nearly 20 states.

Bevis noted that this kind of arrangement gets to the heart of the referral rejection rate problem. It allows the home health agency to take on more referrals without making new hires or having to stretch their existing employees.

Currently, Caring Senior Service is collaborating with two home health agencies in rural Illinois to help lift the burden on these providers.

“We assigned a care manager to each of those home health agencies, and they’re meeting with those agencies once a week to talk through the patients that are most in need of non-medical home care activities and services, in order to reduce the amount of time and pressure on the home health agency,” Bevis said. “It lets us pick up a larger part of that slack for them, and makes more efficient use of their home health nurses.”

On its end, partnering with home health providers has been a referral boon for Caring Senior Service.

“It’s reinforcing existing referrals,” Bevis said. “In some cases, it’s in strengthening new or early referral source relationships.”

Griswold CEO Michael Slupecki pointed out that home health bonuses and penalties are tied to areas that fall under home care’s direct purview.

“The OASIS-based measures all center around the ability to self-care — from grooming, dressing, bathing, toileting and eating — all things that we address with the home care model,” he told HHCN.

The Blue Bell, Pennsylvania-based Griswold is also a home care franchise. It provides personal care services via more than 170 locations in 30 states.

At Griswold, helping prevent hospital admissions is the main area of focus when it comes to partnerships with home health providers.

“We have tremendous ability, in a non-medical way, to help prevent admissions,” Slupecki said. “We can ensure that the home is a safe environment, we can assist in transfer. On the heart failure side, just monitoring weight gain or loss. On the UTI side, which is a big reason for admissions, just monitoring the frequency of urination. Home health is designed to be curative, where we view our services more on the wellness side.”

Right now, Griswold is partnering with a national home health provider through its company-owned locations.

“The way we talk to them is by having them introduce us to their clients,” Slupecki said. “We’re going to help them on their scores, because they’re impacted by client satisfaction scores. They’re impacted by acute care hospitalizations or ER visits. We feel like we can be the eyes and the ears.”

‘Boots on the ground’

Synergy HomeCare is no stranger to partnering with home health agencies.

In 2021, the company teamed up with Compassus in a deal that offered both companies’ clients access to each other’s services.

“We were focused on care coordination, and just ensuring that all of the patient’s needs were being addressed holistically between our two organizations,” Rich Paul, chief partnership officer at Synergy, told HHCN. “There was also a cross-referral relationship, so that as the acuity of our client increased, we could refer them to hospice care, and provide wraparound home care services as needed, and vice versa.”

Synergy is a Gilbert, Arizona-based non-medical home care franchise that operates more than 400 franchise locations nationwide. The company offers companionship services, in addition to personal assistance, housekeeping, live-in care and 24-hour home care services.

The company still sees significant value in these kinds of collaborations.

“Home care rounds out that continuum of care very nicely,” Paul said. “We are kind of the boots on the ground that are in the home for extended periods of time. I think because of that, we can be a good partner for home health providers.”

Moving forward, Synergy is looking to form more partnerships with home health providers at both the local and national level.

Paul believes that there needs to be more partnerships between home health and home care providers, but payer challenges are still a hindering factor.

“I think the greatest challenge in creating partnerships between home health and home care is finding a payer source,” he said. “Most of our examples of care collaboration occur with clients receiving Medicare on the home health side, and using private-pay on the home care side. In some cases, there may be a funding source like an ACO, but more often than not, because Medicare does not cover home care, it does become a little more challenging.”

The post ‘Boots On The Ground’: Why Home Care Provider-Home Health Agency Partnerships Work appeared first on Home Health Care News.