Home-based care providers that are open to receiving employee and client feedback, and then open to acting upon that feedback, have a natural leg up on competitors that don’t do either.

In fact, providers that collected employee and customer feedback, and acted on it, were able to recruit 90% more employees, according to data from Activated Insights.

But employee recruitment isn’t the only benefit that companies like Tribute Home Care, Pinnacle Home Care and Homewatch CareGivers are seeing from feedback work.

Tribute, for one, takes several approaches to find out what staff and clients are thinking. On the client side, the company sends out a survey after the first three weeks of service. Additionally, the company sends out a more in-depth survey for clients every six months.

On the caregiver side, Tribute conducts an annual “caregiver happiness survey.” The company has also held focus groups over the years.

One of the biggest pieces of feedback that Tribute has received from caregivers was related to wage and volume of hours. The company has also heard about the importance of PTO and 401(k) matching from caregivers.

Caregivers have even voiced their thoughts about the company’s sartorial requirements, leading to improvements when it comes to staff uniforms.

“We have concentrated a lot on making sure the wage is really competitive, and making sure we get good competitive information on that,” Tribute CEO John Sneath told Home Health Care News. “We match our 401(k), and have seen a very big increase in participation. And people really love our uniform.”

Tribute also has someone in place who oversees caregiver excellence. This means that there is a role at the company dedicated to improving conditions based on the needs of these workers.

“That person reports to me and we talk about things, and then we decide the best way forward,” Sneath said. “Often, these problems are pretty complex, and involve more than one department. We typically will put together a group, and have somebody who’s in charge of project management. Then we first make sure we all agree on what the problem is. We’ve learned over the years that defining the problem is absolutely critical.”

Overall, Tribute has seen feedback collection have the biggest impact on the company’s turnover.

“We’re very consistently at 48% to 55% turnover, which is shockingly high, but not in our industry,” Sneath said. “Our characters tend to be very happy with us.”

Tackling caregiver consistency

At Homewatch CareGivers, the No. 1 feedback point the company receives from clients has to do with consistency in their caregivers, and who’s coming into the home, according to Todd Houghton, president of Homewatch CareGivers.

The company uses a third party to conduct these feedback surveys for them.

Plus, individual Homewatch CareGivers franchise locations conduct surveys roughly once per quarter.

To address caregiver consistency, among other things, Homewatch CareGivers rolled out Homewatch Connect, a technology platform that gives clients more access to caregivers.

“It provides consistent access to when their caregiver is not in the home,” Houghton told HHCN. “They have their caregiver coming in for X amount of visits a week, providing service, but they can virtually connect with that caregiver too. It really provides consistency and care for the customer.”

Before implementing this solution, Homewatch CareGivers – like many of their home-based care peers – were navigating client cancellations.

“There’s a high rate of cancellations on the customer client side, which resulted in reduced hours for the caregiver,” Houghton said. “There was frustration amongst caregivers, which resulted in call outs. That affected the consistency of delivery of care, so it kind of walks hand-in-hand. When we heard this, it was an ‘ah ha’ moment. We need to make sure that we have better consistency of care for the client, and the same caregiver coming day after day.”

Connecting a workforce

After receiving feedback from employees, Pinnacle has set its sights on making a workforce that isn’t all in one place feel more connected.

“We’re hiring people outside of our office footprint, creating more opportunities for new talent, which creates more remote-based employees,” Dan Kefgen, chief people officer at Pinnacle, told HHCN. “What comes from that is, as opposed to the staff member that comes into an office every day, and can be part of just different things that happen — whether it’s a potluck or a team lunch — that individual isn’t in the work environment. That feeling of connection and belonging, at times, can be a challenge.”

Similar to industry peers, Pinnacle utilizes surveys to learn more about what clients and employees want.

As a response, Pinnacle introduced an employee engagement app to give employees a vehicle to connect.

“Most times when I say, you have to meet people where they’re at, that’s going to be on their cell phone,” Kefgen said. “We focused on how we can leverage that opportunity to keep people connected, even though they may not be walking through your front door, so to speak.”

While it’s still too soon to determine the impact of Pinnacle’s employee engagement efforts, receiving feedback has been integral to the company overall.

Ultimately, Kefgen stresses the importance of targeted feedback.

“There’s a fine balance, in terms of asking for feedback and asking for too much feedback,” he said. “You have to make sure that it’s purposeful, it’s targeted, and you can make time to do something with it.”

The post Where Client, Employee Feedback Surveys Are Taking Home-Based Care Providers appeared first on Home Health Care News.

The Denver-based home care franchise company has expanded its network of 427 locations to 33 states and seven countries, employing over 4,500 caregivers. CEO Todd Houghton says the company is on track to open 22 offices in the U.S. this year, along with eight to 10 locations throughout Central and South America.

“We can always fill in more whitespace,” Houghton said. “My mission is to have better access to care across the country. We look at people that are in rural communities. How do we get them access to care so they can age at home?”

Homewatch CareGivers is aiming to provide better access to care through its Total Care Solutions initiative, as well as its Homewatch Connect technology. Homewatch Connect is an in-home monitoring system that the company unveiled earlier this year.

Houghton calls Homewatch Connect the company’s “key differentiator.” It allows clients to access care at home easily through their television and a remote control.

“This is a very age friendly remote control that allows them to have video connection engagement with their family, with their doctors and with their care provider from Homewatch CareGivers,” Houghton said.

The Homewatch Connect technology has numerous other capabilities, including the ability to put reminders for medication, appointments and hydration right on a home care recipient’s television screen.

The company is also testing AI features that will “check in” with home care recipients, analyze the client’s needs and help them decide whether or not to schedule a caregiver visit.

“We’re using AI now in helping develop person-centered care plans,” Houghton said. “It really helps focus on the individual and their needs, rather than just a general care plan that most companies in the home care space do.”

Home care recipients in all stages of life are able to utilize the Homewatch Connect technology to get personal care, transition care and general wellness care.

“We really want to have that full continuum of care for somebody that needs it,” Houghton said. “Homewatch Connect will allow them to live in their home, where nearly 77% of the people over the age of 55 want to live their aging years.”

Houghton admits there is a “fear of technology” that the company is working to overcome. It’s doing so by educating home care recipients on how to use the technology while also providing assurance that the technology, unlike their smartphone, is safe and secure.

Moving fast, the company is analyzing data from a select group of home care recipients using the Homewatch Connect technology. Houghton reports that the company has reduced hospital visits by 33% amongst those currently being monitored.

“Obviously that’s great for the person that’s receiving care,” Houghton said. “It’s also a great savings to the insurer and insurance companies that we can help reduce those costs.”

Houghton sees care costs as the next opportunity for the home care industry to tackle. He believes Medicare Advantage (MA) needs to be expanded to provide more resources to the aging population. He wants to work with other leaders across the industry and pursue access to more payer sources.

“Currently, most of the industry is driven by a private-pay aspect,” Houghton said. “As an industry, we’re really trying to harvest the data to be able to go to insurance companies and get them to understand the benefits of offering homecare as part of an insurance offering.”

Homewatch CareGivers’ strides in the industry have not gone unnoticed. The company recently won the Most Innovative Service Introduction award for Homewatch Connect and was named the Operations and Technology Overall winner at the International Franchise Association’s 2024 Franchise Customer Experience Conference.

Looking towards the future, Houghton says the company’s technology will continue to evolve as Homewatch CareGivers stays committed to providing home care recipients with “a more secure, safe place” to age.

“It’s always been my philosophy that our aging population deserves to be in the place where they’re most comfortable,” Houghton said. “And that’s their home.”

This story was written by an HHCN freelancer, Elizabeth Gregerson.

The post Homewatch CareGivers CEO Sees Growth Opportunity In New Tech Tools, MA appeared first on Home Health Care News.

More home-based care providers have become curious about the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI), especially when it comes to its potential around easing clinician and caregiver workload and improving patient outcomes.

Companies like Homewatch CareGivers and Pinnacle Home Care moved past the curiosity stage, and have implemented AI tools into their operations and clinical processes.

At Pinnacle Home Care, clinicians are using an AI-powered large language model, ybot, to help streamline comprehensive assessments and OASIS.

“We have been able to cut the start of care time down to 87.3 minutes from 119 minutes, so huge savings for clinicians,” Kathy Hoffman, chief clinical officer at Pinnacle Home Care, told Home Health Care News. “ybot gives them the ability to document real-time, which improves the quality of the documentation. In home health, because there’s so much documentation, what we usually find is most clinicians are going home and trying to document in the evening. Therefore, it’s creating a difficult work-life balance for them and untimely documentation.”

Pinnacle Home Care is a Oldsmar, Florida-based home health provider that also offers personal care services. The company serves over 80% of the Medicare population in Florida.

With ybot, clinicians are able to record their documentation. The AI tool asks the clinicians questions based on the OASIS assessment, and they are able to respond. The tool also lets the clinician know if they are answering incorrectly, and gives them the correct response options.

Real-time documentation is a game-changer for most clinicians who typically, as Hoffman pointed out, complete their documentation after hours based on quick shorthand notes.

“As time passes throughout the day, they see multiple patients, and their recall for the quality and the accuracy of that documentation starts to diminish,” she said.

Decreasing documentation time also benefits patients, because it allows clinicians to focus on clinical work and deepen their connection with those they are delivering care to. 

“They’re able to give more face time to the patient, able to interact better with that patient … to drive patient satisfaction,” Hoffman said. “Nobody wants to sit behind a clinician as they’re typing on a computer.”

In addition to documentation, Pinnacle Home Care also utilizes AI as a personal assistant tool for clinicians.

Typically, home health clinicians are driving from patient to patient. In between patients, clinicians are often reviewing patient charts. Pinnacle Home Care wanted to make this process easier.

“What we’ve created is a personal assistant that really turns that drive time into productive time,” Hoffman said. “Instead of having to pull over and read the medical chart of that patient … they just click a button. The system knows which patient they’re seeing next because we have full integration with our EMR system, and it tells them all the clinical and non-clinical information they need to really walk into that patient’s house to be prepared to provide that high-quality visit. It also gives them the ability to listen to the clinical notes from other disciplines prior to that visit to really enhance that collaboration.”

How AI is helping prevent falls

Homewatch CareGivers is using an AI tool to collect data on patient movements and respiration, in order to prevent falls among seniors.

The company is doing this by installing three-inch censors, and smart cameras for back up, in clients homes.

“They can go anywhere in the home, and it helps detect movement and sounds, and uses AI to do predictive analytics for us on the client, so we have a better insight to potential fall risks, or things that are going on in the home that could result in a hospitalization,” Todd Houghton, president of Homewatch CareGivers, told HHCN.

The company’s use of AI for fall prevention started in a pilot phase, but over the last three months, Homewatch CareGivers has been rolling this out in their offices across the country.

Homewatch CareGivers’ focus on fall risk is especially important because falls are severely detrimental to seniors.

“It can be life threatening to them,” Houghton said. “We can use this tool to help identify that, and improve outcomes, and give them a better quality of life, so they’re less likely to fall and have a concussion or break a hip.”

More than 14 million older adults report falling annually, according to data from the CDC.

Before Homewatch CareGivers began using AI for fall prevention, the company had to rely solely on what caregivers were able to observe in the home.

“Now, with this advanced technology we’re able to, essentially, observe 24/7 unobtrusively,” Houghton said. “If there’s a risk of something happening, AI generates this in the dashboard to give rankings or assign a likelihood that there could be a fall and then we can send somebody to the home to help that client, if need be.”

Through the process of piloting AI for fall prevention, Homewatch CareGivers had to deal with clients who were concerned that the tools could potentially be intrusive. This meant that the company had to talk through the process with clients and ensure their privacy.

“Our technology is HIPAA-compliant and secure on a cloud,” Houghton said. “We do share that with all of our clients as part of our service agreements that we have with them. The fact that it’s in writing, with the service agreement, and we talked through it when we’re doing an intake process, it really brings them better peace of mind.”

Houghton noted that client footage and data is on a closed network, and the clinicians are the only ones monitoring clients.

During the pilot phase, Homewatch CareGivers was able to reduce hospitalizations by 33%.

AI use across home-based care

Homewatch CareGivers and Pinnacle Home Care are not the only home-based care providers that are implementing AI to further advance care and operations.

AccentCare is using AI to improve the start of care process.

Meanwhile, Devoted Guardians implemented an AI employee recruiting system in order to increase engagement with job applicants.

More recently, Trent Smith, the CEO of the Oklahoma City-based Accentra Home Health and Hospice, announced the launch of his generative AI platform Apricot. The app counts companies like Elara Caring and Choice Health at Home as part of its user base.

Looking ahead, Hoffman believes that home-based care still has a long way to go in its embrace of AI. She believes that Pinnacle Home Care’s implementation of AI has allowed its staff to lean into their area of expertise.

“AI will never replace humans,” she said. “I think that’s everybody’s fear, but you will always need a human at the end. It’s not just clinicians, it’s admin support — the ability for us to remove mundane, repetitive tasks that don’t require a lot of thought process from them really improves where they feel their value in the company is because they’re able to then perform the tasks they have experience in, that they’re experts in.”

The post Home-Based Care Providers Continue To Find New Use Cases For AI appeared first on Home Health Care News.

The franchise company is also launching Homewatch Connect, a smart camera system that aims to promote longer independence at home, reduce isolation and boost social engagement.

“This all-inclusive suite of services is designed to provide personalized care to clients, allowing the opportunity to get into care earlier and stay longer,” Homewatch CareGivers President Todd Houghton told Home Health Care News in an email. “Clients will benefit from increased independence, improved safety and a greater peace of mind while care providers are equipped with tools to deliver more efficient and tailored care.”

The 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 at over 230 locations.

The services offered through Total Care Solutions will include daily social engagement and clinical expertise from Homewatch’s caregivers.

Houghton said the new program will enable clients to age in place with dignity on their own terms by offering “several flexible levels of service.”

Paired with the smart camera, Homewatch hopes to give its clients an improved communication system, while also addressing cost efficiency and flexibility when monitoring clients in their home.

“These cameras are integrated into clients’ homes to provide real-time connection, engagement and insights into their well being,” Houghton said. “Care providers can use this data to tailor care plans according to individual needs and preferences. The smart camera technology also allows for remote communication and collaboration with increased touchpoints through virtual care — in addition to having the caregiver in the home.”

Features of Homewatch Connect will include video calls with care professionals, remote monitoring, motion and sound detection as well as on-screen alerts for medication reminders, appointments and other scheduled tasks to keep clients active and engaged in their care plan.

“As the demand for technology-driven advancements continues to grow, Homewatch CareGivers remains at the forefront of innovation,” Houghton said. “This reimagined approach helps clients enable longer independence at home, reduce isolation and boost social engagement while helping to preserve privacy.”

The tools should also assist caregivers and providers by streamlining many of the work processes that come with a more tailored care plan.

“By combining advanced technology with personalized care, we are offering families a solution they have been looking for,” Houghton added. “It helps to ensure loved ones are well cared for through improved communication and interaction, while also offering care providers increased support, automation, cost efficiency and flexibility in monitoring and engagement.”

Both new programs are expected to officially launch this month.

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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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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.

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In his role at Homewatch CareGivers, he combines these two passions. Houghton oversees and executes the overall growth strategy for the franchise, while ensuring that franchisees in the Homewatch CareGivers network have the room to thrive as business owners.

Denver-based Homewatch CareGivers is a home care franchise company that operates in over 30 states and seven countries. The franchiser employs over 4,500 caregivers at its estimated 230 total locations.

Houghton recently sat down for the latest episode of Home Health Care News’ Disrupt. During the conversation, he detailed the company’s aggressive franchise growth plan, its innovative workforce strategy and his predictions for the home care space.

Highlights of the conversation are below, edited for length and clarity.

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HHCN: Homewatch CareGivers has seen some pretty steady growth over the last several years. How have you been able to put your growth strategy into practice?

Houghton: There are two pieces that have really helped the growth. One is focusing on our existing franchise network and providing them the appropriate resources day in and day out to grow their business.

One of the biggest challenges they face, day in and day out, is having enough staff to service that demand. The space needs to continue to evolve and find other technology aspects that can improve efficiencies. That’s part of what we’ve been focusing on. Also, there continues to be so much white space and opportunity for new franchise units to open up across the United States and beyond. We’ve been heavily focused on that. Every day, more and more people desire to get into business for themselves, and our space is very passion-driven. People at the height of their career or mid-executive career start wanting to get into this business for themselves – their parents are aging, or whatever it might be. This helps our segment and Homewatch grow.

What are some of the near-term growth goals the company has in the early stages of 2023?

From a unit growth, we’re very focused on how we’re going to fill the gaps across the country this year. I personally have a goal to open up 30 new offices across the U.S., specifically. We did 18 last year, almost doubling what we’ll do this year. We’ll look into 2024, 2025 and 2026 — doing the same type of growth. That’s from the unit growth. From existing franchisees, we’ve experienced for the last five years double-digit revenue increases across our brand. We have that same focus for the next five years.

When it comes to expanding franchises today, what are some of the challenges Homewatch CareGivers is trying to overcome? What’s top of mind for you and the rest of the company?

Looking back maybe 14 or 15 years ago, there were only a dozen, or so, franchise companies in the home care space. Today, there are over 70 franchise companies. That’s one of the biggest challenges. There are just so many competitors out there that are franchising home care services. That’s a big obstacle. Another one is just really nailing down that labor challenge as well, so that when new franchisees come into the space, they can get out there and hit the ground running.

Also, the world changed a few years ago, and it’s getting people’s mindsets to what is life like post-COVID, and getting back out and focused on their business, and growing their business. As they grow their first territory, we get them to do expansion, which will help us grow as well.

What about opportunities that are most exciting to you and the company?

I think it’s a great time for innovation and a little disruption in the space. How can technology drive that? It’s time to evolve the space and get more people access to home care. We’re working on some exciting things that I’m looking forward to revealing a little bit later this year.

Why is training such a focus for Homewatch CareGivers?

On the training aspect, it’s all about the quality of care and the delivery of care. If the caregivers are not trained appropriately, there could be safety issues, or other challenges that can happen in the home. That can be damaging to the brand. That’s why we have such a strong focus on that training piece for people that are coming on board with Homewatch.

It also is a differentiator in the fact that we require our offices to provide many different classes to their caregivers before they even enter the home. The other piece that ties into the training aspect is there are a lot of non-traditional caregivers out there. With the solid training program that we have, we can take the best barista at the coffee shop and turn them into a caregiver.

We want to be able to have the best training in place to recruit them to come on board with us.

The last time we talked with Homewatch CareGivers, the idea of a workforce strategy committee, made up of the company’s franchise owners, was a relatively new thing. Tell me about how that’s going and what you’ve learned from that process.

We’ve made great strides with that. We do have a working group of franchise owners, and I actually have a workforce strategy manager on my support team. They meet monthly. The theme is workplace excellence, so it’s all about recruiting and retention of caregivers that come into our space and into our brand. We’ve seen tremendous improvement in our retention of caregivers as a result of this committee, meeting on a monthly basis, sharing out the best practices to our entire network and having the best caregivers out there.

Conversely, on the recruiting standpoint, they’re the ones that have come up with the idea around this turning non-traditional caregivers into Homewatch CareGivers. This group has really been innovative, and a great resource for our network to bring those things to life.

What are you guys doing with technology when it comes to recruitment and retention?

We do a lot of fun video snippets on social media, as one example. Simplifying the application process through technology, by using applicant tracking systems that certainly improve that process. Days aren’t going by before they get a call back on the recruitment process, which helps tremendously to shorten that window from application to hire to start. Also bringing in technology to simplify the caregiver process once they’re on board with us, so the practice management platform that we use really helps them reduce the amount of time for documentation, which can take significant time. Also, just being able to have easier visibility to electronic care plans, communicating with family through technology. All of these things have really improved the process for caregivers in the home.

Finally, Todd, do you have any prediction for home care?

The segment is going to continue to grow tremendously. We have a huge opportunity to take on higher-acuity patients in the home, which will help us grow. Technology will become a bigger player day in and day out. In the next nine to 12 months, we’ll see a lot more AI coming into home care that will provide that feedback to practitioners, to understand what’s going on with their patients at home.

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Instead, there are various approaches that have yielded results for different agencies across the country.

One of these approaches is making sure that potential clinicians and caregivers know about the job opportunities that exist within home-based care, Mandy Tilton, chief nursing officer at Bayada Home Health Care, said during a panel discussion at Home Health Care News’ Staffing Summit Tuesday.

“We’re spending a lot of time educating the general public and potential future employees on the home health care space as a place to work,” she said. “I hear from so many others, and it’s my own personal experience, that this is not an area where there’s a bunch of time spent on educating [people in] nursing school, or other types of training programs. Oftentimes, people aren’t even aware of the opportunity to work in this amazing space.”

Tilton noted that Bayada is partnering with a number of different organizations in an effort to “spread the word.”

Moorestown, New Jersey-based Bayada offers home health, personal care and hospice services through 237 locations in 23 states, as well as seven other countries. The company employs over 26,000 nurses, home health aides, therapists and social workers.

On the retention side, Bayada recently held a national giveaway for its nurses, as part of the organization’s larger National Nurses Week celebration, which included a handful of company-wide events.

“Any nurse could enter into a drawing to win a package to be used towards a vacation, which right now, that’s a super important thing, taking care of oneself in health care,” Tilton said.

On its end, Homewatch CareGivers has created a workforce strategy committee made up of the company’s franchise owners.

“We share the most pressing issues, new ideas and best practices,” Jennifer Ramona, vice president of strategy and innovation at Homewatch CareGivers, said during the panel discussion. “Through them, as well as our franchise advisory council, we identify the best means for getting this information out to our franchise owners, so they’re able to put this into practice, whether that is doing it via town halls, our biweekly newsletter, or regional meetings.”

Denver-based Homewatch CareGivers is a home care franchise company that operates in over 30 states and seven countries. The franchiser employs over 4,500 caregivers at its estimated 230 total locations.

The company is also focused on how “ghosting” has become common during the recruitment and onboarding process, and is working to tackle this.

“We are identifying means of how you address that,” Ramona said. “How do you ensure that your person is going to show up, because that’s a lot of time and effort expended to have somebody not show up at various processes. It can happen at the interview, at the orientation or that first shift, where suddenly they don’t show.”

Anecdotally, providers across the country have noticed this phenomenon. They are hoping that it is a temporary, COVID-related trend. But either way, it’s worth paying attention to, given Ramona’s explanation.

Another strategy Bayada has deployed is making sure that the lines of communication are open. The company has created a number of channels — including employee experience surveys and forums — to ensure this.

Bayada has also implemented training and educational sessions with its leaders who are the direct managers of the company’s home-based care staff. The training ranges in topics — from time management to self-care.

The company has also leaned on internal referrals as a way to recruit new workers, according to Tilton.

“We are working really hard with our own employees to have them refer their friends,” she said. “Being able to generate internal referrals is so important in health care. People who are referred by friends often score really well on annual performance reviews. They generally will stay longer.”

In fact, Ramona and Tilton agreed that if there was a panacea, it’s increased referrals from current staff.

For Homewatch CareGivers, it’s also been important to recognize that employee benefits can be a powerful recruiting and retention tool.

“It isn’t just about health and dental, but also what are those things that can … make your life easier based on where you are,” Ramona said. “It might be memberships to things like Costco or those types of items — making sure that we identify those resources.”

Identifying new talent pools has also been key for the company, according to Ramona.

“People who may have aptitudes in our space, but have not necessarily considered caregiving because maybe they thought there was a degree required,” she said. “That’s one of the benefits for us. In many states – not all states — we can help train somebody to be a caregiver, as long as they have those talent aptitudes related to the soft skills, the compassion, the reliability.”

With that in mind, the company has conducted research through U.S. Department of Labor resources that has allowed it to identify particular professions or interests that correlate with people who might be interested in a caregiving type job.

“We have the persona of the people, how to attract them and then also how to train them,” Ramona said.

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For instance, it’s made recent partnerships with meal preparation company Chefs for Seniors, payroll software company Viventium and the long-term care convener The Helper Bees.

But it’s also invested in a workforce tool that it thinks will yield significant and unique results. The company has a proprietary system that identifies workers outside of the home care industry that could be a good fit for its own workforce.

“We have been doing a bunch of research to identify the different talent pools out there that might be predisposed to having a caregiver’s heart, but without all the skills,” Homewatch CareGivers COO Jennifer Tucker told Home Health Care News. “We can then upskill them through the use of Homewatch Caregivers University.”

The Denver-based Homewatch CareGivers is a home care franchise company that operates in over 30 states and seven countries. The franchiser employs over 4,500 caregivers at its estimated 230 total locations.

Staffing continues to be the No. 1 priority for HWCG, Tucker said, and finding any kind of advantage in that arena will be key to the company’s success.

“Yes, we can work through the Home Care Association of America (HCAOA) and try to influence immigration policies and things like that, but we also need to get as serious as we can and work at every possible level to help our franchise owners identify new pools of caregivers,” Tucker said. “While making sure that we are keeping the great caregivers we already have from either resigning or getting swayed by a competitor out of the industry entirely.”

Experts have told HHCN in the past that simple tweaks in regulation could greatly help the home-based care workforce in the U.S.

Tucker is optimistic that even a slight improvement on immigration policy will pass soon, but she admitted that alone won’t be a panacea.

HWCG’s recruiting tool, however, has enabled the company to tap into new fields for workers.

“We’ve identified these really good [talent] pools of potential caregivers that don’t have the skill set to be a caregiver at this time, but have the right mindset and that caring attitude to really help solve the boredom, hopelessness and loneliness components of many of our clients’ lives,” Tucker said. “That’s a huge focus for us, to essentially be able to create our own caregivers and have a platform that can take an Amazon employee or a fast food worker and [turn them] into a caregiver as quickly and effectively as possible.”

HWCG didn’t want to give out specifics on what kind of workers they’ve identified outside of retail and fast food, however, likely due to competitive advantage reasons.

Meanwhile, the company has been keeping a close eye on inflation, like many in the home care space have, and has had to raise prices and wages.

“It’s so important that our franchise owners and small business people are able to continue to thrive,” Tucker said. “There was about a 7% overall increase in prices in 2021 across our network. Shift rates didn’t go up quite as much, but hourly rates went up into the double digits in terms of percentage of growth.”

Tucker said HWCG’s franchise owners are raising rates every six months – at a minimum – and are constantly paying attention to what competitors in other industries are offering employees.

Additional reporting by HHCN Editor Andrew Donlan

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But companies that offer home-delivered meals can help boost patient outcomes and lower overall health care costs. Home-based care providers that are partnering with such organizations see the relationship as a “beautiful fit,” especially as referral sources and payers continue to focus on social determinants of health.

In April, Denver-based Homewatch CareGivers announced a collaboration with Chefs for Seniors, a culinary-focused company that makes and curates meal plans for seniors aging at home. Homewatch CareGivers is a home care franchise company that serves 33 states and seven countries through 233 total locations.

“Chefs for Seniors is a relationship that fits beautifully with home care services as they complement one another and allow shared clients to have a wider continuum of care with nutritious and delicious meals as well as personal and companion care at home,” Homewatch CareGivers COO Jennifer Tucker said in an email to Home Health Care News. “Chefs for Seniors strives to work with those who are needing specialty diets related to certain chronic conditions.”

Chefs for Seniors was started in 2013 by the father-son duo Barrett and Nathan Allman.

The Madison, Wisconsin-based company has over 70 franchise locations across the U.S. and provides custom meal preparation services to seniors.

“Chefs For Seniors believes this relationship with Homewatch CareGivers shows their commitment to proper nutrition for their clients while reinforcing the importance of healthy meals as part of the entire care plan,” COO Nathan Allman said in an email to HHCN. “We’re excited to work with their nationwide network of franchise owners to provide an alternative meal solution for their clients, especially those with specific dietary concerns.”

Homewatch also recently announced a partnership with The Helper Bees, which recently acquired healthAlign. That further adds to what the home care franchiser can do around nutrition, as healthAlign offers meal delivery services through Medicare Advantage.

A lack of access to nutritious food for people who are dually eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid is a problem that likely leads to higher readmission rates, ​​a Health Affairs study found.

Homewatch and its owners are constantly looking for ways to differentiate and efficiently operate to provide the best care possible, Tucker said. The company found that meal preparation and delivery could help health systems and hospitals further reduce health care costs and improve patients outcomes.

“Ensuring that clients have a nutritious and well-balanced diet is a crucial part of providing support through home care services,” Tucker said. “Our new alliance with Chefs for Seniors offers an elevated approach where a skilled professional chef can prepare delicious, home-cooked meals from the comfort of a client’s kitchen while being mindful of any dietary restriction.”

Not only can meal and grocery delivery services help reduce overall health care costs, they can also be an effective way to keep patients on track after surgeries and treatments, she added.

“Proper nutrition and hydration is essential for those healing from surgeries and treatments,” she said. “When a person does not consume adequate amounts of water or consume a healthy diet, they are at increased risk for falls due to feeling weak or dizzy.”

The future of nutrition in home care

In an industry that is constantly changing, it’s more important than ever for home-based care providers to listen to their clients about their needs. Tucker said these partnerships are examples of taking a fresh approach to enhancing the continuum of care model.

“As this industry evolves, its importance for our industry to continue to bring a fresh approach and listen to the needs of our clients,” Tucker said. “Caregivers are there to offer support in the kitchen whether it is preparing vegetables for a meal or heating up a dinner, but delivery services can continue to help provide time for other activities or hobbies a caregiver and their client can enjoy.”

Access to nutritional meals is a necessity, Tucker said, but continued education is another big piece of the puzzle.

“There are many cases where caregivers are there to help provide each meal and it’s important for them to know the nutritional needs for each client,” she said. “[Homewatch] caregivers receive ongoing training as it relates to chronic conditions that clients are living with.”

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