Before joining Vivo Infusion, Rodgers was CEO at AccentCare for over a decade. He was also formerly CEO of OptumHealth Collaborative Care, a division of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) that owns, manages, and provides administrative and technology services to health care delivery systems.

Earlier in his career, he was a health care executive at General Electric, responsible for purchasing health care benefits.

Vivo Infusion provides cost-effective infusion care to patients in partnership with their physicians.

Accra names Frette as chief solutions officer, Chad Derner CFO

Accra has named LeAnn Frette as chief solutions officer. Frette transitions to her new role after serving as chief financial officer (CFO) for over a decade. The company has also appointed Chad Derner to succeed Frette as CFO.

“Over 18 years of service at Accra, LeAnne has guided our organization through tremendous growth and helped us maintain financial success despite constant disruption in the home care industry,” said Accra President and CEO John Dahm said in a statement. “Her expertise will be critical in clearing the future hurdles we face to best serve the thousands of Minnesotans who need care at home.”

Accra is a nonprofit organization providing individualized home care services to people with disabilities and older adults. Headquartered in Minnetonka and operating in all counties throughout Minnesota, Accra helps people who need care get self-directed assistance with activities of daily living.

As chief solutions officer, Frette will partner with leadership on all operational and strategic issues and provide recommendations based on financial analysis and projections, cost identification and allocation, and revenue/expense analysis.

“I am excited to dive into my new role as chief solutions officer and look forward to collaborating with Accra’s executive leadership team on strategies to build an ecosystem that better meets the needs of Minnesotans who require personalized care at home,” Frette said.

Frette started with Accra as a system analyst in 2006 and supported the company’s growth by building out its financial operating systems and practices. She was named CFO in 2014.

Taking on Frette’s former role as CFO, Chad Derner will manage Accra’s accounting and billing departments, oversee all financial activities and operations and provide strategic guidance to leadership. Derner joins Accra with 25 years of experience in finance and accounting, the last 16 of which have been in leadership.

“I am thrilled to welcome Chad Derner as Accra’s new CFO,” Frette said. “Having dedicated many years to this role, I understand the importance of having a leader with Chad’s extensive experience and strategic vision. I am confident that Chad’s broad health care experience will help Accra grow and thrive in our ever-changing industry.”

Derner will focus on identifying opportunities to optimize financial strategies across all of Accra’s business ventures. He will be critical in ensuring Accra fosters financial excellence and strategic growth.

“I am excited to join this dedicated team and contribute to Accra’s mission by ensuring financial excellence and strategic growth,” Derner said. “I look forward to leveraging my experience in financial management and technology-focused health care to support Accra and significantly impact our community.”

CaringBridge announces new board members

CaringBridge, a Bloomington, Minnesota-based health care platform supporting family caregivers, recently announced new members to its board of directors: Sandy Chung, American Academy of Pediatrics immediate past president, CEO of Trusted Doctors, Medical Director of the Virginia Mental Health Access Program; Kristy Lindquist, co-founder and partner at Chasm Partners and Steve Margolis, retired health plan executive, independent board member and current president of the Vitality Group.

The company also announced that retired health care executive Sarah Krevens was the board chair, and Linda Ireland, an independent board director, was the board vice chair.

Calvin Allen, executive vice president and chief human resources officer at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has joined as Treasurer, Finance & Development Committee chair.

Cris Ross, chief information officer at Mayo Clinic, is the new Impact Committee chair.

Adrian Slobin, chief growth officer at Huron Consulting, has joined as the Governance Committee chair.

Scott Spiker, board director and chairman at First Command Financial Services, is board chair Emeritus.

“I am thrilled to welcome our new members to the CaringBridge board,” CEO Tia Newcomer said in a statement. “Our board comprises seasoned professionals in health care with deeply personal connections to caregiving. I am truly excited about the future and what we will accomplish together. The board is essential in continuing our path of meaningful and transformational work to surround family caregivers with emotional, social and functional support as they care for a loved one on a health journey.”

nVoq welcomes Iddings as chief revenue officer

nVoq announced Dawn Iddings as its chief revenue officer. Iddings brings over 20 years of experience in health care, technology and electronic health records. Most recently, she served as senior vice president and managing director of post-acute care at Netsmart Technologies. 

“Dawn is an incredible addition to our executive team,” President and Chief Operating Officer Debbi Gillotti said in a statement. “Her deep expertise in the in-home health care market, combined with her career-long commitment to creating technology solutions for our industry, will elevate our ability to service our agency customers and industry partners.”

nVoq Inc., headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, provides HIPAA-compliant, SaaS-based technology for the in-home health care industry.

“The in-home health care market is on the brink of a significant transformation, and AI is at the heart of it,” Iddings said in a statement. “nVoq has been developing and evolving this technology to meet the unique needs of clinicians for over a decade. Our solutions continue to redefine efficiency, quality and accuracy in clinical documentation, and I’m thrilled to be a part of this journey.”

One Senior Care expands executive leadership team

Erie, Pennsylvania-based One Senior Care announced the expansion of its leadership team.

As chief medical officer, Dr. Jerry Wilborn, a 25-year veteran in post-acute care, will work alongside the organization’s medical directors to drive clinical strategy and positive health outcomes.

“Over the last few years, it’s become increasingly clear that seniors want to age in their homes. One Senior Care is making this a reality for the older adults we serve in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, and soon, Ohio,” Wilborn said in a press release.

The newly appointed chief operating officer, Craig Worland, brings a professional background in leading growing health organizations, having previously served in Southeast Primary Care Partners and Tanner Health System.

“I’m honored to join One Senior Care, which has great potential to expand this truly integrated and participant-centered program to serve more older adults and communities across the country,” Worland said in a press release.

As chief quality and compliance officer, Laura Lyons will enhance the company’s quality and compliance programs, according to the release.

“As we look toward the future, we look forward to building upon our reputation in quality care and continuing to ensure that older adults can live healthy, happy and independent lives in their own homes and communities,” Lyons said.

Element Care appoints Thompson new CEO

Element Care announced the appointment of Douglas Thompson as chief executive officer (CEO). Doug brings experience in health care leadership, financial management and community engagement to the company.

“In seeking a new CEO, it was essential to the board of directors to select a candidate that not only has the leadership and technical skills necessary to manage such a complex organization but also someone committed to providing high-quality health care to low-income seniors,” President of the Board of Directors, John Feehan said in a statement. “We are extremely excited to have Doug join the Element Care team and look forward to working with him to bring high-quality, wrap-around medical services to many more seniors in need.”

Element Care, based in Lynn, Massachusetts, provides managed care for senior care options (SCO) under a contract with Commonwealth Care Alliance. The company serves over 1,000 Program for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) participants and 2,000 SCO members across 60 North Shore, Merrimack Valley and Greater Boston communities.

“I’ve worked with diverse populations throughout my career and am passionate about developing innovative programs to serve patients with complex health needs,” Thompson said. “I am excited about the mission and high quality of health care that is the foundation of Element Care. I look forward to building on the success of this organization and leading its next chapter as the population of aging seniors continues to grow.”

Thompson was previously the CEO and founder of Perfect Health Inc., where he developed a comprehensive primary care clinical model as a risk-bearing provider organization focused on serving seniors with complex health care needs at home. He was also the former chief financial officer of the Massachusetts state Medicaid program and three Medicaid managed care organizations.

Avenues Home Care welcomes Hendrix as senior care coordinator

Avenues Home Care announced Grant Hendrix as senior care coordinator for northwest Georgia and southeast Tennessee. Hendrix will help families and veterans living in Dalton, Chattanooga and surrounding areas engage with home care services to meet their needs.

“At Avenues Home Care, we are committed to offering those we serve professional, compassionate and flexible home care solutions,” CEO Doug Markham said in a press release. “With our years of experience and industry knowledge, we empower our local teams to foster meaningful connections within the community. Grant’s extensive experience, education, and the Avenues’ vision and support give him the essential insights and resources to ensure we meet our clients’ distinct needs.”

Dalton, Georgia-based Avenues Home Care is the parent company of community-centric home care agencies spanning multiple communities across the South. The company provides in-home senior care, activities of daily living, medication assistance, meal preparation, companionship, transportation, light housekeeping and more.

“Avenues’ motto, ‘your journey, our care,’ is something I will strive to remember every time I visit families and their loved ones,” Hendrix said. “My passion is to connect people to exceptional home care services that will help improve their quality of life. With their excellent reputation and resources, Avenues Home Care has given me a great opportunity to help families in the areas we serve.”

In his new role, Hendrix will analyze the market, visit communities and meet with clients in their homes.

Integrated Home Care Services Inc. welcomes Ajani Nimmagadda as CMO

Integrated Home Care Services Inc. (IHCS) announced that Dr. Ajani Nimmagadda has been named the organization’s new chief medical officer. Nimmagadda will assume clinical and medical management leadership across the organization.

“Dr. Nimmagadda’s leadership in driving clinical outcomes, quality of care and health care affordability will be instrumental in helping us continue to fulfill our mission and support our continued growth,” CEO Christopher Bradbury said in a statement. “Her proven track record of achieving better outcomes for patients, providers, and health plans and her expertise across the health care ecosystem will further accelerate our innovation and value-based care solutions.”

Integrated Home Care Services is a home care benefit manager that enables and accelerates value-based home care for health plans and risk-based provider organizations. Headquartered in Miramar, Florida, the company services millions of patients across many states and Puerto Rico.

“I am honored to join IHCS as chief medical officer,” Dr. Nimmagadda said. “I look forward to leveraging my experience in successful health care operations and improved operational efficiency while optimizing clinical outcomes. IHCS’s approach is reinventing home care benefit management, replacing fragmented approaches with an integrated, insights-based, coordinated model that improves clinical outcomes and patient experience and reduces health care costs. Improving care in the home has always been a passion of mine, and I look forward to unlocking the full potential of care in the home with our team members, providers, caregivers and health plan partners.”

Dr. Nimmagadda has nearly three decades of experience in health care, both as a practicing internal medicine and infectious diseases physician and as a health care executive.

Most recently, she served in various leadership roles at Cigna Healthcare, overseeing comprehensive medical and pharmacy utilization management programs and specialty drug clinical programs, including gene therapies.

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In a crowded home care ecosystem, companies are constantly looking for ways to stand out.

For some that means putting innovative solutions in practice that will enhance operations and care services. For others, that means developing deep local roots to strengthen services in various communities.

On top of this, home care companies are rolling out services that will help differentiate their care delivery model from that of competitors.

Ari Medoff — CEO of the home care company Arosa — recently touched on the greater need for ingenuity in home care.

“I am constantly amazed at how big and vast our market is, and how few points of differentiation most of us in the industry have,” he previously told Home Health Care News. “We need more creativity around business models. We need more companies to try different things.”

HHCN recently heard back from six home care leaders on the aspects of their companies that they believe separate them from the crowd.

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Home care faces significant market pressures typical of its growth shakeout phase, where market differentiation is necessary for survival. At Home Assist Health, our strategic response focuses on deepening community commitment through a person-first approach, evident in our person-centered care planning and employee-centric programming that prioritizes clients and staff.

We’ve integrated innovative solutions like Automation Edge’s bot for streamlined back-office tasks and Tap Root Ella’s AI for dementia care, enhancing care quality and efficiency. Recognizing increasing rates of chronic disease, we’re prioritizing health independence by expanding community health worker services and promoting self-management of health skills. Partnering with an Arizona non-profit, we’re providing diabetic-compliant meals to eligible members.

Our focus on workforce centers around students who are not only experts in what attracts them to a profession but are also our primary target for growth. We’ve expanded partnerships with high schools, community colleges, and Arizona State University, offering internships, apprenticeships, scholarships, and student-led HR consulting to nurture talent and enhance capacity.

We operate in the human services industry, where placing people at the center of everything we do is fundamental. Our goal is to promote and enhance human potential at every level. This guides our operations and ensures resilience during industry shakeouts.

— Sara Wilson, president and CEO of Home Assist Health

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To differentiate ourselves in the home care market, we leverage advanced technology and maintain strong human connections. Our primary competition isn’t other agencies, but private caregivers. Since leaving the Honor Care Network, we’ve partnered with Hellohire and Homecare Pro to streamline our hiring process. This automation reduces onboarding time, ensures thorough vetting and maintains high-quality care. According to the 2024 Home Care Pulse annual benchmarking report, our hiring conversion rate outperforms the top 5% of agencies.

Our innovative approach improves efficiency, reduces costs and allows us to deliver top-notch care while considering our clients’ fixed incomes. By integrating technology into our operations, we enhance accountability and remain competitive. Despite our technological advancements, we emphasize the human element by conducting in-person interviews and orientations to build trust and ensure we hire the best caregivers. This blend of technology and personal interaction sets us apart in a parity market.

By embracing innovation and prioritizing human connections, we remain efficient, relevant and committed to serving our community effectively. And, at the same time, the bonus for Cypress is the reduction of the costs of human capital, and the bonus for caregivers is the speed to hire increases exponentially. Our approach ensures our clients receive the best possible care. As our business manager has said for over 20 years, ‘He or she who has the caregivers wins.’ Having quality caregivers available is how we differentiate ourselves.

— Bob Roth, managing partner at Cypress HomeCare Solutions

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We believe that deep local roots are essential for home care companies to differentiate themselves from competitors. In practical terms, this means leveraging our community knowledge to provide clients with the resources they need at any time of day. If you require a reliable and trustworthy caregiver to spend that very night with an anxious, hospitalized loved one, we are the answer. Hand-in-hand with local knowledge is a strong base of exceptional caregivers. Their dedication and expertise will establish and maintain our reputation for quality, compassion, professionalism and reliability while building trust with the people we serve. These qualities matter most to those seeking home care services and can make or break an agency. Plus, they are a big part of our quest to reshape the meaning of personalized caregiving. Unlike large companies that struggle with local knowledge and small agencies that lack resources, we are unwaveringly focused on our communities and caregivers. This unique approach, tailored to the specific needs of the people we serve, sets us apart and helps us break the parity barrier.

— Doug Markham, CEO of Avenues Home Care

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At Senior Helpers, we differentiate from other home care companies by looking at outcome data for the families we serve. We utilize a proprietary LIFE Profile Assessment app with our clients that applies more than 18 years of data to create a customized care plan for each client. We then measure our client’s improvements and track any hospital readmissions or ER visits. We believe our services are non-clinical and highly skilled. Our caregivers are trained to care for clients with chronic illnesses such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and much more.

Most home care companies focus on private pay, or government payers such as Medicaid. At Senior Helpers, we excel in both these markets along with the underserved middle market. The middle market has the largest number of seniors, but it is very difficult to service. The seniors in the middle market don’t have the financial resources to afford traditional home care and they have too much money to have the government help pay for home care. Senior Helpers has developed customized fractional care programs called flexHOME, utilizing home care and technology to meet the needs of this growing market. We want to serve as many clients and families as possible and we need to be resourceful on how we serve them now and in the future.

— Peter Ross, CEO and co-founder of Senior Helpers

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Family & Nursing Care Select stands out with our expertise navigating all aspects of long-term care insurance (LTCI) for our clients. Our LTCI management team provides unparalleled, comprehensive, hands-on support and advocacy ensuring each and every client maximizes their LTCI benefits. We provide guidance and support with all the paperwork, troubleshoot issues and uncover potential additional policy benefits, thereby maximizing the value of each policy. We consistently receive raving feedback from our clients about our proactive communication, and how supportive our LTCI team is from the first discussion when initially setting up care through the entire life cycle of a client.

— Neal Kursban, CEO of Family & Nursing Care

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I believe that to differentiate yourself in the home care industry, organizations need to prioritize humanized experiences over transactional ones. At Nurse Next Door, our Happier Aging philosophy embodies this belief by delivering personalized and connected care. By nurturing relationships and empowering seniors to pursue their passions, we enhance their emotional, mental and physical well-being, celebrating aging as a vibrant stage of life. Our focus extends beyond our clients to our caregivers through our Caregiving as a Career initiative, aimed at industry transformation. We provide growth opportunities, guaranteed hours, and foster a supportive culture that attracts compassionate professionals. Valuing our caregivers ensures they feel fulfilled and appreciated, establishing Nurse Next Door as a caregiving career destination in home care.

— Cathy Thorpe, president and CEO of Nurse Next Door

The post ‘We Need To Try Different Things’: How 6 Home Care Providers Stand Out In A Crowded Market appeared first on Home Health Care News.

On Tuesday, Avenues Home Care announced its launch. The company is the result of several local home care companies in Texas, Tennessee and Georgia coming together under one banner.

The local companies include AA Care Services, Sentinel Homecare, SunLife and Comprehensive Care.

“We really also saw an opportunity for some of these local entities that maybe didn’t have the size, the strength, the support, the capital structure, the technology or whatever it might be, to be able to work in collaboration with others and do what they do well in their local areas and from that local community’s perspective,” Avenues Home Care CEO Doug Markham told Home Health Care News.

The combined companies will operate under the Avenues Home Care brand over time.

“Joining the Avenues Home Care family is the next step in my journey to create better home care programs for families, their loved ones, and our caregivers,” Helen Trowsdale, founder of AA Care Services and the chief quality officer for Avenues Home Care, said in a press statement. “My team and I look forward to continuing to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those we serve.”

Avenues Home Care’s services lines will include essential tasks of daily living, medication assistance, meal preparation, companionship, transportation, light housekeeping and more.

Avenues Home Care is a mostly private-pay organization, but the company also has a VA contract.

Collectively, Avenues Home Care will serve over 100 communities across three states.

Markham pointed out that oftentimes clients find themselves having to choose between small agencies with few resources or out-of-state franchise holders. Avenues Home Care hopes to combine the personal touch of a local agency with the support of a multi-state company.

“I’m a huge believer that health care is locally purchased,” he said. “I just think that’s the best way to deliver it.”

In terms of future growth, the company is focused on markets like Texas, Oklahoma and North Carolina. The strategy behind this is prioritizing markets that are connected to Avenues Home Care’s existing platform.

Still, Markham pointed out that growth will come as the company solidifies itself as an organization that delivers quality care.

“Growth is to come with competency, care and integrity,” he said. “Growth goals are more about how we can serve people, and how we can serve families, as opposed to dots on a map, as opposed to just having agency locations for agency locations.”

Ultimately, Avenues Home Care also wants to be considered “anywhere care.”

“I’m often amazed when people that I speak to are surprised that we go into a hospital, we go into assisted living, we go into a memory care unit — they always think of it as just home,” Markham said. “Anywhere care is needed is where we want to be, as long as we can do it properly, efficiently and effectively for that client.”

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