Have you ever hired someone you thought was a great hire only to find out that you just hired your worst nightmare? Some crafty individuals have the system down pat and can successfully bluff their way through your hiring process. They pass all the tests and answer the interview questions so skillfully you think you have a real jewel. In my experience running home health and hospice agencies, you can be right on with your hires – most of the time – but every now and then you get one that leaves you wondering how you missed the signals that something was amiss. It only takes one such hire to spoil the home health caregiver pool. They can be disruptive with the staff, uncooperative, and, worst of all, can cause you to lose customers. And, if you are a private pay home care agency, they can steal your best paying clients. So, what can you do to avoid the “bad apples?” Continue reading “Hiring Quality Home Health Care Staff: Reducing Your Risk and Increasing Your Profits” »
Do you remember how exciting it was when you started your home care agency? Do you recall all the dreams you had for the future of your business? Do you also remember those times when it didn’t go exactly as planned? Those are the heart-wrenching times. And, the biggest cause for the inability to actualize a dream is the failure to take time to do a thorough due diligence during the home care agency start-up phase. Continue reading “Home Care Agency Startup: Hard Lessons Learned” »
Want to start your own home health agency? Here are some things you need to think about: Why do you want to get into this business? Is it for love or money, or both? Where will you locate your agency? What is your competition? Does your state require licensing and where do you go to find out? So many questions and who can you ask?
Investing in a business can be expensive. It is estimated that to start up a non-skilled private pay agency could cost anywhere from $45,000 to $60,000, and much more for a Medicare agency which could run as high as $200,000. Finally, there is the time and commitment to the business. To be successful you need to be able to fully commit to the new venture.
For more on starting up a home health business click here.
You hear the words “Concierge Services” more and more often these days in relation to specialty programs in Private Duty agencies. Some of you may be asking, what is that? Concierge is a French word that means caretaker, custodian, guardian, keeper, and so on. What does Concierge Service mean for a Private Pay specialty program? A Private Duty Concierge Service implies a comprehensive plan that takes care of everything for the client.
A good example of a Concierge program would be a Day Surgery service. This service can be designed any way an agency chooses as long as it addresses all the needs of the client before, during and immediately after surgery. The best source for the kinds of services that are required is the client. A brief survey in a surgeon’s office can help you gather the information you need, or you or someone in your family may have experienced day surgery yourselves and already understand what the needs might be. However you gather your information, it is critical to develop a program that customers perceive as valuable and are willing to pay for. Continue reading “Private Duty Concierge Services May Be a Program for You” »
It is one thing to attract good employees, it is quite another to keep them. Research indicates employees who feel their work is appreciated, are considered important by their boss, and that their work makes a difference in the lives of those they serve, tend to have higher rates of job loyalty. While money is important, research also suggests that as long as the factors above are met, employees will stay even if the company pays a little less than the competition.
So how do you create reasons for staying? First and foremost is ongoing recognition for a job well done. If you have a strong customer satisfaction program in place, this will make staff recognition easy to identify. If you don’t have a program in place, consider building one. However, regardless of how you determine how well your staff is doing, taking the time to recognize their stellar efforts is a powerful retention tool. Don’t wait to recognize your staff until they leave or retire. Codify the process over time and make it ongoing. Continue reading “Good Retention Strategies Bump Up Home Care Agency Staff Loyalty” »
Today, more than ever, home health agencies must diversify if they are to survive. It makes no difference whether you are Private Pay or a Medicare-certified home health agency, diversification will build the strong fiscal foundation you need to weather this current and any upcoming economic storms.
For Private Pay agencies, this means investigating new opportunities that might exist within your marketplace and offering unique services that that will immediately and directly appeal to customers in your community. For Home Health and Hospice agencies, diversification means expanding your horizons and seriously considering the benefits of starting up a Private Pay agency or a Durable Medical Equipment agency, or both. Continue reading “Diversifying Services: A Matter of Survival for Home Health” »
Congratulations! You’ve worked hard to develop a sound business concept that will allow you to open up a successful Private Pay agency. You’ve researched it, you’ve stayed up late at night outlining the perfect business concept, and now you’re ready to rock ‘n roll. But, stop! Before you take another step towards realizing your dream, you have to develop a budget. (I heard that groan!)
Your budget needs to include everything: all your start-up expenditures, e.g., logo development, web page design, business cards, etc., as well as the time it takes for you to develop and start your agency. If you are doing this work, figure out a fair salary and pay yourself. If you are hiring an outside person or resource to help you, factor in that fee as well. Identify key caregiving and office staff, and identify what you will realistically have to pay them to compete. Add that figure to your budget. Continue reading “Budget Development: Private Pay and the Cost of Doing Business” »
It’s a big day. You’ve pulled everything you need into place to start up the Private Pay agency of your dreams. You’ve completed your community assessment and know for sure the neighborhood you selected is a dream location. You’ve scoped out local colleges to make sure there will be an abundance of newly trained and eager employees looking to work for you. Now it’s time to recruit them.
The first step to successful recruitment is to set your sights high. Don’t be tempted to lower your standards if you don’t find what you are looking for right away. Remember, the average hire ratio is one out of every ten people you interview, or 10%. It will take time to find the right employees. Be patient and factor that time into your overall planning framework. Continue reading “Success and Private Pay: It’s All About Recruitment” »
Starting a new Private Pay Agency from scratch can be exhilarating and exhausting. It is the moment when all your dreams come true or your worst nightmares come to fruition. Taking a few basic steps before you start the journey can have a very positive impact on the outcome.
Step 1. Know Your Community
We all know the best product in the world will not sell if the need does not exist. Get to know your audience by completing a community assessment. This will let you know if there is a buying public in your area and give an accurate read on the demographics and resources available. Zipskinny.com can help you identify household incomes as well as social and economic indicators. From there, you can make an informed decision about what area of the community will be most responsive to your new business concept. Continue reading “Starting Up: Launching a Private Pay Agency on the Road to Success” »
I often talk to Private Pay agency owners and managers who are so focused on the hiring process they forget that once they’ve hired new employees, they have to work to keep them. There are a number of things you can do to build your retention rates.
First of all, create a formalized Retention Plan. In this Plan, outline the full range of pay for services as well as any bonus plans or incentives you offer that support loyalty. Above and beyond a codified Plan, there is the obvious: treat your employees well and they will return the favor. The average turnover rate for a homecare Private Pay agency is between 25% and 80%. Turnovers can be costly, especially if you hire, orient, and train new employees only to lose them. Continue reading “Staff Retention: How To Avoid the Private Pay Agency Turnover Blues” »
