What you may have missed in Home Care news in 2024

Our thrive in homecare blog is designed to be your one-stop shop for all things home healthcare related to news, regulatory changes, and business operational tips. Alora will continue to provide these thought leadership blogs, white papers, podcasts, and more to help agencies navigate the homecare landscape. As we draw to a close on the year 2024, here is a collection of tips, news stories, and blogs that addressed some of the biggest stories in home health care for the year.

Caregiver turnover and staff retention still atop the headlines

According to reports, the home care industry wide turnover rate reached almost 80% in mid-2024. High turnover has remained a prevalent crippler to home health agencies with inflation and “low wages compared to other competitive industries” intensifying the problem.

Back in July, Activated Insights’ Benchmarking report confirmed that home care turnover has increased over the past two years. Currently, the industry-wide turnover rate is 79.2%. On the home health side, the report found that only 16.4% of home health and hospice nurse applicants were hired. Here are some of our most popular articles on the subject from 2024.

The blogs

The Caregiver shortage is still very REAL, and even once agencies get good caregivers, keeping them is now an even bigger challenge. We tackled the subject in 2024 with a blog on leveraging the laws of attraction to add new home health staff. Check out “How do I attract top talent to my home health agency” to get ahead of the curve.

Read: “How do I attract top talent to my home health agency”

Engaged employees are invested employees, and the more invested your caregiver staff is in your agency, the less they are likely to leave. For our 2024 year in review, we’ve included a revisit of our blog on Employee engagement as an approach for staff retention.

Read “Employee engagement as an approach for staff retention”

2024 had us on our kick regarding staff enhancement and management in homecare. For many agencies, promoting from within in the age of striving for caregiver retention is the order of the day. That said, when promoting from nurse to Director of Nursing, or manager, all the way up to CEO, requires a solid eye for talent and managing personnel.  Being a great caregiver doesn’t always equate to being a great manager, so this blog “Shifting from Caregiver to CEO” addresses the challenges for both the caregiver and the agency.

Read: “Shifting from caregiver to CEO”

Technology and AI making waves

AI in homecare, the telehealth boom born of the COVID-19 pandemic, and other technological advances are moving agencies and home healthcare at large forward into new territory. With a good number of smaller agencies still on paper and reluctant to even upgrade the basics like home health software and related technology, experts are predicting a shift in what will be mandatory to stay in regulatory compliance and operational solvency.

In an interview with industry stalwart Home Health Care News, Pinnacle Home Care CEO Shane Donaldson stated:

“We are on the precipice of a technological revolution. I know that for some people it is exciting, and for other people, it is alarming and concerning. But you’re either on the train, or you better jump on soon, because it’s leaving the station. That’s the reality of it.”

The blogs

Homecare agencies can give better care to patients in new ways thanks to innovative trends in home health care and technology. New technologies are finding their way into the living rooms of regular people. Home health technology, once an emerging field, is now thriving. Companies are developing solutions to improve home health care. From AI to telehealth and other innovations, this blog reviews the biggest technology trends of 2024.

Read: “The top 5 home health trends of 2024”

Many home health agencies also operate in Hospice care. Whether you’re a dedicated hospice care agency or a combo of home health and hospice, this blog focuses on how AI is being utilized in the hospice care environment.

Read “Five Ways Hospice Agencies are Using AI”

Imagine technology as your companion, it’s meant to alleviate burdens and simplify the complexities of providing healthcare in someone’s home. The synergy between home healthcare professionals and digital tools is at the core of improving efficiency and patient outcomes. This blog focuses on bringing strategy and analysis to evaluating and implementing technology within agencies.

Read “Leveraging technology in home health workflow”

CMS and regulation as always

CMS will always be at the forefront of the homecare industry. Here are some of the stories that surfaced in 2024 as agencies were concerned about compliance, rules changes, and predictions of what’s to come in 2025.

The blogs

Reaching status as an accredited provider in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Systems (CMS) program as a home health agency is a sizable milestone to achieve. Equally as difficult is maintaining Medicare certification by meeting or exceeding the rules and regulations of the industry through survey by Medicare approved accrediting organizations. The list of federal, state, and local requirements to maintain Medicare certification spans hundreds of pages. This blog covers the vital tips to avoid deficiencies for noncompliance and ensuring quality patient care.

Read “Maintaining Medicare Certification for home health agencies”

The list of potential goals to support a successful home health agency is exhaustive. Goals can be long-term or short-term, related to financial, safety, service, and quality, or created primarily surrounding imposed regulations. Deciding the most important areas to focus on is nonetheless a difficult process as leaders are determining where to allocate resources.

Read “Do Your Agency Safety Goals Align with the CMS Quality Strategy?”

 Home health agencies should be assessing the role of home healthcare and HHAs in addressing social determinants of health (SDoH). It’s critical for home health agencies to better understand the social and economic factors that may impact a patient’s health and well being, and to help identify potential areas for intervention. Since CMS is monitoring these, you should too. This blog dives into how your agency can address SDoH.

Read “Addressing social determinants of health (SDoH)”

It was still all about strategy and operational efficiency

It all starts with the work you do and how you do it. A well-oiled machine runs smoothly, has minimal resistance when functioning, and ultimately gets the job done exceptionally well in comparison to others that are not so refined. Application of this concept within homecare agency strategy and operations can yield a productive and successful business.

The blogs

Focusing on the inner workings of the agency through well-planned and executed operations and procedures can be key to standing out above the crowd. Dig into this topic with one of our most-read blogs on the year.

Read “Operational & Procedural Strategies for Homecare Agencies”

Home healthcare agencies’ administrative staff often grapple with unique circumstances that demand a specialized billing and coding approach. The intricacies of navigating insurance terminologies and optimizing coding processes can be overwhelming, leading to challenges in tracking potential reimbursement accurately. Therefore, striking a balance between comprehensive documentation and precise coding practices is paramount.

Read “Conquering billing, coding and reimbursement in home health agencies”

EVV

There was EVV news coming out of states like Michigan, Ohio with Claims Adjudication and Massachusetts, with deadlines popping up here and there.

Heading into 2025, more states will implement EVV or elements of EVV that had extensions granted by the power that be.

Check out our EVV by state category to keep up with latest.

Learn more about EVV systems

An Aging Population Bringing Elder Care to the Forefront

Geriatric care and end-of life care received heightened attention in 2024 and the prediction is that they will in 2025 as well. These blogs focus on the subjects.

The blogs

The data is in, and it’s widely acknowledged that by 2030, all baby boomers will be at least 65 years according to the United States Census Bureau. One in 6 Americans were already over age 65 in 2020. To provide the best care to the tidal wave of aging adults at home where the majority want to “age in place”, homecare agencies and their caregivers need to be attentive to and informed on the characteristics and anticipated needs of this generation. This blog gets into the keys for caring for the aging baby boomer population.

Read “Caring for the aging baby boomer population in homecare”

With many clients receiving home care over the age of 65, it is essential to understand how to care best for this population to be an outstanding agency.

Read “Improving Geriatric Home Health Patient Care and Satisfaction”

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The business side of things for Homecare Agencies

Strategy, financial tips, and marketing are always important no matter the year. These blogs and one podcast cover just some the lay of the land.

How you operate as an agency doesn’t have to be a static endeavor. The most successful agencies have learned how to adapt to a changing environment, patient demographic, and regulatory arc. This blog that chronicles the “Eight steps to improve your home health agency processes and workflows”, followed suit with several conference learning sessions and keynotes Alora delivered in states like Ohio, Texas, and Indiana in 2024. If you’d like to bring some science into assessing and improving, dig in!

Read “Eight steps to improve your home health agency processes and workflows”

Building your agency includes a key component that agencies need to make time for going into 2025…MARKETING. Everything flows through the internet now, so SEO and your website presence are more important now than ever. Our blog “Website SEO tips for home health agencies” has your recipe for success.

Read “Website SEO tips for home health care agencies”

Growing a homecare agency requires a great many things, strategy, patience, science, dedication, but most importantly, a plan! This podcast give you some great holiday listening to get it all aligned.

Watch/Listen to “The ten step guide to growing your home health agency”

Tis the season for Holiday tips

Differences in culture, age, customs, and nationality should always be considered when building and maintaining relationships with patients. With different people celebrating different holidays, what are the best practices to make sure everyone feels celebrated and comfortable? Now’s the perfect time for a quick primer on caregiver protocols.

Read “Tips for Caregivers during the Holidays“

The Takeaway

The usual suspects, regulatory issues, EVV protocols, changes in OASIS, and caregiver retention are likely to still take center stage going into 2025. Stay tune to our thrive in homecare blog for our preview of regulatory changes you need to be aware of in the new year.