Removing Growth Inhibitors in Home Health Agencies

What are the top five problems holding your agency back?

If you desire to build your home health agency, scrutinize the business for common culprits that could be holding you back. Growth does not always mean offering new services or expanding your marketing tactics. Businesses can often grow by “adjusting their sails” to better achieve agency growth in the context of the current market. Review these common problems that could be inhibiting your agency from reaching the next goal.

Lacking Streamlined Operations

Putting out daily fires to operation challenges can hamper the growth of an agency. Evaluate the roles within the agency and determine if excessive time and energy is being spent on the same tasks and problems day in and day out. Does your agency need to invest in a home health software system that can help the company be a bit more cohesive and reduce communication barriers? As the owner, do you have time to focus on the bigger picture and getting the company to move in the right direction, or are you always pulled into urgent matters to solve problems? You may be lacking streamlined operations if you can consistently answer “yes” to the following questions:

• Does your agency have staff going to visits that were canceled last minute by a client?
• Are the same issues reappearing after they were thought to have been solved?
• Are there delays in payment due to missing information on submitted claims?
• Are care plans missing information and are providers unable to be reached promptly to sign orders?
• Are duplicate visits often occurring due to staff error or misunderstanding with a standard of care?

Staffing Shortfalls and Lacking a Retention Plan

Between the significant healthcare worker shortage and growth in the elderly population, struggling with staffing is a well-known issue for home health agencies. Though your agency cannot create a larger workforce, you can evaluate current recruitment techniques and the plan for retaining them. Is your agency focusing on understanding and implementing strategies to serve the current healthcare worker demographic and their workplace expectations? Today, priorities often include flexibility over some financials, education and ongoing company support over independence, and a culture that has more buy-in when diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are fundamental to the company values. Closing the gap to staffing shortages within home healthcare businesses includes implementing key homecare staff retention practices proven to improve the problem and promote sustainability. Solid staff retention in home health agencies is an essential component of growth and stability.

Compliance Misunderstandings

It may feel like you need a law degree to fully understand home health regulations and compliance in your service area. In addition to CMS updates, navigating the rules surrounding home health are nonetheless, complex! There is much interest in starting home health agencies due to the aging population, yet not all agencies are doing their legal homework. The outcomes of misunderstandings in this realm can cost your agency certification, re-certification or loss of the business. Appoint a compliance officer (who might be the owner) to keep abreast of all the regulatory changes and hire an attorney to support your business to develop a plan for meeting and maintaining compliance. Get buy-in from front-line staff by explaining the “why” behind the standards of care surrounding documentation, HIPAA adherence, fraud, abuse and elements required on plans of care. If you have frequent payment delays, double-check that your agency has a system for proofreading documentation before claim submission. Ensure any deficiencies are promptly addressed and be proactive by routinely running mock surveys within your agency as preparation.

Poor Agency Marketing

Creating visibility of a company today is different than in past times. In an era that is online daily, commuting less, and using social media for health-related advice, the most effective ways to reach potential clients can be puzzling. Deciding how and where to market your company are common questions among business owners, especially those just starting out. Get help from those who know. Agency owners are often great businesspeople but aren’t always savvy at strategizing a way to diversify and execute a marketing plan. Is your name readily available online? Is your service community and referral network aware of all you have to offer? Read up on how to effectively set up social media marketing for homecare agencies and consider hiring help to maintain your online presence. Numerous freelancers are taking on side jobs as social media managers and website managers so you can hire as much or as little as you need. Sending consistent and effective communications to current and potential clients or referral networks will support your brand and reinforce the company’s values.

Inadequate Cost Management

According to Score.org, the number one reason (approximately 82%) small businesses fail is due to problems with cash flow. Hard times will come. Home health agencies need to be able to provide optimal care and conserve spending. How is your agency managing finances? A great CPA and advisor who specializes in home health can prove invaluable to your agency. Are your agency finances proactive and planning to meet future goals? Growth of an agency requires an understanding of exactly how finances are being managed, performance check-ins at designated time frames, and sound guidance to navigate all the technicalities of money management.

In all, coordination of all internal and external operations of a home health agency business is paramount to its success, yet easier said than done. Systematically analyze your current workflow, taking note from your employees what is and is not working for their daily operations and the processes in place. Be objective in your evaluation, get honest feedback, and identify areas to improve. Give staff a place to also suggest ideas for brainstorming solutions. Determine an action plan based upon strategic goals and themes in the data evaluated. Don’t attempt more than reasonable for the agency, start small to create small wins and momentum. Follow through with goal creation that is focused and deliberate. Determine stakeholders and their roles in the improvement plan for a distribution of responsibility and improved buy in. Create a key performance indicator scorecard to evaluate on a regular basis how your team is doing, and reward success!

Helpful links:

Free Key Performance Indicator Scorecard

Smart goal tracking for small businesses

Related blogs:

1. What is keeping my agency from growing?
2. The key metrics your agency must watch
3. Top tools and tips to help your home health agency grow
4. The value of an EMR in home health
5. Social media marketing for homecare agencies

Author’s Note: Views, information, and guidance in this resource are intended for information only. We are not rendering legal, financial, accounting, medical, or other professional advice. Alora disclaims any liability to any third party and cannot make any guarantee related to the content.