What are the benefits of homecare and hospice collaboration in a changing market?

As we get deeper into 2025, most industry experts recognize the value of partnerships between private-duty home care agencies and hospice companies. The collaboration makes business sense and also improves quality of life and patient outcomes. However, an ever-changing market means the dynamics associated with these arrangements are constantly in flux.

This blog will explore some of the most important benefits and challenges for home care and hospice agencies looking to maximize their partnerships and build mutual success. 

Benefit: Financial

The past few years have been a period of consolidation in the home care industry. Many large companies have expanded into new service lines via acquisition, including private-duty home care and hospice. Consider these implications:

• Consolidation means agencies that only provide caregiver services might be disadvantaged when competing against a “one-stop-shop” agency or health system that can deliver both non-medical home care and hospice.
• Patients and families are inclined to choose an agency that addresses all of their care needs.
• Referral sources sometimes favor companies that offer more comprehensive home-based care services to simplify hospital or facility discharge.

Fortunately, a private-duty home care agency that lacks hospice offerings can level the playing field through collaboration:

• Caregiver agencies that market their partnership with a complimentary hospice company can present as a one-stop-shop solution for patients and families.
• Home care agency representatives can identify as a single point of contact for both caregiver and hospice services and refer to their hospice partner when appropriate.

This approach also encourages reciprocal homecare and hospice referrals between partnered agencies to further grow business:

• Private-duty home care agencies meet with prospective clients that also need hospice and vice versa.
• Hospice representatives and home care agency folks often sell to the same referral sources, so a complimentary partnership can effectively double the sales efforts.
• Hospice companies sometimes provide non-medical caregiver services for their patients and can contract directly with preferred home care agencies to augment their staffing needs.

Benefit: Quality of Care

Great hospice agencies are well-equipped to care for patients and their families with incredible sensitivity. They have access to highly experienced nurses and quality medical products needed to deliver effective palliative care. However, they aren’t always ready to assist with activities of daily living (ADLs). Here’s how a home care agency partnership improves care:

• Families often sit bedside with their loved ones receiving hospice care but can’t always be there 24/7. A private-duty caregiver can supplement with “sitter” services.
• Hospice nurses and aides can typically use tools such as hospice software and other technologies and best practices to assist patients with some ADLs, but it often isn’t consistent enough for patients seeking frequent hygiene care and other domestic help.

Conversely, private-duty home care agencies do a great job helping seniors and vulnerable folks with ADLs. But they often have long-term clients suffering diagnoses that result in needs beyond the scope of caregiving. Here’s where a hospice agency partnership improves care:

• Knowledgeable home care representatives are frequently the first folks to identify the need for hospice and broach the topic with clients’ families, so they need trusted referral options.
• Home care clients that begin hospice usually continue with services, and the skilled help from hospice nurses benefits the patient while empowering the caregiver to serve more effectively.
• Home care agencies with a strong hospice partnership are better positioned to promote the community’s larger goal of seamless collaboration across the care continuum for improved quality and outcomes.

Challenge: Reimbursement Disparity

Despite the obvious mutual benefits of private-duty home care and hospice partnerships, there are inherent challenges that will continue for 2025. And many of these result from their different funding sources:

• Non-medical caregiver agency revenue models are mostly centered around private-pay (out-of-pocket) billing, while hospice services are usually covered by Medicare or insurance.
• The disparity in reimbursement means hospice patients without sufficient financial resources aren’t realistic private-duty home care clients.
• The overlap in caregiver agencies and hospice referral sources isn’t always perfectly aligned, since many hospitals and facilities have patients eligible for hospice but unable to afford private-pay home care. So, the theoretical “doubling” of sales activity courtesy of reciprocal referrals doesn’t always materialize in real life.

Challenge: Confusion, Communication & Reputation

Another major challenge for agencies attempting to form partnerships is ensuring each company has similar values that preserve reputations and promote common missions. Once an agency publicly aligns with another, the actions of each impact both. Here are common pitfalls:

• Mutual patients and their families can confuse agencies and services, resulting in misdirected phone calls, questions, billing issues, and complaints. This is especially problematic during emergencies and after hours.
• Some companies have different expectations regarding communication, customer service, and patient care.
• If a patient or family member mistakenly complains about the wrong agency to a referral source, the non-offending company is implicated and can lose business.

How to Make Hospice and Home Care Partnerships Work

Here are ways home care and hospice agencies can ensure their alliances will improve, rather than hinder their business and standing in the community:

• Each organization should share its mission statement and core values to ensure alignment.
• The agencies can agree to expectations that pertain to customer service, communication, responsiveness, and quality metrics.
• Companies might request documentation confirming their counterpart’s compliance with applicable laws, credentialing, insurance guidelines, etc.
• Agency leaders can ask trusted community members about their prospective partner’s reputation, quality of care, and professionalism. They can also check CAHPS Star ratings, read online reviews, and request references.

The Takeaway

Ultimately, mutually beneficial partnerships between private-duty home care agencies and hospice companies are nothing new. They have historically rewarded both with business growth and improved care delivery. But in recent years, collaboration has proven even more important with industry consolidation, favoring companies that offer a broad range of services.

 There are also long-standing challenges that go hand-in-hand with home care and hospice alliances. Companies must remember linking brands with other organizations puts their own reputation at stake. That said, with due diligence and a strategic approach, the rewards of agency partnerships usually outweigh the risks.

Additional blogs:

1. The Home Health outlook for 2025
2. Attracting top talent to your home health agency
3. SEO tips for home health agencies
4. 8 steps to improve home health agency processes and workflows
5. What are the crucial skills for home health and hospice hiring?