Care at home organizations continue to search for ways to navigate industry changes and reimbursement cuts. Home care organizations can lean on the nuances of their industry to expand and diversify their business and increase revenue.
In an education session at the 2023 Axxess, Growth, Innovation and Leadership Experience (AGILE), Zaundra Ellis, Vice President of Hospice Professional Services at Axxess, and Guy Tommasi, Jr., Director of HCP Lifetime Care at Home, explained how home care leaders who wish to diversify their revenue streams should focus on adopting strong leadership strategies and partnering with other care at home and community organizations.
The Role of Leadership in Diversification
During the session, Tommasi advised home care leaders to concentrate on making home care valuable and local, focusing on the strengths of the industry and the needs of the specific community the organization serves. Leaders should avoid trying to compete with neighboring states and communities.
Ellis and Tommasi also encouraged care at home leaders to lean into innovation, partnerships and new initiatives. They believe adopting and maintaining a partner-focused and innovative mindset is the key to surviving in an ever-changing industry.
“In our industry, we need to get that partnership mentality,” Tommasi said. “It’s [really] hard to do anything alone today. And if you want to build scale, you build scale based on partnerships, because that then allows you to build those new programs.”
Ellis added that those partnerships can also help leaders address any gaps in their organization or services.
“[When] you’re thinking about being a disruptor, know your strengths and bring people along with you who balance things that maybe you’re not amazing at,” Ellis said.
Scale Operations With Partnerships
Ellis and Tommasi provided several examples of ways home care leaders can create partnerships to scale their business. While home care often focuses on skilled and non-medical care, organizations can partner with hospitals in their communities to help reduce readmissions, improve star ratings and maintain compliance with conditions of participation.
Tommasi advised home care leaders looking to partner with home health organizations to appeal to value-based purchasing and patient-driven groupings model (PDGM) needs. Leaders should lean on how home care helps improve patient satisfaction and functional impairment.
“If you step up and you go to a home health agency and you tell them, ‘I can help you with your value-based purchasing, I can help you with PDGM, I can give you examples if you’d like,’ you will see them sit up because they haven’t heard it,” Tommasi said.
Organizations should also use data to appeal to potential partners, focusing on the quality measures and performance data to be a differentiator in the industry.
“This [quadruple aim] isn’t really difficult but it is a differentiator,” Tommasi said. “This will add money to the bottom line, this will help you step up as a leader in your region and then you can scale it.”
With more than 250 attendees, more than 40 sponsors and countless connections made, AGILE 2023 was a massive success for everyone. Check out the recap video and mark your calendar for AGILE 2024, April 21-24 in Dallas.