“Rule #10: Swim upstream. Go the other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom. If everybody is doing it one way, there’s a good chance you can find your niche by going exactly in the opposite direction.”

One of the things I hear most frequently is that home health care is a “commodity.” Everyone does the same thing, and it is hard to find creativity in a Medicare certified agency because the rules and regulations govern all that is done. Well, the future may just change that. When I say the future, what is it that I mean and what do I see for the future?

I see a world where there are fewer players. I see a world where the payments for service provision are changing, and I see a world where partnerships are expanding and quality rules. So, how does a home health agency prepare for the future?

The key is to get ready to get ready to change. And, I have a couple of suggestions.

Create A Niche-Market Service

First, create a niche-market service that is attractive to those looking to partner to provide care. Look at your data and find where you excel. Are you specializing in a service that you could offer as a way for a larger entity to expand their footprint? Do you have staff who are experts at one aspect of service delivery? What about languages? What about servicing neighborhoods or areas where no one else is going? And, if you do have the capacity to deliver a niche service, do you have the capacity to scale it? What are your limiting factors and can you overcome them?

Create New Models For Care

The second opportunity is by incorporating the social models around you into the medical model that you currently offer. Can you expand your knowledge and services to offer more than just the traditional Medicare certified reimbursed services? What about community waivers or other support services offered in your community? Do you have the capacity to think holistically about each patient and focus more on the continuum of care and support, as opposed to an episode?

We live in such a complicated world of reimbursed healthcare at home, and most patients have needs prior to and after receiving home health care services. Expanding to create a more open system, is one way to differentiate yourself, and provides a genuine service to both your patients and partnering health care team.

Whether creating a niche-market service or incorporating social models into your agency’s medical models, you are better differentiating your agency and creating something that others would want to include in their healthcare delivery.

For more information, Watch Part 1, “Surviving and Thriving in a Changing Environment: Focus. Focus. Focus. Find Your Strengths and Sell to Them.”

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Merrily Orsini, President/CEO of corecubed, is a thought leader in the home care and aging care industries and is involved in numerous organizations providing insight and advice. She is recognized nationally for her expertise in strategic marketing for aging related services, particularly home care and home health services. Orsini’s business ownership began with a geriatric care managed in-home care agency, a venture that garnered her the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 1996.

She sold that business and founded corecubed in 1998, a digital marketing company that focuses on marketing aging care services using strategy, design, digital integration, branding and industry focused content. She is the past Chair of the Private Duty Homecare Association of America, and has served on the board of the National Association for Home Care and Hospice and the National Association of Geriatric Care Managers (now Aging Life Care Professionals).

Sam Walton’s 10 Rules For Success – from Sam Walton: Made in America, My Story, co-authored by J. Huey, Doubleday.