~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Celebrate National Nurse Week Celebrate National Hospital Week May 9, 2007 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In this issue... -- Celebrate National Nurse Week - May 6-12 -- Celebrate National Hospital Week -- Nurse Retention is Back in the News -- Strategic Staffing: Finding and Keeping the Employees You Need in Home Health Care -- Latest Postings on our Blog: Home Health Care Leadership Minute -- About the Author -- Permission to Reproduce Welcome, ...to this edition of Stephen Tweed's Leading Home Care Report. This special report is for CEOs and senior executives of America's leading home care companies. This report is published every other Wednesday by Leading Home Care ... a Tweed Jeffries company for our clients, friends, and advocates who want to grow their home care businesses. Leading Home Care Report is a permission-based newsletter. It is only sent to those individuals who have requested it, or who have given permission for their address to be added to the distribution list. If you have received this report by mistake and would like to be removed from the list, we apologize for the inconvenience. Please go to the bottom of this report for instructions on how to unsubscribe.

Celebrate National Nurse Week - May 6-12 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This week is National Nurses Week and we at Leading Home Care pause to celebrate nurses . . . especially home care nurses. National Nurses Week coincides with Florence Nightingale's birthday, May 12. Many consider Nightingale the founder of modern nursing. The history of Nurses Week began in 1953 when Dorothy Sutherland of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare sent the proposal to President Eisenhower. In 1974, President Nixon proclaimed a "National Nurse Week." Some Facts about nurses: 2.4 million Registered Nurses in the U.S. 92% are female The number will grow by 623,000 by 2012 There are 531,000 LPNs and LVNs There are 1.8 million CNAs, Home Health Aides, and Psychiatric Aides source: U.S. Census Take time this week to hug as many nurses as you can, and say "Thanks" for all they do.

Celebrate National Hospital Week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The celebration of National Hospital Week began in 1921 when a magazine editor suggested that more information about hospitals might alleviate public fears about them. Some facts about hospitals: There are 7,569 hospitals in the U.S. In 2003, they generated $536.3 billion in revenue There were 33.7 million patient discharges in 2002 The average cost per stay was $7,346 There were 110.2 million visits to Emergency Rooms in 2002 Also, we learned that there are 819 physicians and surgeons, 182,000 physical therapists, 94,000 respiratory therapists, and 77,000 occupational therapists. source: U.S. Census Our research at Leading Home Care shows that hospitals are the number one referral source for Medicare Certified Home Health Agencies, and also the number one referral source in terms of frequency of referrals for Private Duty Home Care. As your major referral source, hospitals are a key customer. This week is a terrific time to do something special for those hospital discharge planners, social workers, and hospitalists who send you patient referrals.

Nurse Retention is Back in the News ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It happened again yesterday. I received a call from a long time client who was frustrated because she can't find enough nurses to meet the growing demand for her home health services. We spent half an hour on the phone talking about some of the things she has been doing to recruit nurses, and some things she can do differently to send a more effective recruiting message. Then our attention turned to retention. Recruiting is not enough. Nurse retention is critical, and we've heard some real horror stories recently of nurse turnover rates as high as 124%. We're also working with several clients right now on long term strategies to improve nurse retention. I went back to my research to remember what it shows about the factors that are important to nurse retention. It begins with our own "Strategic Staffing Asessment Profile." This tool measures the Seven Sources of Strategic Staffing Advantage. It's clear from our data that this is what nurses want from an employer: Appreciation & Recognition - 82.55 Meaningful Work - 80.88 Servant Leadership - 80.59 Flexibility - 79.78 Career Opportunity - 79.03 Relationships - 79.03 Pay & Benefits - 78 The numbers beside the factors represent importance to home health nurses based on a 100 point scale. source: Leading Home Care Strategic Staffing Assessment Profile There's also a wonderful study conducted by Dr. Linda Flynn at Rutgers University, who studied "Agency Characteristics Most Valued by Home Care Nurses." The top ten characteristics are: Support for Education A knowledgeable and supportive front-line supervisor Dedication to quality care A strong, supportive administration Good communication between staff and administration Flexible work schedules A competitive salary and benefit package Reasonable workloads Staff input into decision making Adequate staffing And finally, there's a great book by Leigh Branham called, "The 7 Hidden Reasons Why Employees Leave." In her book, Leigh describes: The job or workplace is not as expected The mismatch between the job and the person Too little coaching and feedback Too few growth opportunities Feeling devalued and unrecognized Stress from overwork and work-life imbalance Loss of trust and confidence in senior leaders. Can you see the patterns here? What nurses want and need is to be valued and appreciated, to do work that makes a difference in the lives of their patients, and to have a boss who puts service before self. They also want flexibility in their schedule, balance between work and personal life, opportunities to learn and grow, and to be paid fairly. What do you think about these issues? How important is nurse retention to the future growth of your agency? What are you doing to create a workplace where high quality, dedicated nurses want to continue working with you? For more information on how Leading Home Care can help you find and keep your nurses

Strategic Staffing: Finding and Keeping the Employees You Need in Home Health Care ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our work with home care agencies across the country suggests that the ability to attract and retain capable people can be a major source of competitive advantage in your marketplace. We are convinced that your ability to grow your business and get ready for the future will be based on your ability to recruit people and market your business. The key to your success will be to keep your recruiting and your marketing in balance. For strategies and insights on specific, concrete ways to address your staffing issues, you'll want to purchase a copy of this powerful e-Book by Stephen Tweed and Catherine Fyock. Together, Cathy and Stephen have combined their knowledge and experience on home care recruiting and retention to give you valuable, "do-able" techniques to find and keep the people you need. Instantly Access This e-Book Order the Strategic Staffing e-Book and you'll receive an email within seconds with your personal download link. You may download your complete 116-page e-Book anytime within the next 24 hours. Order now and you can be learning about Strategic Staffing within minutes. This book is in PDF format and requires Adobe Acrobat Reader. Order Your Copy of the Strategic Staffing e-Book right now!

Latest Postings on our Blog: Home Health Care Leadership Minute ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here are the latest postings on our BLOG, the Home Health Care Leadership Minute: Many Doctors get gifts or money from healthcare companies Another online referral service for home health agencies Large for-profit home health companies explore lobbying options Visit the Home Health Care Leadership Minute

About the Author ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stephen Tweed, CSP, is Chairman and CEO of Leading Home Care ... a Tweed Jeffries company. For nearly 25 years he has been a recognized leader in strategy and leadership development for home care companies and associations. He is the author or co-author of five books, four of which were written specifically for the home care industry. He has served on the boards of directors of three not-for-profit home care agencies, and has served as interim President & CEO of a $25 million home care company. Stephen is a past-President of the National Speakers Association, a 3500 member international society of experts who speak professionally. He is also the father of a 37 year-old son who is physically disabled and uses the services of home care on a daily basis. Meet the entire Leading Home Care Team

Permission to Reproduce ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Permission is granted to healthcare publications, associations and companies to reproduce this article in your publication, or to distribute copies to your leaders, on the condition that you reproduce the credits and contact information as follows: "Reprinted with permission from Stephen Tweed's Leading Home Care Report. Copyright 2006 Stephen C. Tweed. To receive a FREE subscription to this newsletter, log on to www.leadinghomecare.com."

Contact Leading Home Care ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ email: stephen@leadinghomecare.com phone: 1-888-668-9333 web: http://www.leadinghomecare.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~