LHC #123 - Retention Strategies for the AOTF 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Retention Strategies for the Agency Of The FutureInsights on How to Keep Those Nurses and Therapists You Need to Grow Your BusinessNovember 8, 2007~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~In this issue...-- Three Strategies for Keeping Your Top Talent-- Seven Reasons Why Home Health Nurses Quit-- Sales & Marketing Strategies for PPS Performance-- This Issue of Leading Home Care Report is brought to you by Decision Health, and the 2008 Private Duty National Conference-- About the Author-- Permission to ReproduceWelcome,
to this edition of Leading Home Care Report, and our look at the home health Agency Of The Future. The last four issues focused on Quality, Service, and People. Today we continue our series on the People Pillar.
One of the most critical strategic issues facing home health care executives who want to grow their businesses is how to keep your staff so you can grow your business. Employee retention is critical to your success. The shortage of nurses and therapists means that you can't afford to lose good ones, because there aren't many out there to replace them.
Three Strategies for Keeping Your Top Talent~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~For ten years now, I've been studying the Seven Sources of Strategic Staffing Advantage. These are seven factors that determine how attractive you are to prospective or current employees as a place to work. Research using our Strategic Staffing Assessment Profile shows that three of these factors are critical to employee retention; especially home health nurses.1. Appreciation and Recognition
All employees, but especially your nurses, need to feel they are valued and appreciated. Of the seven factors mentioned above, this one comes out number one in importance to nurses in all of our studies.
If you want to keep your nurses, you need to go out of your way to show them they are appreciated. There are three levels of appreciation and recognition that you can implement; information appreciation, formal recognition, and tangible rewards. The Home Health Agency Of The Future will put in place appreciation and recognition at all three levels.
2. Meaningful Work
Second on our list of factors that influence employee retention is meaningful work. Your home health team members need to feel that the work they're doing matters. They want to make a difference in the lives of their patients, families, and co-workers. This begins by looking at the job and making sure that as many people as possible are able to use their strengths and do their best work as often as possible. Then it means taking action to remove the barriers that get in the way of them doing their jobs well.
This is especially true of nurses and therapists who see paperwork, meetings, computer glitches, poor communication, and lousy supervisors as barriers that get in the way of them doing their best patient care.
3. Servant Leadership
The principle of Servant Leadership, as defined by Robert Greenleaf, is based on leaders who put service before self. When the managers and supervisors in your agency practice the principles of Servant Leadership, your team members will follow you anywhere.
When your managers are ineffective or practice self-centered leadership, your best people will leave. As Marcus Buckingham says in his book, First, Break All the Rules, "People quit managers, not companies."
The Home Health Agency Of The Future is one that is able to retain its best employees because the senior executive team and middle managers put into place strategies for appreciation and recognition, meaningful work, and servant leadership.
Seven Reasons Why Home Health Nurses Quit~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~As we have studied the retention question, we've talked with hundreds of home health agency managers and supervisors. We've looked at exit interview results, and we've had conversations with home health nurses and therapists.Here's a list of seven specific reasons why nurses and therapists quit working for home health agencies:
1. Burnout from overwork and case loads that are too heavy caused by staff shortages.
2. The job seems to be too complicated because of "paperwork," computer glitches, government regulations, and constantly changing priorities.
3. Too little coaching, support, and feedback from their immediate supervisor.
4. Feeling that they are invisible and unimportant to their immediate supervisor.
5. Feeling like they do not have the time and the resources to provide quality patient care.
6. The job is not what they expected it to be. Nurses and therapists who have worked only in an institutional setting sometimes find out that home care is not for them.
7. Loss of trust and confidence in senior leaders.
You can learn more about why people are leaving your agency by putting in place an effective exit interview process, and then really analyzing the data. The key here is that when exiting employees say they are taking another job, you need to find out why that new job is more appealing than the one they have in your agency.
The Home Health Agency Of The Future is one that will have a growing staff of clinicians because they have high retention rates, a reputation in the community as a great place to work, and a leadership team that truly values and appreciates their best employees.
Sales & Marketing Strategies for PPS Performance~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Are you nervous about the coming changes to PPS? You probably should be. There are some unknown factors that could affect your reimbursement and your profitability.There are also some strategies that will help you take advantage of these changes so that you can increase your revenue and your profitability. The changes to PPS are intended to be "Revenue Neutral," which means the same amount of money will be spent by CMS on Medicare Home Health. It will just be redistributed.
That means that, theoretically, half the agencies will do better and half the agencies will do worse. Will you be one of the winners or one of the losers?
The data shows that home health agencies with a formal sales and marketing department, and with a focused marketing strategy, will be among the winners. To help you focus your sales & marketing efforts, Leading Home Care is pulling our team together to present a series of audio learning conferences to help your sales and marketing team members learn what they need to do to succeed under the new PPS.
Join Stephen Tweed, Michael Giudicissi, and Judy McGuire for this high-impact, three part teleseminar series:
- Thursday, January 17, 2008 - How PPS will impact Sales & Marketing
- Thursday, February 7, 2008 - Sales Team Strategies for PPS Performance
- Thursday, February 28, 2008 - Measure and Managing Sales Success under PPS
This Issue of Leading Home Care Report is brought to you by Decision Health, and the 2008 Private Duty National Conference~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Join Stephen Tweed in Las Vegas on November 12, 13, and 14 for the 10th Annual Private Duty National Conference. This is the private duty industry's premier event for owners and administrators of non-medical home care companies.
Since the first conference in Florida in 1997, this conference has been THE place to go for the latest ideas and information to grow your private duty business.
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.
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.comphone: 1-866-209-5101~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~