LHC #145 - Politics and Home Health Care

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Politics and Home Health Care

What will be the impact of next week's election on your business?

October 29, 2008

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In this issue...

-- How Will This Election Affect Your Home Health Business?

-- Engage In The Political Process

-- The Academy for Home Care Sales and Marketing

-- Taking Home Care Around the Country - and BEYOND!

-- November is National Home Care & Hospice Month

-- About the Author

-- Permission to Reproduce

Welcome,

. . . to Stephen Tweed's Leading Home Care Report, the premier online newsletter for CEOs and executives of America's leading home health care agencies. (For strategies and insights on how to grow your Private Duty non-medical home care business, we invite you to subscribe to Private Duty Today, our newsletter for non-medical home care.)

Don't Forget to Vote on Tuesday!

No matter which party you favor, or which candidate you choose, please get out and vote on November 4th!


How Will This Election Affect Your Home Health Business?

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Write press releases that POP!Tuesday, November 4th is election day in America. It has been a long, contentious campaign, but now the time has come to enter the voting booth, pull the curtain across, and decide who will lead our country for the next four years.

What do you think? Who will you vote for? Who will be the best leader for our country? Which candidate for President will have the most positive influence on home health care?

Let's take a quick look at the candidates, their position on healthcare, and how their approach to the presidency might affect your business, and your ability to care for patients. Then you can go to the polls and make the decision that is right for you.

Senator John McCain:

  • Supports home care as an alternative to institutional care
  • Believes in a free market approach to solving the health care problem
  • Proposes a move away from employer-sponsored health insurance
  • Proposes a $5,000 tax credit for families to purchase their own health insurance
  • Encourages incentives to use home health care as opposed to long term care in a facility
  • Acknowledges the massive costs of chronic disease on his web site
  • Calls for greater emphasis on preventive care
  • Calls for more use of health savings accounts
  • Supports association health plans and allowing purchases of health insurance across state lines
  • Advocates giving chronically-ill seniors and disabled persons cash to pay for their home care

Senator Barack Obama:

  • Believes in universal health care coverage like Federal government employees receive
  • Favors bigger government and higher taxes for the wealthy, including those home care business owners who make more than $250,000
  • Supports greater use of disease management for chronic illnesses
  • Favors mandating coverage only for children
  • Would offer employer reinsurance for catastrophic coverage
  • Would require employers that do not offer or contribute to employee health coverage to contribute a percentage of payroll to a fund for the national health insurance program
  • Endorsed the "Fostering Independence Through Technology Act" to establish demonstration projects supporting home health telemonitoring
  • Pledged to ensure that seniors have choices in their health care
  • Supports the expansion of government centered health programs
  • Favors more government regulation of many industries


Engage In The Political Process

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If you are like me, you have already decided who you will vote for on Tuesday, and you're tired of the political rhetoric. You will be happy when the election is over.

But the election will never be over. What makes America the greatest nation on earth is our form of government, flawed as it is. As citizens and business leaders, we have an obligation to engage the political process. We have an obligation to let our political leaders know what we think about issues that affect us. We have an obligation to get involved and help pick leaders who will take our country where we want it to go. And we have an obligation to engage the legislative and regulatory process to make sure that government does its job appropriately.

I encourage you to fulfill your obligation to get involved:

  • Be sure to vote on November 4th
  • Get involved with the local branch of your chosen political party
  • Support your state home care association's Political Action Committee
  • Support NAHC's Political Action Committee
  • Pay attention to the legislative and regulatory activities that will affect home care in America


The Academy for Home Care Sales and Marketing

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Marketing your Specialty Home Health Care ServicesNovember 5, 2008 - Columbia, Maryland

Sponsored by Maryland National Capital Homecare Association

If you are on the east coast of the United States, you'll want to consider attending or sending members of your sales and marketing team to our upcoming Academy for Home Care Sales and Marketing in Columbia Maryland, between Washington D.C. and Baltimore.

This full day event will feature Stephen Tweed, CEO of Leading Home Care, presenting the techniques proven to sell more home health care and non-medical home care services. He'll present :

  • The Top Ten Techniques of Highly Effective Home Care Marketers
  • The Seven Step Relationship Selling Process
  • Tips and Techniques To Persuade Physicians and Hospital Discharge Planners
  • The Two Questions To Use In Closing The Sale
  • How To Measure The Results Of A Home Care Sales Representative

The future is bright for home care, but competition is growing. Your ability to differentiate your company through skilled sales and creative marketing is more important now than ever.

Register Today for the Academy for Home Care Sales & Marketing


Taking Home Care Around the Country - and BEYOND!

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Fall is home care conference and meeting time, and we've been traveling extensively around the U.S. and Canada taking the Leading Home Care message to leaders across our industry. In the next couple of weeks, we'll be in the following locations:

October 28, 2008 - Montreal, Qubec

Stephen Tweed will be speaking at the New York State Association of Health Care Providers who are having their annual conference in Montreal. Stephen will be presenting "Home Care 2020: The Six Pillars of the Agency Of The Future," as well as "Why In The World Would Anyone Want To Work For YOU?" and "Leading Home Care, The Top Ten Competencies Of Highly Effective Home Care Executives."

November 3, 2008, Houston, Texas,

Stephen Tweed will be presenting at the Advanced Home Care Administrators program sponsored by the Texas Association for Home Care. Stephen will be speaking on Strategic Planning, and on Leadership and Management.

November 5, 2008 - Columbia, Maryland

The Academy for Home Care Sales & Marketing is a one-day hands-on workshop on the top techniques to grow your business. Sponsored by the Maryland, National Capital Home Care Association.

November 7, 2008 - Louisville, Kentucky

The Healthcare Service Excellence Conference. Stephen Tweed will be speaking on "Crafting Your Uniqueness By Creating Exceptional Customer Experiences.

November 10, 2008 - Gatlinburg, Tennessee

The Academy for Private Duty Home Care, sponsored by the Tennessee Association for Home Care.

November 12, 2008 - Richmond, Virginia

Private Duty 2020: Three Pillars of Private Duty Home Care, for the Virginia Association of Personal Care Providers.

November 14, 2008 - Louisville, Kentucky

Putting Power & Pizzazz in your Kentucky Chapter. Stephen Tweed is a past National President of NSA and the current Kentucky Chapter President.

November 19, 2008 - Dallas, Texas

Client Event - Certified Home Care Sales Professional- the first company to bring the CHCSP training in house to have all of their sales representatives certified.


November is National Home Care & Hospice Month

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Next month is the time to celebrate home care and hospice in America. This is a great time to celebrate the important work we do, and to communicate the benefits of home care and hospice to your stakeholders.

Here are some tips to make this month special:

  • Hold an open house at your agency
  • Hold your annual employee awards event during November
  • Give awards to employees who have gone the extra mile for your patients
  • Take a reminder gift to your key referral sources
  • Submit an article to the local news media
  • Be a guest on a local TV morning show
  • Be a guest on a local radio talk show
  • Do a mailing to all of your referral sources, prospects, and community leaders
  • Do a special mailing to all of the families of your patients and clients
  • Rent a billboard along a major street or highway

November is the month to celebrate Home Care & Hospice, to celebrate your agency, to celebrate your employees, and to celebrate your patients and their families.

More ideas to celebrate Home Care and Hospice


About the Author

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Stephen Tweed, CSP, is Chairman and CEO of Leading Home Care ... a Tweed Jeffries company. For over 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 homecare 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 an adult 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

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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 2008 Stephen C. Tweed. To receive a FREE subscription to this newsletter, log on to www.leadinghomecare.com."



Contact Leading Home Care

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phone: 1-866-209-5101

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