HHT #154 - Strategic Competencies in Home Health Care

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Strategic Competencies In Home Health Care

Six areas to differentiate your agency from the competition

February 18, 2009

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In this issue...

-- Strategic Competencies in Home Health Care

-- Strategic Competencies in the Six Pillars of the Agency Of The Future

-- The Early Bird Registration Deadline is Fast Approaching for the Certified Home Care Sales Professional Workshop!

-- The Top Ten Competencies of Highly Effective Home Health Executives

-- Recent Postings to our Home Health Care Leadership Minute BLOG

-- About the Author

-- Permission to Reproduce

Welcome,

... to Home Health Care Today, the leading electronic newsletter for home health care in America. This special report for CEOs and senior executives of America's leading home health care companies 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 health businesses.

For ideas to grow your Private Duty Home Care business, subscribe to Private Duty Today, the bi-weekly newsletter for non-medical home care CEOs. Your complimentary subscription is available at www.privatedutytoday.com.


Strategic Competencies in Home Health Care

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"Your customers want one of three things from the stuff you sell them - Sex, Money, or Happiness."

These were the words of my friend Robert Bradford as he led us through a Strategic Reality Check this past Friday morning at the National Speakers Association winter workshop in Orlando, Florida. Robert is the author of Simplified Strategic Planning: A no-nonsense guide for busy people who want results fast.

While his comment got the audience's attention, in the home health care field, customers probably want money and happiness.

One of the terrific conversations we had was around identifying your strategic competencies. Strategic competencies are a combination of knowledge, skills, and processes that help you create competitive advantage in your marketplace.

In your agency, strategic competencies must create significant value for your patients, physicians, referral sources and payers. They must help you differentiate your agency from your competitors, and they must be difficult to copy. So, what are the knowledge, skills, and processes that set you apart from everyone else in the marketplace?


Strategic Competencies in the Six Pillars of the Agency Of The Future

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You will recall our previous articles on the Six Pillars of the AOTF - The Agency Of The Future:

  • Quality
  • Service
  • People
  • Growth
  • Technology
  • Finance

Let's look at some examples of strategic competencies in each of the six pillars.

Quality - Your agency has a unique process for reducing the frequency of acute hospitalization of CHF patients during an episode of care.

Service - Your agency has a team of people in the intake department who have developed a specialized approach to creating exceptional customer experiences.

People - Your agency has put together a strategy to create a great place to work for nurses and therapists, so that you have reduced turnover and increased employee satisfaction. This employee satisfaction carries over into patient satisfaction.

Growth - You have put together a high performance sales and marketing team that has demonstrated the ability to build relationships with physicians and hospital discharge planners. The result is a steadily growing stream of referrals that turn into admissions.

Technology - An agency has initiated a telehealth program that has proven results in reducing hospitalization of COPD patients, and has used these results to persuade physicians to refer their patients.

Finance - Your agency has developed a unique budgeting and forecasting process that allows you to see clearly where to allocate resources in order to grow your business and increase your gross margins.

You won't necessarily have significant strategic competencies in each of the six pillars, so it's important to develop clear priorities. Your strategic focus is your number one competency that really sets your agency apart. You may have two or three more significant strategic competencies that combine to create a truly unique AOTF - Agency Of The Future.


The Early Bird Registration Deadline is Fast Approaching for the Certified Home Care Sales Professional Workshop!

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CHCSP BrochureDon't miss the opportunity to be in the Winner's Circle of Home Care Sales this April. Register by March 1 and save $200.

The 2009 Certified Home Care Sales ProfessionalTM workshop will be held in Louisville, Kentucky on April 1, 2, and 3, 2009 at the luxurious Brown Hotel. If you, or someone in your agency, wants to participate in the most in-depth sales training program in the home health care industry, you will want to be in Louisville in April.

Participants who complete this 15 hour training program will be on their way to earning the Certified Home Care Sales ProfessionalTM designation. This is the only earned designation for sales professionals in the home health care industry.

Learn more about the 2009 CHCSP workshop in Louisville!


The Top Ten Competencies of Highly Effective Home Health Executives

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What is it that makes highly effective home health care executives so successful? What are the characteristics that make leaders in our industry so significant? What is it that home health leaders do to fulfill their mission and vision?

The answers lie in the research conducted by Leading Home Care . . . a Tweed Jeffries company over the past seven years in studying the patterns and behaviors of effective home health care executives. The result of this study and research is The Academy for Home Care Leadership, a 12-hour course in the competencies and characteristics of those who lead our industry.

Now, you can have access to these strategies and insights through our Leadership Academy Learning Guide. This is the participant manual that is provided to all of those who attend our Academy for Home Care Leadership.

In the Leadership Academy Learning Guide, you'll get insights on the Top Ten Competencies of Highly Effective Home Health Leaders:

  1. Seeing the Bigger Picture
  2. Communicating Expectations and Directons
  3. Making Decisions
  4. Coaching and Counseling
  5. Setting Priorities and Managing Time
  6. Planning
  7. Recruiting and Selecting Good People
  8. Measuring and Managing Team Performance
  9. Inspiring Others to Follow You
  10. Solving Problems

If you or members of your home health care team would benefit from developing these leadership competencies, you'll want to order a copy of the leadership guide today.

Order Your Leadership Academy Learning Guide today!


Recent Postings to our Home Health Care Leadership Minute BLOG

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Visit our BLOG, Home Health Care Leadership Minute for Stephen Tweed's observations on the latest happenings in home health care around the world. The latest BLOG postings include:

  • Gentiva Refocuses on Home Health Care for the Elderly
  • Amedisys reports growth in Home Health Care Earnings
  • Celebrating 100 years of Home Health Care in Pennsylvania
  • Telehealth improves access to Health
  • Another Look at the Agency Of The Future
  • For Profit Hospice pays $24.7 Million to Settle Fraud Claim

Visit Stephen Tweed's Home Health Care Leadership Minute


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 health care companies and associations. He is the author or co-author of seven books, five 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 38 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

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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 Home Health Care Today. Copyright 2009 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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