HHT #177 Challenges and Opportunities in Senior Care

 

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Challenges and Opportunities in Senior Care

Get ready for an exciting year in 2010!

January 13, 2010

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In this issue...

-- Opportunities and Challenges in Senior Care in 2010

-- Survival of the Fittest

-- Get Ready for the Future with an Executive Strategy Retreat

-- Join Stephen Tweed in Florida in January for The Academy for Private Duty Home Care

-- About the Author

-- Permission to Reproduce

Welcome,

...to the New Year issue of Home Health Care Today! the leading electronic newsletter for CEOs and executives of Medicare Certified Home Health Agencies and Hospices

Home Health Care Today is brought to you as a service of Leading Home Care ... a Tweed Jeffries company, a consulting and publishing company that is dedicated to helping you identify challenges and find solutions to grow your business and get ready for the future.


Opportunities and Challenges in Senior Care in 2010

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Write press releases that POP!I'm writing to you today from Pittsburgh, PA where I just finished facilitating a strategy session bringing together two faith-based long term care organizations to discuss how they can work together in the future to better serve seniors in Western Pennsylvania. One of these organizations is a client with whom I've worked for over 25 years.

The strategy session consisted of the four top executives and four board members from each organization. To set the stage for our discussions, I asked each participant to take two index cards and write down a word, phrase, or sentence in response to the following questions:

1. What are the biggest challenges facing senior care in western Pennsylvania?

2. What are the biggest opportunities in senior care in western Pennsylvania?

Here's what they said:

Challenges

  • Government regulation
  • Funding
  • Allocation of resources
  • State policy changes
  • Reimbursement decreases at all levels
  • Workforce recruitment
  • Affordability
  • Financial performance

Opportunities

  • New service delivery models
  • Large number of seniors
  • Independent living
  • Housing with services
  • Becoming more consumer driven
  • Demographics
  • Aging baby boomer
  • Diversification
  • Creativity
  • Home Care
  • Home Care
  • Home Care

There was much conversation about the trend from traditional long term institutional care to home and community based services. They see opportunities in home care and are moving in that direction.

As I facilitated the conversation, I realized that there is good news and bad news in what they are saying. And the news is the same . . . there IS opportunity in home care.

The good news is that executives and board members from a variety of different providers of senior care see tremendous opportunities in home health care and hospice. The bad news is, they all want to be in the business that we are already in. The marketplace will become more crowded as more companies enter the market place. They'll get in by starting new businesses and by buying existing businesses.


Survival of the Fittest

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A month or so ago, I wrote an article for the magazine published by the Texas Association for Home Care & Hospice. The article was entitled, "Getting Ready for 2010".

In the article, I discussed a number of the new challenges that will face home health agencies in 2010, including:

  • Health Care Reform
  • OASIS-C
  • CAHPS
  • Getting ready for HIPAA 5010 and ICD-10 coming in 2013
  • Increasing competition
  • Fraud and abuse

In the article, I suggested that as an industry, we will survive all of the challenges and changes coming this year. As I reflect back on these issues, I'm convinced that not all of the agencies will survive. There are many home health agencies out there that are not prepared to deal with the difficulties created by these changes. Only the fittest will survive.

What do you need to do to be Fit For The Future?

  • Keep your executive team engaged in discussing the issues
  • Focus on growing your business
  • Train your sales and marketing team to sell your competitive advantage
  • Develop your middle managers
  • Communicate with all of your employees

2010 will be an exciting year, filled with opportunity and uncertainty. Enjoy the journey!


Get Ready for the Future with an Executive Strategy Retreat

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National Home Care and Hospice MonthSince 1982, I've been leading executive teams of home health agencies and hospice through a process of strategic thinking, and facilitating their Executive Strategy Retreats. This is an opportunity to get away from the busy-ness of running your home health business to reflect,
re-energize, and rejuvenate. It's an opportunity to . . .

  • Assess your current reality
  • Explore the forces and trends shaping the future of home health care & hospice
  • Develop a renewed vision for the future of your agency
  • Clarify the values that guide your decisions
  • Refocus your competitive advantage
  • Review your critical measures of success
  • Rejuvenate your senior leadership team

Using the storyboarding techniques from the Walt Disney organization, I'll lead your team through an interactive process that will lead to clear direction and a vision for the future.

Click here for more details on the Executive Strategy Retreat


Join Stephen Tweed in Florida in January for The Academy for Private Duty Home Care

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Be among the first to learn about the early results from the 2009 Private Duty Home Care Benchmarking and State of the Industry Study by joining Stephen Tweed in Sanibel Island, Florida for The Academy for Private Duty Home Care.

Fly from the snowy north to the sunny south for a day of learning, laughing, and interacting with your peers. Get the latest information on how to grow your private duty business, how to recruit and retain caregivers, and what your numbers should look like in a growing, successful business.

Then stick around for a few days, put your feet in the sand, soak up the sun, and work on your Strategic Plan for 2010.

Stephen will have the early results of our 2009 Benchmarking and State of the Industry Study. He'll give you the latest facts and data to assess the Critical Measures of Success of your private duty business.

Don't Delay. Register Today!


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 that want to grow and get ready for the future. 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 39 year-old son who is physically disabled and uses the services of home care on a daily basis

Grow Your Business, Get Ready For The Future


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 Leading Home Care . . . a Tweed Jeffries company. 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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