By Stephen Tweed

What’s next for those companies who are attempting to disrupt the home care industry by applying “Uber-like” technology?  

Honor, the leading Digital Disruptor has recently announced that it is using Artificial Intelligence to analyze data from it’s technology solution.  Seth Sternberg, the founder and CEO of Honor has given several examples of how analyzing their data has helped them improve efficiency and debunk some conventional ways of thinking.  For example, Sternberg is looking at caregivers who are frequently late for client appointments and the effect that has on clients.  They learned that some clients do not place as much importance on the caregiver being on time.  He said that in the past, the company would remove caregivers who are habitually late, but when they analyzed the data, they were able to identify clients who were more tolerant of caregivers whom they really liked.

Another example found that the distance traveled by a caregiver has a measurable impact on the likelihood that the caregiver will miss shifts or turn over.  With every 15 mile increment of travel, the caregiver is two times more likely to turn over.

At Leading Home Care, we are real advocates of collecting data and using that data to make strategic decisions about your business.  This is a great example of how technology can be used to collect the data, and then machine-learning can be used to analyze the data.  What are you doing to collect and analyze data about your home care business?

Another Round of Investment

We regularly get questions from our readers, clients, and Mastermind Members about Honor and the other Digital Disruptors.  Callers want to know what we think about the future prospects of these businesses and the impact they are having on the competitive marketplace.  One of the things we know is that private equity investors seem to like these companies as they continue to put money into them.  Honor just announced a third round of investment bringing in another $50 million in Series C funding. This brings the total raised by Honor to $115 million.

The publicity created by the Honor investments, along with new investments made in software companies and home care franchising companies, has attracted other PE firms to the market.  Our research shows that the private equity market has found home care and is looking for places to invest their money. We had a phone conversation last week with some young private equity investors from Toronto, Canada who are looking for opportunities to make investments in home care in the USA.  We’ve also been engaged in a project with a senior living company who is in the middle of due diligence to sell their private pay home care business to another company that is growing through acquisition as a result of an injection of capital from private equity.

This suggests to us that capital will be available to grow the industry through increased use of technology, growing franchise organizations, and the continued consolidation of independent and affiliated home care companies.

Recapping the Digital Disruptors

Here’s a list of the articles we have published over the past two years on the Digital Disruptors.

• Digital Disruptor Honor Raises Another $50 Million – May 31, 2018
• Another Disruption at a Digital Disuptor – May 19, 2018
• Another Digital Disruptor Bites the Dust – April 16, 2018
• Digital Disruptor Update – Home Team Hires Apple Exec. – November 6, 2017
• Another Digital Disruptor Bites the Dust – August 2, 2017
• Home Hero Relaunches as Integrative Medicine Company – June 7, 2017
• What About Lead Generating Web Sites? – May 3, 2017
• Breaking News – Clear Care acquires HomeTrak – April 19, 2017
• The Death of a Digital Disruptor – February 21, 2017
• Most Read Articles on 2016 – January 4, 2017
• A New Digital Disruptor Enters the Home Care Marketplace – October 14, 2016
• Home Care Company partners with Uber to Provide Transportation – September 3, 2016
• Lessons from Home Joy may foretell the future of Honor, Home Hero, and Home Team – September 3, 2017
• Digital Disruptor Honor Raises $42 Million – August 8, 2016
• Another Digital Disruption on Home Care – July 1, 2016

For more articles, go to www.leadinghomecare.com and click on the Home Care CEO Report link.