I’ve been thinking a lot …about Pain Points for Home Care Leaders.
There were 150 leaders of LHCSA’s – Licensed Home Care Service Agencies – in the ball room of the Pearl River New York Hilton Hotel. These are very large companies that provide in-home care for Medicaid beneficiaries in the State of New York who are members of the New York State Association of Health Care Providers.
I was speaking about the factors affecting the future of Home Care, and I was in the section where we discussed the Pain Points that keep Home Care leaders awake at night. I went out into the audience and asked them to tell me what they thought were the most important factors shaping the future of Home Care in New York. The first to folks mentioned government regulation and reduced reimbursement. The third person mentioned the caregiver shortage.
Then I showed the the results of our 2025 Future of Home Care Study, and the Top Five Pain Points for Home Care CEOs.
What are Your Top Pain Points?
As a leader in Home Care, what are the big burning issues that keep you awake at night?
What are you doing to learn more about these big issues, and develop strategies to address them?
Last week I was presenting on this same topic at the Home Care Association of America Conference in Dallas with my friend, colleague, and client John Atkinson, COO and CTO a AxisCare. In preparation for our presentation, John talked with me about helping Home Care leaders clearly identify their biggest pain points, the causes of the pain, and the potential solutions.
On the plane rides from Louisville to Dallas and back, and from Louisville to White Plains and back, I had lots of time to think about these pain points that we have identified, and how we can help leaders alleviate the pain.
Be a Doctor of Home Care – Find the Cause of the Pain and a Cure
As I was thinking about these pain points, I received a text from my wife and business partner, Elizabeth Jeffries. Elizabeth runs a division of our company called Executive Mastermind … a Tweed Jeffries company, where she coaches physician leaders in academic medicine. She was telling me of an amazing conversation she had that day with one of her physicians.
It occurred to me that addressing the pain points in Home Care is a lot like diagnosing the cause of pain in a human.
- Describe the pain
- Identify it’s location
- Conduct tests to identify the cause of the pain
- Conduct research to develop therapies to eliminate the cause and reduce the pain
- Prescribe the cure.
In Home Care, the actual pain is having to turn down cases because we don’t have enough staff.
If the pain is severe enough, you’ll go to the doctor to find some relief. That means describing the pain, figuring out where it starts, do some tests to find the cause, and explore some ways to eliminate the cause and reduce the pain.
Right now in Home Care, these is a lot of work going into finding new cures for the top pain point of caregivers shortages, and the specific pain of lost clients and h ours of service.
