By Stephen Tweed 
Monitoring the trends affecting the future of home care is one of the things that we do well at Leading Home Care. What are the patterns of change in our industry that will affect your business?
One of the trends I have been watching the past few weeks is the growth of the Acute Hospital At Home Program launched by the US Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services – CMS – in November of 2020. The program was created to divert patients away from hospitals in order to keep space available to care for patients with Covid-19.
The process is for Hospitals to create a “Hospital At Home” program to care for patients who can be safely and effectively treated in their own homes. CMS has established criteria for the program, and an approval process.
The Hospital At Home program is built on a model created by Johns Hopkins University over the past decade or so. They have been pioneering this concept and have proven that they can effectively provide care at home while saving costs and creating a positive experience for the patient and the family. This is especially useful in this time where families can not be with their loved one in the hospital.
What Does this Mean for Home Care Leaders?
We had a great discussion at our last Home Care Mastermind Town Hall meeting last week. We examined the details of the Acute Hospital at Home program, and talked about how home care companies who are members of our Home Care CEO Forum can connect with these program.
Our research indicates that there will be wonderful opportunities for home care companies to build new relationships with hospital systems by helping them with their Hospital at Home programs.
Six Ways to Leverage the Program
From our discussion, we identified six ways that home care leaders can leverage local Hospital at Home Programs to grow your home care business:
- Connect with your local Hospital at Home Program
- Develop rapport with the program managers
- Identify their needs for caring for patients at home. What are the patients’ personal care needs?
- Show program managers how in-home personal care can provide better results.
- Demonstrate proven clinical outcomes
- Build brand awareness for your company, and for home care.
Research This Trend in your Local Market
Not every community has a local Hospital at Home Program. Here’s a list of approved programs as of this writing. We encourage you to look for hospitals in your service area who are launching a program. If none are available locally, look for hospitals in your state who have a program. Learn what they are doing and how it is working. The more you understand what your key referral sources are thinking about and working on, the more you can help them achieve their goals.
I always remember the quote from my friend and professional speaking colleague, Zig Ziglar:
“You can have everything you want in life if you will just help enough people get what they want.”
Want to have regular discussions with thought leaders in home care? Consider becoming a member of a Home Care CEO Mastermind Group.
