How to make your home health agency the home care expert in your community

April 06, 2023

To be the leading community home health agency in the area you serve is a lofty goal. With numerous competitors from the public and private sectors in most locations, you have to have a plan with very concise goals and activities. Most agencies place their time and effort into day-to-day activities and adherence with compliance with regulations, staffing, etc. This blog will explore some key strategies to position your agency in such a way that professionals and community members immediately think of your agency for home care and advisement.

How is your agency perceived now?

The first step to positioning your agency as an authority is to identify and assess where your agency currently stands with your patience and community. This step can be performed using a variety of methods. Technology and statistics can be valuable tools during this stage. Examine your agency’s strengths, challenges, and weaknesses. Do you need to re-evaluate your mission statement? Work with your team to create a detailed vision of being a leader for your agency.

What does the best homecare entail, and are you providing it?

What does being a leading community health agency in your community look like? Some things are obvious such as being profitable, well-staffed, and delivering expert care. Having happy patients who continue to do business with you could be a start, but are you expanding and are you in control and in tune with how your agency is perceived externally? It’s vital to consistently ensure profitability, great staff, and outstanding care, but also to "Self assess" with ownership and staff to make sure you are in touch with the reality of where you are vs where you want to be. Communicate, analyze, and assess.

Could you consider thinking about specializing in providing home care to a specific population, such as those with dementia or people who have had joint replacement surgery? Would it be best to expand your range of home care services? Do you want a large agency that offers a wide range of services to a diverse population, or do you want to scale back?

Start with the community...

Once you are aware of your agency’s current status and a direction to pursue, ensuring you have a viable goal is critical. Put some time into determining what eaxctly community members identify as problems. This should always be an integral part of delivering care, but this is a time to focus on it precisely. Talk with referral sources, patients, and families. Answer the following questions.

What do the people you speak with identify as needs?
What are other home health agencies providing?
What is being presented at industry conferences?
Are there issues with the delivery of care that are consistently identified?
Are there gaps in services?
Is there an underserved population?
Should you form a partnership to work together to solve an issue?
What can your agency do to expedite referral processes?

Be better than the others...

Identifying the unique features and value propositions of your agency and coming up with a consistent strategy of how to communicate those things in your external communications is essential.

Are you utilizing the best resources for staffing, caregiver retention, and technology such as home health care software and operational equipment?

Is your agency considered a great place to work for your caregiving staff, and is the potential for career growth a possibility for those who aspire?

If the answers to these questions are not what you want them to be, make a plan to change your agency culture and incorporate everyone from administrators to nurses and caregivers in the field to buy into one vision.

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