Streamline Your Home Health Care Business Operations with These Benchmarks

TThe home-based care industry is always evolving, and efficient operations are essential to delivering high-quality care while remaining profitable. With an increasing number of seniors opting to age in place and a growing demand for personalized home health care services, agencies must adapt by optimizing their internal processes. A streamlined operation not only ensures that caregivers can focus more on patient care but also reduces administrative burdens, enhances communication, and improves overall client satisfaction.

To mark the 15th Annual Edition of the 2024 Activated Insights (Formerly HCP) Benchmarking Report, we’re breaking down the key findings from each section to help get home-based care providers a head-start on turning benchmarking data into data-driven business decisions. With the data and insights from this report, providers can navigate operational challenges and enhance their service quality while positioning for long-term success.

Strategize your business operations and streamline your operations with these three tips.

Tip #1: Follow Through with Family Member Referrals

Finding: Family members play a crucial role in the decision-making process for home-based care, often acting as the primary advocates for their loved ones. According to the latest findings from the 2024 Activated Insights Benchmarking report, care received from long-term and post-acute care relies heavily on family engagement with care plans. To ensure you are providing the best care possible, it’s essential to involve family members in the process, from treatment planning to execution. Empowering families to participate in care decisions can lead to better health outcomes and higher satisfaction rates, making them more likely to recommend your services to others.

Trend: As shown in the graph below, only one in ten customers request their own long-term and post-acute care, while requests made by family members contribute to over half of all customers. In these survey results, participants were asked to name the primary reason clients started receiving home-based care.

Threat/Opportunity: Even though family members are the ones often requesting long-term care, less than a third of care plans are meeting the family’s goals for their loved one. While 94.9% of providers involve their customer’s family in their care plan, only 26.7% completely met the family’s care goals. This may be why 50% of customers found themselves stopping services to look for another provider who could offer them a higher level of care.

Data-Driven Strategy: To combat the 50% customer turnover rate explored above, focus on strengthening and retaining your relationship with referral sources—including family members. Oftentimes, the people referring clients to your business are the ones that know their care needs best. A well-structured follow-up process can make a significant difference in converting family referrals into long-term clients. Regular communication, personalized care updates, and prompt responses to inquiries can all contribute to a positive experience. You may also consider establishing a dedicated team or representative focused on managing family inquiries, scheduling consultations, and sharing the benefits of your services in a clear and compassionate manner.

Tip #2: Nurture the Client- to- Care Staff Relationship

Finding: The relationship between your customers and employees is essential to bridge the gap between the record-breaking staffing shortage and the highest care outcomes in years. Creating a personalized and empathetic care environment starts with empowering your staff.

Trend: Customer length of service increased by two months, and the median customer lifetime value increased by $1,465 in the last year, which is the highest it’s been in the last four years. Providers who invested in enhancing the care experience to increase customer satisfaction, like with Activated Insights, saw three times the average customer lifetime value. This means that fostering meaningful connections between clients and caregivers isn’t just beneficial for client satisfaction but is a significant driver of business success.

Threat/Opportunity: As the average annual care staff turnover rate reaches almost 80% (a 14% jump in the last two years alone), 63.3% of providers don’t have enough staff to take on every customer case. While this significantly impacts the amount of care and the quality of care that your business can provide, it doesn’t have to negatively impact your business as a whole. With the right training and preparation, you can nurture the relationships that drive success in your home care business.

Data-Driven Strategy: Our data shows that the ability of care staff received the highest customer satisfaction score. With this information, you can capitalize on the opportunity by specializing your current staff to further improve quality care outcomes. Equip your staff with ongoing education in communication skills, emotional intelligence, and patient-centered care to help them create deeper connections with clients. Mentorship programs and peer support groups can also help care staff share best practices for client engagement and retention. Activated Insights offers a wide range of comprehensive courses to help your care staff enhance their care quality while nurturing client relationships. Through our online training program, you can easily assign specialized learning tracks, monitor staff progress, and meet state compliance requirements.

Tip #3: Capitalize on Areas of Highest Interest

Finding: Your office staff have the power to make or break the employee and customer experience—but they’re not being recognized as the valuable assets they are. To optimize your home-based care business, it’s essential to focus on the roles and areas that have the greatest impact on satisfaction and outcomes.

Trend: In our 2024 Benchmarking Report, we found that Customer Care Coordinator and Care Schedulers are earning the lowest administrative salary in the industry but produce the highest satisfaction scores from both your employees and customers. Care coordinators and schedulers are often the first point of contact for clients, responsible for aligning the right caregivers with client needs, scheduling care, and ensuring seamless communication. Their unique position allows them to set the tone for the entire care experience, acting as a bridge between clients, caregivers, and the broader organization.

Threat/Opportunity: According to our data, for every 1 office staff member who quits, they take an average of 5 staff with them. The average home-based care employee costs $3,900 to replace in turnover costs, and an office staff member who quits inspires 4 care employees to quit, on top of their own turnover costs ($24,360). This totals an approximate cost of $39,960 to replace a single office staff member.

Data-Driven Strategy: Home care office staff can make or break client satisfaction in your business, and with the detrimental turnover costs, it’s essential to allocate resources to further develop and support your care coordination team. Implementing tools that simplify their workflow, providing opportunities for career growth, and recognizing their achievements can improve their efficiency and morale, improving client satisfaction and reducing staff turnover. You can also differentiate yourself from competitors (within and outside of the industry) by becoming certified as a Great Place to Work and showcasing positive customer reviews in real time. This can encourage employees to stay while attracting top talent in the recruiting process.

Make More Data-Driven Business Decisions with Activated Insights

The best way to improve your home-based care business operations is with data-driven insights. Activated Insights offers many different solutions to help your company gain visibility into customer and employee satisfaction, recruitment tactics, and more. With our Experience Management program, you can get timely insights about your care staff and care quality from both clients and employees alike, ensuring you have the data you need to make impactful change in your organization. Explore our comprehensive solutions for home care companies like yours and discuss your needs with an Activated Insights expert today.

Additional Resources

• Tune into the 2024 Benchmarking Report Webinar Series: The State of Operations in Home-Based Care
• Download the free Benchmarking Report Key Findings Guide: 3 Ways to Achieve Operational Excellence