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In a crowded home care ecosystem, companies are constantly looking for ways to stand out.
For some that means putting innovative solutions in practice that will enhance operations and care services. For others, that means developing deep local roots to strengthen services in various communities.
On top of this, home care companies are rolling out services that will help differentiate their care delivery model from that of competitors.
Ari Medoff — CEO of the home care company Arosa — recently touched on the greater need for ingenuity in home care.
“I am constantly amazed at how big and vast our market is, and how few points of differentiation most of us in the industry have,” he previously told Home Health Care News. “We need more creativity around business models. We need more companies to try different things.”
HHCN recently heard back from six home care leaders on the aspects of their companies that they believe separate them from the crowd.
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Home care faces significant market pressures typical of its growth shakeout phase, where market differentiation is necessary for survival. At Home Assist Health, our strategic response focuses on deepening community commitment through a person-first approach, evident in our person-centered care planning and employee-centric programming that prioritizes clients and staff.
We’ve integrated innovative solutions like Automation Edge’s bot for streamlined back-office tasks and Tap Root Ella’s AI for dementia care, enhancing care quality and efficiency. Recognizing increasing rates of chronic disease, we’re prioritizing health independence by expanding community health worker services and promoting self-management of health skills. Partnering with an Arizona non-profit, we’re providing diabetic-compliant meals to eligible members.
Our focus on workforce centers around students who are not only experts in what attracts them to a profession but are also our primary target for growth. We’ve expanded partnerships with high schools, community colleges, and Arizona State University, offering internships, apprenticeships, scholarships, and student-led HR consulting to nurture talent and enhance capacity.
We operate in the human services industry, where placing people at the center of everything we do is fundamental. Our goal is to promote and enhance human potential at every level. This guides our operations and ensures resilience during industry shakeouts.
— Sara Wilson, president and CEO of Home Assist Health
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To differentiate ourselves in the home care market, we leverage advanced technology and maintain strong human connections. Our primary competition isn’t other agencies, but private caregivers. Since leaving the Honor Care Network, we’ve partnered with Hellohire and Homecare Pro to streamline our hiring process. This automation reduces onboarding time, ensures thorough vetting and maintains high-quality care. According to the 2024 Home Care Pulse annual benchmarking report, our hiring conversion rate outperforms the top 5% of agencies.
Our innovative approach improves efficiency, reduces costs and allows us to deliver top-notch care while considering our clients’ fixed incomes. By integrating technology into our operations, we enhance accountability and remain competitive. Despite our technological advancements, we emphasize the human element by conducting in-person interviews and orientations to build trust and ensure we hire the best caregivers. This blend of technology and personal interaction sets us apart in a parity market.
By embracing innovation and prioritizing human connections, we remain efficient, relevant and committed to serving our community effectively. And, at the same time, the bonus for Cypress is the reduction of the costs of human capital, and the bonus for caregivers is the speed to hire increases exponentially. Our approach ensures our clients receive the best possible care. As our business manager has said for over 20 years, ‘He or she who has the caregivers wins.’ Having quality caregivers available is how we differentiate ourselves.
— Bob Roth, managing partner at Cypress HomeCare Solutions
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We believe that deep local roots are essential for home care companies to differentiate themselves from competitors. In practical terms, this means leveraging our community knowledge to provide clients with the resources they need at any time of day. If you require a reliable and trustworthy caregiver to spend that very night with an anxious, hospitalized loved one, we are the answer. Hand-in-hand with local knowledge is a strong base of exceptional caregivers. Their dedication and expertise will establish and maintain our reputation for quality, compassion, professionalism and reliability while building trust with the people we serve. These qualities matter most to those seeking home care services and can make or break an agency. Plus, they are a big part of our quest to reshape the meaning of personalized caregiving. Unlike large companies that struggle with local knowledge and small agencies that lack resources, we are unwaveringly focused on our communities and caregivers. This unique approach, tailored to the specific needs of the people we serve, sets us apart and helps us break the parity barrier.
— Doug Markham, CEO of Avenues Home Care
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At Senior Helpers, we differentiate from other home care companies by looking at outcome data for the families we serve. We utilize a proprietary LIFE Profile Assessment app with our clients that applies more than 18 years of data to create a customized care plan for each client. We then measure our client’s improvements and track any hospital readmissions or ER visits. We believe our services are non-clinical and highly skilled. Our caregivers are trained to care for clients with chronic illnesses such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and much more.
Most home care companies focus on private pay, or government payers such as Medicaid. At Senior Helpers, we excel in both these markets along with the underserved middle market. The middle market has the largest number of seniors, but it is very difficult to service. The seniors in the middle market don’t have the financial resources to afford traditional home care and they have too much money to have the government help pay for home care. Senior Helpers has developed customized fractional care programs called flexHOME, utilizing home care and technology to meet the needs of this growing market. We want to serve as many clients and families as possible and we need to be resourceful on how we serve them now and in the future.
— Peter Ross, CEO and co-founder of Senior Helpers
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Family & Nursing Care Select stands out with our expertise navigating all aspects of long-term care insurance (LTCI) for our clients. Our LTCI management team provides unparalleled, comprehensive, hands-on support and advocacy ensuring each and every client maximizes their LTCI benefits. We provide guidance and support with all the paperwork, troubleshoot issues and uncover potential additional policy benefits, thereby maximizing the value of each policy. We consistently receive raving feedback from our clients about our proactive communication, and how supportive our LTCI team is from the first discussion when initially setting up care through the entire life cycle of a client.
— Neal Kursban, CEO of Family & Nursing Care
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I believe that to differentiate yourself in the home care industry, organizations need to prioritize humanized experiences over transactional ones. At Nurse Next Door, our Happier Aging philosophy embodies this belief by delivering personalized and connected care. By nurturing relationships and empowering seniors to pursue their passions, we enhance their emotional, mental and physical well-being, celebrating aging as a vibrant stage of life. Our focus extends beyond our clients to our caregivers through our Caregiving as a Career initiative, aimed at industry transformation. We provide growth opportunities, guaranteed hours, and foster a supportive culture that attracts compassionate professionals. Valuing our caregivers ensures they feel fulfilled and appreciated, establishing Nurse Next Door as a caregiving career destination in home care.