Posts Tagged ‘private duty’
2012 Private Duty Benchmarking Study
The 2012 Private Duty Benchmarking Study is now open on www.privatedutybenchmarking.com.
This study is the largest, most trusted study in private duty home care and we highly encourage all agencies to be a part of it. And, this year, the survey is less than half the length of previous years, making it faster and easier than ever to be a part of the study.
Plus, Home Care Pulse will be offering a complimentary Agency Performance Report for your business when you participate, based on the information you provide in the survey. Best of all, you are eligible for a 40% participation discount, when you pre-order the 2012 Edition and use this unique promotion code: CORE2012. This discount will be available only to participants, through March 31st.
The Agency Performance Report will feature the full 2012 Edition, plus your own agency data compared side-by-side with the latest industry benchmarks. This is a confidential report, provided by Home Care Pulse and designed just for you.
Exciting additions to the 2012 Study include:
- Fast and easy study survey (about 15 minutes when you complete the Prep Worksheet)
- Instant access to your complimentary Agency Performance Report based on your data
- 25% off when you pre-order the complete 2012 Edition ($75 value)
- A wealth of articles from major industry players
- In-depth comparisons to leading agencies in the industry
- Comprehensive data from several hundred agencies
We invite you to be a part of it today! Learn more at www.privatedutybenchmarking.com or join the Private Duty Benchmarking Group on LinkedIn.
Thank you for your participation.
Private Duty Homecare Association Leadership Summit: Wednesday – Day 3
Birds-of-a-Feather Roundtables
Day three of the 2012 Private Duty Homecare Association Leadership Summit began with attendees learning from their peers at our Birds-of-a-Feather Roundtables. Facilitated by experts on various topics, attendees sat around tables to get input and to discuss ways to grow and improve what they are doing related to the topic. The questions were flying and watching agency owners share their best practices was a great collaborative exercise. Many continued their discussions post-session and planned to exchange contact information post-conference.
Topics at the roundtables included:
- Alternative service offerings
- Modeling private home care services based on a concierge model
- Social media as a marketing tool
- Google & Grandma: SEO tips
- Health care reform
- Grass roots lobbying efforts for home care issues
- Ethics and the new age of private duty home care
- Disaster preparedness
- Long-term care insurance ins and outs
- CRM and workflow processes
- Wage and hour issues
Software Speed Dating
For those interested in learning about scheduling and management software, attendees joined the first-ever software speed dating session. Four different vendors presented for 15 minutes each. They highlighted what differentiated their software as well as highlighted the items that current customers find the most beneficial. Vendors that participated were eSolutions, Generations, Shoshana Technologies, Rosemark and Heath Trust Software.
Closing General Session
Private duty home care agencies are facing business-changing issues from current legislation. From health care reform and all that trickles down from those initiatives, Bill Dombi, Vice President of Law for NAHC, closed the conference with a thorough download from Washington DC Bill opened with the fact that our biggest concern should be how we are going to meet the great and growing demand for care. He added that, because it is an election year, he predicts we will not see the health care reform act repealed in 2012. However, it will be a central part of the 2012 campaigns for presidential election.
In 2012, several issues are on the forefront, including the fate of healthcare reform law at the US Supreme Court. Everyone is really looking toward the US Supreme Court to see what they are going to decide with these cases. What will be affected out of these decisions will be:
- individual mandate which addresses the minimum coverage provision
- Anti-Junction Act which deals with applicability
What might be considered the most impactful issue on the table for private duty is the Companionship Exemption. Bill went through many of the updates about where legislation stands as well as what we can expect in the near future. For a recap of these updates, please watch the Legislative Update videos at www.youtube.com/PDHCA.
NAHC has an action plan which includes conducting an economic impact study as well as a media campaign. Bill mentioned that agencies can go the NAHC website to send messages to Congress.
Post-Conference Intensive: Focus on Sales
Led by Barbara Akst, BA, MA, CEO of Training Unlimited of Virginia, this time served as an interactive work session. Attendees came prepared with their sales plans to focus on goals and objectives to establish action items to carry out upon returning to the office. A key take-away from the session for the attendees was to understand and determine the difference between knowing goals vs. objectives. Another great learning from the session was the acronym “SMART” Goals. SMART stands for specific, measureable, achievable, results focused, time bound. Barbara encouraged attendees to think about what is it that they want in a sales professional in terms of characteristics, what their role will be and what their performance expectations are.
Watch what happened at the Private Duty Homecare Association Leadership Summit on the PDHCA YouTube Channel!
Private Duty Homecare Association Leadership Summit: Day 2 – Tuesday
Private Duty Leadership Summit’s General Session Keynotes
When Dr. Lance Secretan was introduced and he walked up to the front of the room and continued right past the podium where most speakers would take their station, we knew we were in for something different. Walking the floor with the audience, he engaged from the very beginning. He led with, “We are going to talk about inspiration.”
He discussed leadership as an old concept with a missing piece, which is inspiration. How can you inspire others if you, yourself are not inspired? To dive into that concept, he talked about motivation and how we often as a society confuse motivation with inspiration. We have built companies, incentives, etc. on motivation, which is a fear-based concept. Dr. Secretan encourages us to throw this idea out and shift thinking toward inspiration. To be inspiring to others and to yourself, you must change the words you use. Inspiring words are those with compassion, care and love. “Love leads to inspiration.”
Dr. Secretan asked, “How do you run a healthcare business when the game around you changes all the time?” Take a good look at your leadership team. He stated that because we are human beings, all leadership teams are dysfunctional to some extent. The first thing we need to do is align and correct these teams. To do so, ask three questions and have everyone in the leadership team share these responses with each other.
- Why am I here? This is your destiny.
- What is my calling? This is your calling.
- How will I be? This is your character.
This is called the “Why Be Do.”
Another major component of Dr. Secretan’s insight had to do with the concept of Permission Space. What will people allow you to do? What is accepted by your customer base? You will be given permission to be great if you do these things. As an agency, figure out what those things are, plot them on a map and follow it.
“Inspiration drives performance.”-Dr. Lance Secretan.
“Authenticity is the alignment of the mind, the mouth, the heart and the feet.” -Dr. Lance Secretan
Paul Kusserow, Humana
Paul opened with a powerful statement. He believes home care, despite the uncertain healthcare landscape, is an extraordinary business to be in—and will change the way we age.
He discussed how Humana took the principles of Dr. Secretan and changed the dynamic of the company. Fundamentally, Humana wanted to establish a continuum of care for their customers. They wanted to start the dialogue about wellbeing with customers before they were ill. They believed this was in their permission space.
To this end, Humana began to research their customer base to see what their customers’ impressions of wellbeing were.
Through this process, Humana realized that they wanted to be “all things senior.” They see a great deal of opportunity for home care companies in telehealth and helping families become a part of the care process. Agencies should think about how to expand their influence. He concluded with, “Humana wants to inspire people to be the best they can be and partner with them to do that.”
Make sure to see Val J. Halamandaris’ recap of his thoughts on the keynote speakers at http://youtu.be/NbsU5jzQNDU.
Education Sessions
PDHCA was honored to host a series of education sessions in the afternoon with dynamic content for attendees. For clips of the sessions, visit PDHCA’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/PDHCA.
Session topics included:
- Get more web visibility, traffic and leads
- New rules of home care growth in the post-recession age
- Negotiating the sale of a home care agency
- Legal issues concerning websites, blogs and social media
- Attracting and retaining the A+ caregiver
- Making sense out of private duty’s role in transitional care
- Focused networking as an art form that drives sales
- Obtaining insurance benefits for your clients’ care
- Quality & customer service: two sides of the same coin
Continue to follow PDHCA Conference updates at #PDHCASummit on Twitter and watch important video of conference speakers on the PDHCA YouTube Channel!
PDHCASummit, private duty, Private Duty Homecare Association
Home Care Webinar: PDHCA with AGS Foundation for Health in Aging to discuss Fall Prevention
The Private Duty Homecare Association (PDHCA) is pleased to announce their first educational webinar of 2012! PDHCA’s “Help Choose Home” webinar series serves to educate and help families plan for the best home care suitable for their loved ones. January’s webinar, Fall Prevention, recognizes that falls in the home are not a normal part of aging and there are steps that can be taken to make the home a safer environment to age in place. Joining PDHCA in January as their partner is the AGS Foundation for Health in Aging.
Head to www.helpchoosehome.com for more information.
Attendees will learn about:
- How to address fall risks in the home
- Tips on proofing the home for falls
- How in-home care can help prevent falls
- Resources for fall prevention education
Webinar details:
- When: January 10, 2012 at 7pm Eastern
- How: Register here – https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/813847586
The PDHCA “Help Choose Home” Webinar is Tonight!
At 7 p.m. EDT, the Private Duty Homecare Association and Caring.com will host the first “Help Choose Home” webinar, a Basic Primer on Home Care. I will facilitate the inaugural webinar with Caring.com expert Mary Koffend.
Tonight’s discussion will cover topics such as the definitions of home care; the benefits of home care; the types of in-home care; the importance of respite for families; paying for home care; and resources for seniors and families.
To register, please click here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about logging on to the webinar. For more information about PDHCA and the webinar series, please visit the registration page, the Help Choose Home website at www.helpchoosehome.com, PDHCA’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pdhca or Twitter @PDHCA.
I hope you plan to join us!
eldercare, Home Care, private duty, Private Duty Home Care Association
