Meet baby boomers' needs; offer non-traditional services
Take steps now to integrate services
It is not easy to create significant change in health care but 78 million baby boomers may be the impetus for home health agencies to change their approach to service, according to experts interviewed by Hospital Home Health.
"Members of the Greatest Generation were very respectful of health care workers and were willing to defer to our advice and recommendations," says Ellen Bolch, president and CEO of THA Group, a Savannah, GA-based home health agency that provides traditional and non-traditional services. "Baby boomers are very different," she says. Boomers demand information, value, and independence, she points out. "They don't want to watch their health deteriorate and they don't want to feel dependent on others, so they ask a lot of questions and want to know what services will help them stay independent," she says. "Baby boomers are going to make it necessary for home health agencies to change the way they've always done business in order to survive."
Because the first baby boomers have just turned 65, they are more likely to be your customer rather than your patient now, says Bolch. "They are at the point in their life where they are looking for care for their parents," she says. "The Internet is ideal for boomers because they are voracious information gatherers," she points out. Visiting agency web sites and using Home Health Compare are two ways that baby boomers narrow their search for the best home health agency for their parents, she says.
Although baby boomers may be searching for care for their parents now, it is important to realize that this is your first opportunity to create an impression that could result in them choosing your agency for their own needs, points out Bolch. "These folks are busy people so they want an agency that can help them with all of their needs in one call," she says.
An integrated approach that encompasses traditional home health services with other needs identified by the customer is the home health model that will succeed in the future, says Bolch. The concept of the geriatric caseworker is the answer to most baby boomer needs but be careful how you title the position, she warns. "Boomers do not want to be told that they are old so avoid words like geriatric or silver," she says.
Because people are looking for service, the staff members at New Dimensions Home Health in Pasedena, TX, who identify services and resources that are needed by customers are called customer service representatives, says Josie Lightfoot, president and CEO of the agency.
"We started our customer service center about a year ago when we realized that people wanted information on a wide range of topics," she says. Not only were callers asking for information about Medicare and Medicaid coverage, but seniors were also asking for help finding people to prepare their tax returns and even how to obtain food stamps, she says. "There is no other service in our area that provides a centralized source of information for seniors so we saw this as a real need in the community," she says.
Central service for seniors
The first step to offering the information service was to gather descriptions and contact information for resources that are available and to find out how applications are made and who qualifies for the services, says Lightfoot. Once that information was collected, agency staff members were ready to assess callers' needs, she says. "We visit each caller to evaluate their needs," she says. The visits are made by the client development staff members who used to spend time knocking on physician doors, says Lightfoot. "Now they go directly to the customer and find out what they need," she says.
While some customers may only need help finding a pharmacy that delivers, or someone to take care of their lawn at first, everyone at the agency recognizes them as a potential home health care patient, Lightfoot explains. "There is no reimbursement for this service but some customers have become patients," she says. "Because we've worked with them to address other needs, they know us and trust us, so it makes sense to them to call us for home health services," she says.
Thorough documentation on all clients is kept so that the agency can track trends as well as clients' individual needs, says Lightfoot. "We noticed a need for transportation for some clients but our area has no public transportation," she says. After researching the issue, her staff discovered that the city had grant money to make taxi vouchers available for clients who were unable to drive themselves to doctor appointments, she says. "We also negotiate discounts with local small businesses to provide lawn services, tax preparation, and other services that our clients need," she adds.
Moving from traditional services
Although her agency still stays in touch with traditional referral sources, her client development staff also go directly to the community to talk about senior services and home health care, points out Lightfoot. "We speak at health fairs and we've participated in some programs offered by the local police department that highlighted scams directed at seniors," she says. In all situations, the staff members present the agency as a central location of information that can help people live independently, she adds.
Talking directly to consumers is the way to position your agency for success, says Bolch. People are not aware of all of the different services that can be provided by a home health agency and they don't know how different services can be combined to meet their specific needs, she says. In addition to making sure all parts of your agency, home health, hospice, and private duty stop working in isolation from each other, be sure to develop a service that ties community services into the mix as well, she suggests. "If a patient needs help finding a grocer that will deliver, help find one," she says. "We need to start listening to what patients need in addition to health care in order to integrate all of the services and enable patients to age at home," she adds.
Integration may require a different approach, admits Bolch. "The leadership of each division needs to be integrated so that all patients become 'our' patients as opposed to 'their' patients and 'my' patients," she points out. Case managers who oversee total care of the patient can also identify resources to offer respite care for family members, suggest private duty care to supplement Medicare home health, or find community services that address financial needs, she explains.
Hilton Head, SC, is in the service area of Bolch's agency and represents a wealthy population, she says. "These are people with high expectations for service and value and if they don't believe they are getting what they need, they hire their own geriatric case manager to manage their care," she says. The growth in the number of privately hired case managers will continue and poses a great threat to home health agencies, she says.
"We need to offer clients the one-stop shop that they want so that we can control our destiny," says Bolch. "If we don't think outside the box and offer non-traditional services, someone else will become the integrator and we'll be dependent on them for referrals."
Sources
For more information about centralized information services and integrated services, contact:
- Josie Lightfoot, president and CEO, New Dimensions Home Health, 5055 Preston Avenue, Suite 201, Pasedena, TX 77505. Phone: (281) 998-9611 or (877) 827-4663. E-mail: [email protected].
- Ellen Bolch, president and CEO, The THA Group, 3 West Perry Street, Savannah, GA 31401. Phone: (912) 233-2727 Fax: (912) 234-3185. E-mail: [email protected].
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