Hospice Advisors Case Study
Title: Personal Care Home Health
Company: New York State
Date: March 23, 2015
Problem: Explore the opportunities to develop a personal care service.
Presenting Issues/Challenges:This hospice and home care company was interested in developing a Personal Care Home Health Company.
Plan of Action: This health care system had a hospice with a census of 210 and a Home Care census of 976. They wanted to explore the development of a Personal Care Home Health service to take advantage of the built in referral source they held. The first decision we had to make was to determine whether too buy into a franchise model as a turn-key approach or develop a program themselves.
The services to be offered would be In-Home or wherever the client calls for home care services. These services include providing caregivers and nurses who provide companionship care, personal care, medical services and more complex personal medical services. They would care for clients who need everything from a simple 2-hour shower bath to 24-hour live in-care. Services would focus on people who are aging and families who need help keeping their loved ones safe, secure and independent in the home. Care would also be provided for clients who are recovering from a medical condition or surgery and are discharged from the hospital. There was an estimated 5 people per week on hospice and those being discharged from Home Care who needed personal care services. Some examples of the other type of clients that would be cared for include Dementia/Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s disease, Cardiac Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery and general conditions related to aging.
The business model works as follows.
- A referral inquiry is received.
- An assessment of the client’s needs is completed and a care plan developed.
- A caregiver and/or nurse is match to the client’s needs and care is started.
- A Quality Assurance Nurse manages these cases and conducts in-home spot checks to assure the care plan is being followed and also does all the caregiver and nurse training.
We started the process by doing Pro and Con assessment around where to buy into a franchise or start from scratch.
PROS
- Turn-key so as to start immediately.
- Proven business model.
- Ongoing support.
- Ongoing innovation occurring.
- Policy and procedure complete.
CONS
- $35,000 to buy a franchise.
- Pay a monthly Royalty.
- Current hospice/HC company has no talent.
- Little knowledge of the business.
- Time to start; more resources required.
The group decided to acquire a franchise.
Outcome/Results:
One year after start-up the following has occurred:
- The program grew steadily and in month #12 had billable hours of 2,891
- Gross revenues at the end of year #1 were $401,099 with a net margin of 12% or $79,097. Year two projections were a Gross Revenues of $850,000.
- The health system saw the value of using the Personal Care service as a way to help prevent inappropriate readmission by assisting people stay safe, secure and independent at home.
- The development of a “newly diagnosed diabetic” program was created using the resources from the Personal Care company.
- A community marketing position was created in month #8 and new referrals besides hospice and home care were developed.