Presenting Challenges: Senior Living Communities, especially Assisted Living, are the locations where hospice services are being delivered the most. This is not surprising as the Tsunami of Aging is fueling the development of Continuing Care Retirement Communities, Assisted Living facilities, Memory Care units, etc. All this has heightened the level of competition for eligible residents who wish to access their hospice benefit.
The challenge is how to develop a superior high performing growth and sales strategy to grow your census in these living communities. The “Days of Muffin Marketing” are over. The goal is to become a partner and not just another hospice vendor!!
The prizes for those hospices that can grow their Senior Living Community census are:
- Longer Length of Stays. Would you rather have 10 admissions from an acute care referral source that live 3 to 5 days or 1 admission from a Senior Living Community that lives 100 days? Ideally, I want both 😊As this would create a healthy patient mix. The challenge is how to obtain admissions from Senior Living Communities to achieve that healthy mix.
- Improved Productivity. Having a nurse and home health aid taking care of 8 patients in a Senior Living Community is more desirable than visiting 8 home based patients that require travel downtown and mileage cost.
- Giving the Gift of Hospice. It is challenging to provide the true gift of hospice with patients that live less than a week. As opposed to applying all the talents of Interdisciplinarity Team members to provide the gift of hospice to a patient that lives 100 days.
Action Strategies
The three major dissatisfiers on the part of Senior Living Communities working with hospice providers are:
- Lack of Communication. Over the 20+ years I have been in the industry, this issue haunts hospices. Even if the communication issue was not the hospice fault (the hospice nurse looking for a facility staff person to report off to, but they are in a meeting).
- Spending More Time With Residents. Senior Living Communities complain that hospices do not spend enough time with their residents that are receiving hospice services.
- Stronger Sense of Urgency. The hospice’s biggest vulnerability is after-hours and weekends. Responding in person to calls from Senior Living Communities is imperative. Developing value added ways to be present on the weekend is critical.
Hospice Advisors has developed a “Senior Living Community Playbook” that provides the detailed steps to address the three major dissatisfiers listed above and much more. The Playbook contains tools and materials to move away from being one of many hospice vendors calling upon Senior Living Communities to a true partner.
A few of the tools provided in the Playbook are:
- A “Facility Enhancement Meeting.” The structure and process of how to assemble and run this type of meeting that results in a “Facility Care Plan.”
- A very simple technology driven solution that will completely resolve communication issues.
- A patient Sensory Enhancement Program. This Clinical program provides patients with a customized experience that focuses on enhancing the five senses and is provided by the Home Health Aid.
These are a few examples of the program and clinical differentiators provided in the Playbook.
To learn more call Kurt at 734.658.6162 or visit www.hospiceadvisors and schedule time for a complimentary strategic dialogue.
