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Q U A R T E R L Y WINTER 2022 MSRP $19.95 PICTURED Emma Dickison, Home Helpers® Home Care

The Power Of Thank You

In-Home Care: A Mission That Matters THE ROAD TO

How To Help Your Caregivers Thrive

Ways The Right Home Care Platform Can Help Your Agency Thrive

$10 Million Part 4

Contents 04

In-Home Care: A Mission That Matters - by Emma Dickison

Thrive - by Rob Frasier

How To Help Your Caregivers Thrive - by Marybeth Sondergaard

Understanding, Improving, And Perfecting Your Client Service Agreement - by Bob King, Esq.

The Power Of Thank You - by Nicole Peretti

The Road To $10 Million, Part 4 - by Steve “The Hurricane” Weiss

The Top 3 KPIs You Need To Improve For Your Business To Thrive - by Todd Austin

Nine Ways The Right Home Care Platform Can Help Your Agency Thrive - by Smartcare

Welcome Evolve. Adapt. Transform. Thrive. Welcome to Issue #4 of Home Care Evolution Quarterly! Home Care Evolution Quarterly is for those home care business leaders who inspire to continuously learn in the industry. We exist to help you stay up to date on new trends and data from vetted contributing authors, all of whom are experts in this industry. This magazine is dedicated to helping YOU be on point in your: ● Sales & Marketing ● Operations ● Recruitment & Retention ● Financial & Multiple Revenue Streams In this issue of Home Care Evolution magazine, the contributors and I provide you with current topics, breaking ideas, and practical strategies you will use to gain better ideas and solve bigger problems for new levels of success. In this issue: ● In-Home Care: A Mission That Matters by Emma Dickison ● Thrive by Rob Frasier ● How To Help Your Caregivers Thrive by Marybeth Sondergaard ● The Power Of Thank You by Nicole Peretti ● The Road To $10 Million, Part 4 by Steve “The Hurricane” Weiss ● The Top 3 KPIs You Need To Improve For Your Business To Thrive by Todd Austin ● Nine Ways The Right Home Care Platform Can Help Your Agency Thrive by Smartcare If there is a topic that is important to you that you would like to see in a future issue, please contact me directly. Sincerely, Steve “The Hurricane” President and CEO Home Care Evolution steve@homecareevolution.com 848-444-9865

In-Home Care: A Mission That Matters Emma Dickison

Emma Dickison is an experienced franchise executive with three iconic franchise organizations building both emerging brands and leading organizations in mature industries. Emma currently serves as the CEO and President of Home Helpers® Home Care. Under her leadership the company has had 25 years of record-breaking growth and is known as a trusted brand with more than 300 franchises serving over 1,000 communities in 40 states and Canada. Emma was recognized in 2019 by the International Franchise Association Women’s Franchise Committee with the Crystal Compass Leadership award. She serves as the President of the Board of Directors for the Home Care Association of America, the industry’s largest trade association, a member of the International Franchise Association, Women Franchise Committee, member of the Global Women’s Presidents Organization, co-chair of the SW Ohio Women’s Franchise Committee chapter, serves on the Home Care Association of America Strategy Committee and is a member of several Boards and Advisory Councils with various franchise concepts. Emma has been recognized in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 as a Top 50 Women of Wonder and 2020 Top 20 Women of Influence in Franchising. She is a Certified Franchise Executive and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Florida. HomeHelpersHomeCare.com

he in-home care industry really is a special place filled with servant minded individuals with opportunity to impact the lives of millions of clients and family members across the country.

I joined the industry 15 years ago based on my own firsthand experiences over many years with family members that required support with their activities of daily living, and after more than 15 years of experience in franchising, saw a compelling opportunity to make a significant difference in communities across the country. Like so many, my family started to face the question of how to care for loved ones that were aging with chronic and terminal illness back in the 1970’s, of course I was very young then! At that time no one knew what home care was. There were no standards, no licensing of agencies and quite frankly, no easily available resources to support loved ones and their families when care needs arose. My family was fortunate that the Caregivers hired privately to provide care in loved one’s homes, were terrific. They were servant minded, provided great care, and became part of the family. They spent holidays with us, went on vacations at times and not only took care of our loved ones, they also supported our family. That scenario plays out millions of times a day in our country. As a result of my experiences, when I had the chance

to join Home Helpers® Home Care with an organization that has a mission that matters, I jumped all in. Over my 15 years leading Home Helpers® Home Care, the industry and the organization has changed dramatically. Home Helpers® Home Care is celebrating 25 years this year, with 25 years of continued record-breaking growth. That is a testament to our endeavor to do things right, and to always do the right thing, focusing on exceptional client care. Home Helpers® has utilized the franchise business model to leverage 25 years of a trusted brand, recognized for hundreds of national awards and to standardize the client and Caregiver experience to scale the business. In doing so, we can vastly reduce the learning curve for new franchisees coming into the industry and support them with a brand, business model,

marketing expertise, and operating system to guide growth. We invest heavily in our relationship with our franchisees to Making Life Easier® to deliver on our mission to “Be the most trusted and respected provider of comprehensive home care services and support for individuals who choose to remain independent wherever they call home.” Everything we do must be in alignment with our mission. Staying true to our mission, Home Helpers® Home Care, utilizes a franchise business model that has built a footprint serving more than 1,000 communities today.

“Every stakeholder involved in the in-home care industry must get engaged.” - Emma Dickison Additionally, I currently serve as President of the Board of Directors of the Home Care Association of America, the industry’s largest trade association. In that role, I get to clearly see the vital role that in-home care plays in families, communities, and our society. In-home care has created an innovative solution to fill the gaps, created by traditional care models in the fast-growing care needs of an increasing elderly population. With an aging population, our country will need robust thought leaders and a broad continuum of care options to meet the growing needs of our aging population. Home Care provides individuals choice, the choice to maintain dignity and independence, the choice to live at home. And through the work of the Home Care Association of America and its members, we continue to advocate for families to have greater access to care, funding options, standards

of care, and trained care providers to make those decisions. The in-home care industry is at an inflection point and as such we must think differently about care delivery. The adoption of innovative technology in client care for better outcomes will be essential and to leverage data on both a micro and macro level. To date, our industry has been fragmented in this regard and if the in-home care industry is to be able to offer insights to the scope of our services provided, improvement of client outcomes, and savings to the healthcare system as an industry, then we must find a way as an industry, working across many stakeholders to aggregate real data, rigorously collected and analyzed, to demonstrate the true value of inhome care. To date this information has only been available through small-scale validation studies. As a result of minimal data, the impact of home care has hindered the advancement and slowed the ability

of the industry to realize its full potential in the country’s health care system. So how do we get there? Every stakeholder involved in the in-home care industry must get engaged. Whether through trade associations, state associations, or other organizations aligning with research institutes, academic institutions, and policy makers to ensure that these key insights are conducted and shared to improve the overall health care continuum, of which in-home care plays a vital role. By 2040, nearly 81 million people in our country will be over the age of 65, and 7 out of 10 of those will need support with their activities of daily living to have the choice to maintain dignity and independence with a choice to live at home. As an industry, with strong thought leadership and collaboration, we are poised to continue to grow for many years to come.

THRIVE Rob Frasier Rob has dedicated the past 28 years to serving seniors. As an MBA in Health Care, a nursing home administrator (14 years), and a home care owner (14 years), he has been busy in the long-term care industry since 1994. He also is a volunteer instructor for the Alzheimer’s Association and has been on several boards and committees to help serve seniors. Rob is also a Certified Dementia Practitioner through the (NCCDP) National Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners, as well as a Certified Dementia Trainer for the NCCDP. He is also a DSHS Trainer for Dementia and Mental Health for the State of Washington as well as other related classes in long-term care. Rob has been a student of Dementia and a volunteer for the Alzheimer’s Association since 1994. Rob and his wife, Jayne started their home care business, Care To Stay Home, in Spokane, WA in 2008. They have 5 children and 3 grandchildren. CareToStayAtHome.com

ust over fourteen years ago, I left my job of 4 years and profession of about 14 years and decided to work with my wife Jayne, on starting a business. At the time, we thought we were prepared. We had savings, equity in a home, no debt other than a small mortgage, and lots of experience running businesses in the long-term care field. 2008 was the year. We had no idea what would come with this new venture. Jayne had urged me to start my own business because we were both burned out with the nursing home business. She agreed to help me with the business, but at the time, she was dedicated to raising our young children and that was her priority. She had no idea the commitment that was needed to create this business. Home Care was a perfect fit for us after my time as a nursing home administrator, and even Jayne with her education and service in the church and the community. It took some time for her to integrate into the business, but once she did, she became a master of home care. 2008 was possibly the worst recession since the great depression – what a time to start a business. We lost all of our savings, and our equity and really started to backslide! Although starting a business was certainly challenging during this era, our business grew each year, slowly, but steadily until the recession receded.

only 1 in 10 truly thrive. Help from vendors and outside sources, like Hurricane Marketing (now Home Care Evolution) has been valuable to our success to thrive. What is it that allows us to thrive and what does thriving look like? Most people believe they have goals for success. DO YOUR GOALS LOOK LIKE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING: 1) I’m not happy with where I am and I want what someone else has. 2) I don’t have a goal, but am currently unsatisfied. 3) I’m currently satisfied, but I set goals to become better and look for more opportunity to help others.

I believe that those that “thrive” in life are those that find joy in their current status; financially, socially, spirituality, physically, emotionally, etc., but are There have been many obstacles since unsatisfied with the stagnicity of that rocky beginning; government staying at that level. Balance in life is intervention (never-ending), health one of the most important parts of challenges, changes in markets for “thriving”. Steve Weiss, President of clients and caregivers, turnover, Hurricane Marketing, teaches this to and the list continues. The fight for his Elite Academy Members. Many success in this market has not been times throughout our business, Jayne easy. Less than 1 in 10 home care and I could have taken our business to businesses succeed and out of those the “next level” and grown faster, but

something in life took priority over business. After Jayne and I had been in business for just 2 years, the business was small, but we were making a living. My dad had been going through substantial health issues for 25 years and one day I received a call from my sister that he had been hospitalized and she was told by his physician he would not live long. Jayne and I scrambled to find a plane ticket and Jayne drove me to the airport. I did not arrive in time to say goodbye to my father. Jayne and the kids drove 1500 miles to meet up with me and be with family as we prepared for my father’s funeral. It was not easy to run our business from a distance, as we had no office staff. However, this was only the beginning. Jayne had a scheduled medical procedure when we were returning home that we knew would disrupt our lives. We knew she would be limited for about 3 to 4 months. While at my father’s funeral, I received a call from my doctor informing me that I was diagnosed with cancer and I would need to get home and begin surgery and treatment right away. Jayne and I had surgery 7 days apart from each other one week after my father’s funeral. We ran the business from our bed for the entire summer. Only miracles from God saved us, our family, and our business that

“Only miracles from God saved us, our family, and our business that summer.” - Rob Frasier

summer. During that summer, for every new client call we received, a nurse or social worker from the referral sources was able to step in and perform the assessment for us. Towards the end of my treatment, I received a call from a hospice client and scheduled an in-home assessment on the very first day I was clinically and safely able to leave the house. Jayne’s priority was always our family, specifically our 5 children. During the summer I would get excited that the business would start to grow again and she would say, “OK, I am going to only work in the mornings and then be with the kids.” I knew it was important, but it was difficult to accept that sacrifice. Part of thriving is looking for happiness and success in all parts of your life. Sacrificing family and marriage for money or business will not bring happiness.

When we had been in business for about 4 years, we had grown a bit each year, but still were very small. I was asked by my church to lead a service project during the summer that year. It was difficult for me to accept it due to my long hours and unexpected on-call needs in the business. I felt duty-bound to accept this assignment which would take up a considerable amount of my time. The blessings that came from this cannot be explained. The business grew without me. My family life and marriage grew. My overall happiness improved. We were thriving! Growing our business has not been easy. There have been many rough roads along the way. We have chosen some paths, and some have been thrust upon us in the detours of life. We have a saying in Spokane, Washington, “There are only two seasons in Spokane; winter and construction!” There is always

something in the road standing in our way. That’s why we drive TRUCKS! Don’t let the detours of life stand in your way. Today our business is thriving. Jayne and I primarily provide support and training for most things and let the office staff run the dayto-day business. We have plenty to do in our new roles, but we can choose when to work and how. We still are working our way to the next step and have specific goals to never stay stagnant. Thriving is a state of mind, a state of being, and a state of doing. I thrive because my wife, Jayne, has always been my superpower, my strength, my support, and encouraged me and everyone around her to look forward and be positive in everything we do.

HOW TO HELP YOUR CAREGIVERS THRIVE Marybeth Sondergaard

Marybeth Sondergaard has been a registered nurse in the state of New Jersey for 31 years. She started her career in cardiology at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in telemetry before taking a position with the VNA of Central Jersey as a community health nurse where she was employed for 10 years. According to her, it was a rewarding position helping homebound patients prevent hospitalization and keep the elderly population safe in their homes. Her next opportunity was accepting a Director of Nursing position with an Assisted Living facility in New Jersey where she fell in love with the senior population. In this environment caregivers become their family, friend, confidant, and health care provider. Her accomplishments as DON included 5 deficiency-free surveys, reducing employee turnover from 91% to 15.5%, and maintaining a low hospitalization rate for the residents of her community. While there, she received her certification in dementia care and was also certified to teach the medication aide class in New Jersey. She says her biggest lifetime achievement was being nominated and receiving the nationwide NCAL Nurse of the Year Award. Her philosophy is: when you truly love what you do it’s easy to create achievable outcomes for the safety and well-being of each and every senior you care for, and it’s even more enjoyable to share in the joy they feel when achieving their own personal goals.

hen you own an agency the responsibilities are abundant. You must invest every bit of strength you have working through all the dynamics of your company. There are new problems daily that need your attention. It is your responsibility to see all the problems through with solutions that will benefit both your clients and your agency.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES As a Director of Nursing, I was directly involved with staff that performed all the activities of daily living for the 96 residents of our community. My turnover rate was extremely low and my retention rate was high for the aides that took care of the residents daily. It was my responsibility for scheduling all the staff for the three shifts day-today, making sure that all shifts were covered, educating, and training the staff when issues arose with more complex clients or things that could potentially be dangerous to my staff. I also completed the annual evaluations and the competencies of new tasks delegated. BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS So, there are a few practices I did daily that I feel expedited the wonderful care that my residents received from my aides and I thought sharing them with you could maybe help some of you. The first tip would be to start from the date of hire, sharing mutual respect with your caregivers. We all know that the position that they have and the duties that go along with it are difficult to perform daily, and most of us would agree that we could never do their job. Treating them kindly and showing respect is huge when you are requesting an unpleasant task to be completed.

LEAD BY EXAMPLE Make sure all your other staff is on board with the consideration and respect of your caregivers when having interactions and speaking to them on the phone. Respect starts with you as a boss, but it must be a strict policy of excellent customer service when having interactions with your staff. Be sure to have an open door policy so your staff can speak with you if they are having a difficult time with a client or maybe a client’s family member, or even if they may be going through a crisis at home. It’s a really good practice to let them know that you care about them as people and respect the job they do for you. And you will know that they respect you too when they are comfortable coming to you to talk about different issues they may have going on. Once they have come to you with an issue it is really important that you follow up with them so they know you were listening, and they will trust that you will work with them towards a resolution. TRAINING MOTIVATES Make sure that your education and training for them is on point. Caregivers do like to learn about health issues or different techniques you can offer to make them more

comfortable with a particular client. The caregivers like this education because it makes them feel good about themselves and the job they do daily. Having a good understanding does help improve the care they provide. As a boss, it was a wonderful feeling for me when giving an inservice and educating on a topic to be able to look around the room and see the lights go on. My favorite inservice ever was sensitivity training.

The basis of the in-service was to have them perform tasks we ask of our clients with deficits to perform. I could hear comments around the room like, “That’s why he needs for me to button his shirt”, or “Now I understand why she can’t walk any quicker”, or just simply “Now I get it”. This complete understanding of what it’s like to walk in someone else’s

shoes improved their compassion and their patience when providing care. PROVIDE POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT Your caregivers are the most important people in your company and they will understand that by how you treat them and how you speak to them. They will continue to be there for your clients and give their all to you and your agency. Give them opportunities to grow within your company and ways to help them with feeling good about themselves and the job they do for you. Be appreciative and assist them with problem solving. Make sure to celebrate with your staff. November is National Family Caregivers Month so you can pick a day for a luncheon or a barbecue or even a small token of appreciation. Based on your client feedback it’s very easy to have an employee of the month. You can keep it simple with a certificate of appreciation that you can give them. They will feel proud of the job they do and feel appreciated. And believe

me, they will not hesitate to go home after work and tell their family all about it and maybe their friends that work for other agencies. Kindness, appreciation, and respect go a very long way. These are all the pieces to helping your staff thrive in their positions, and when they thrive as caregivers, your company will thrive as well. IT ALL MAKES SENSE I sometimes think of this analogy when it comes to your employees thriving. There may be many farms in your area that provide fruit and vegetables to the community, but the farm that has the best fruit and vegetables is the business that will thrive. This particular farmer makes sure to nurture his crops, providing crops with the nutrients they need to grow, and he protects and makes sure no weeds grow to hamper their growth. So, all the time he invests in helping his crops grow and thrive he is able to sell beautiful fruit and vegetables to the community. When everyone speaks about the beautiful

fruit and vegetables, word of mouth allows his farm to prosper and thrive. IN CLOSING I was never an agency owner but I can tell you this. I was a boss that had the same 30 employees for the 16 years in my position as Director of Nursing. My staff came to work every day with very few callouts and were trustworthy, loyal to their jobs and me. Everything I asked them to do daily was always completed with a positive attitude. We always shared mutual respect and the reward I received for allowing them to thrive was the excellent care they provided to our clients.

“Respect starts with you as a boss, but it must be a strict policy of excellent customer service when having interactions with your staff.” - Marybeth Sondergaard

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UNDERSTANDING, IMPROVING AND PERFECTING Your Client Service Agreement Bob King, Esq. Attorney and Founder, Legally Nanny® Bob King is an attorney and founder of Legally Nanny®, the leading law firm representing home care agencies, nanny agencies and family employers. Bob represents home care agencies nationwide on a wide variety of employment and business law matters. Bob drafts client contracts, employee handbooks, and severance agreements. He defends agencies in audits, administrative claims, litigation and class actions. Bob is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Home Care Association of America and is an acclaimed speaker for his knowledge, humor and engaging presentations. LegallyNanny.com

s a home care agency, your client service agreement is the foundation of your business. You use it in every transaction with every client. It’s what gets you paid and helps protect you from liability. You want to do it right, do it once, and not worry about it again.

Despite the importance of this document, many home care agencies don’t pay much attention to their client contract. They may have used some form template that didn’t really suit their business. Or they may have “borrowed” another agency’s form when they were just starting out to save money. In either case, the agency may not have spent the time to customize the document to its operations. This article will help you understand, improve and ideally perfect your client service agreement. Here are some essential components that must be in your agreement:

Services: Briefly describe what you do. Importantly, don’t oversell yourself. You shouldn’t commit in a legally binding document to provide “the best home care services in the tri-state area.” Instead, that legally binding contract should state that you will make reasonable efforts according to applicable law to provide non-medical home care services.

Client Responsibilities: Believe it or not, you want more from the client than just money. You also want the client to provide a safe work environment and comply with applicable laws and your policies. You should say that.

More Fee Provisions: Specify how often you bill, when a payment is considered late, and take a credit card as an additional guarantee of payment. Also you hope it doesn’t have to come to this, but make sure you have provisions for interest, collections costs and attorneys’ fees if you have to chase down payment.

Fees: List all your fees. Say when overtime and holiday rates apply. Require reimbursement for expenses. Do you take a deposit? You should, and you should specify it in the agreement. Also make sure you give yourself the right to modify the contract so you don’t need the client to sign off on a new contract every time you change your rates or another provision.

Other Important Policies: List your deadline for a client to cancel a shift and the consequences for failing to meet that deadline. Make sure the client secures valuables. Also include a provision about service interruptions, i.e. you can’t guarantee service or avoid adverse consequences to the client if your caregiver can’t make it.

“Believe it or not, you want more from the client than just money.” - Bob King

technical but incredibly important if a dispute arises between your agency and a client.

Buyout: Have a provision that requires the client to pay if the client directly or indirectly hires your caregiver. But make sure the provision is reasonable in its language and the buyout amount. An overly draconian provision may be unenforceable.

Liability: While you may be able to write some of the provisions yourself, this is the one area you should have a lawyer write. You need a disclaimer (e.g. you can’t make any absolute guarantees regarding your caregivers), indemnity (i.e. if the client does something wrong and you get sued as a result, the client agrees to defend you and pay any judgment against you) and limitation of damages sections. This legalese is

notice to terminate the contract. But it also should give you an out to do so sooner in certain circumstances such as the client’s failure to pay or an unsafe work environment. Once you’ve finalized your agreement, you should roll it out to all clients, new and existing. You want these protections for all your client interactions.

Miscellaneous: If you think these provisions are boring to read about, try actually writing them. Nevertheless, language about choice of law, venue, modification, severability, assignment and waiver are all important in the event of a dispute or enforcement. Think of them like car insurance, they’re not critical until you need them, but when you need them, they’re very important.

Termination: Breaking up is not necessarily hard to do. Make sure your agreement requires written

Also don’t even think of starting service unless a client has signed on your dotted line. If you do, the client could then snatch your caregiver, and without a signed client contract, you likely wouldn’t have any legal recourse against the client. If your client contract contains these provisions properly written and tailored to your agency, you should be all set. Then you must ensure that every client signs it and you enforce the provisions uniformly for all clients. This will give you a solid foundation for your agency to provide your services, get paid, help protect you from liability, and succeed in the marketplace, and if necessary, the courtroom as well.

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The Power Of

Thank You Nicole Peretti Nicole Peretti is the Executive Director at Home Care Evolution and co-founder of the nonprofit, The Institute for Dignity and Grace. She graduated from Rowan University with a degree in Business Administration, with a specialization in Marketing. She oversees all day-to-day operations of both businesses, ensuring they are run properly. Nicole is also a business coach and has worked one-on-one with many clients, who are typically home care business owners, all over the country. She works closely with them to ensure they are using best practices and operating their companies with integrity and a focus on proper patient care. Nicole lives in New Jersey with her two cats and enjoys drinking her morning coffee outside in her beautiful backyard. She loves reading, watching crime dramas on TV, spending time with family, and taking naps on weekends. While still in college, she started her sales career with Cutco Cutlery. Nicole has since managed sales teams for companies in several industries, but her favorite job is what she is doing now. Her passion and talent are in managing people, and that transfers into the work she does with her clients, teaching them how they can best interact with the people they meet and work with daily. She has personal experience with home care for her own family, as well as years of shared knowledge through her clients. She truly cares about helping others, and that shows in all she does.

hen is the last time you received a meaningful, handwritten thank-you note from someone? Put yourself back into that moment and think about how it made you feel. In my case, it was from one of our clients who was attending an event we were hosting. I had spoken about employee appreciation earlier in the meeting and handed out blank thank-you cards to everyone, so they could write a genuine message of appreciation to someone in their lives. One person in that room decided that I was the one worthy of their gratitude at that moment and when I received it, I felt pure joy! BEFORE I EVEN OPENED IT, I felt appreciated, I felt important and special. I knew I had reached that person with my message, and I felt happy. This is a tremendous feeling to give someone and to receive yourself.

I recently read an article about gratitude by Kendra Cherry on verywellmind.com, a website focused on educating people on a wide variety of mental health topics. She wrote, “Gratitude is a positive emotion that involves being thankful and appreciative and is associated with several mental and physical health benefits. When you experience gratitude, you feel grateful for something or someone in your life and respond with feelings of kindness, warmth, and other forms of generosity.” So, showing appreciation to others not only makes them feel good but also has health benefits for yourself. It can create a domino effect where you may show thanks to one person, making them feel awesome and they show thanks to someone else, who feels awesome, and shows thanks to someone else, and it continues. It’s such a simple concept, but with today’s busy and stressful lifestyle, so few practice it continuously and purposefully. Of course, there are many various reasons to thank someone, and there are plenty of different people in your life you can thank. Even casual encounters with strangers can leave a lasting impression of kindness if you take a moment to appreciate them. Our parents taught us to always say

“please” and “thank you” when we were kids, and for many of us it is a well-engrained habit, but we usually put little thought or meaning into those words. I challenge you to focus on the meaning and purpose of thanking someone. Pause and make eye contact with the person when you say it. Start your day in a mindset of gratitude, with a goal of showing meaningful appreciation to three people, or even just one to start. Think of all the interactions you have with people each week, and how you would feel to receive more gratitude from them. Put that out into the world and start the domino effect yourself. For the purposes of this article, I’ll focus on showing appreciation to your employees, but these ideas certainly can apply to anyone in your life. When is the last time you sat down to write a thank-you card? Who was it for and why? Was what you wrote meaningful? Did you truly think about the words you were using and how the person affected you so much that you felt compelled to take the time to do this activity? A handwritten thank-you card is a simple but extremely effective way to communicate gratitude. The note can be long and fill the whole card if you have many things you want to say, but short and sweet

can be just as effective. You simply need to remember three key things and be sure to communicate them somewhere in your message. You don’t need to be a good writer either to accomplish this as long as you include these points. 1. Be specific – Share with them the exact reason that prompted you to write this card to them. It’s OK to thank someone for their hard work or something general, but it’s much more impactful to point out a special thing they did to prompt this extra level of gratitude. 2. Recognize their effort – Explain that you know what they sacrificed to do this for you, whether it be time, money, comfort, etc. Showing that you understand this may not have been easy for them adds importance to your note. 3. Describe how it made you feel – Tell the person how much you were touched by their actions. Did it make your day easier in some way? Did they handle a difficult situation in your absence? Maybe it helped a client, or KEPT a client on service? When you explain how you feel about it, your message is more poignant.

Here are some examples… FOR A CAREGIVER - “Thank you for covering that last-minute shift with Mr. Brown on Tuesday night. I know you were scheduled to be off that day, and you had already worked so hard all weekend. I feel so grateful and relieved to have you on the team, knowing that our client was kept safe at home, and I could count on you to take great care of him. We couldn’t do what we do without you.” FOR A MANAGER - “Thank you for having that difficult conversation with Tina last week. I heard you took her out of the office for a few minutes to go for a walk and got a coffee together. That really calmed her down and seemed to make a difference to everyone here. I know it took you away from some important things you were working on, and probably added some unneeded tasks and stress to your own plate. I feel so thankful you were here to handle it in

my absence and am extremely proud of how much you have grown since you started working here. You are a fantastic manager.” FOR A MARKETER - “I can’t thank you enough for the way you handled the stressful situation with Mrs. Green’s daughter yesterday. I know she made you uncomfortable and was yelling quite a bit. You don’t deserve to be spoken to that way. But I am so appreciative and proud of how you listened and were able to calm her down and find a solution to the problem, so she didn’t cancel services with us. You were amazing!” A few sentences are all it takes to spread the feeling of true gratitude to someone on your team. They, in turn, will feel good about themselves and know that their efforts were noticed and appreciated. They are more likely to be a loyal and hardworking member of your team and pass this appreciation to others, and the cycle will continue from there. Acknowledging the thoughts and efforts of your team with gratitude can help people thrive as individuals and workers. These effects can be lifechanging. I typically write my cards at night once everyone has left for the day, or I will write them at home

and bring them to the office with me. I like for it to be one of the first things they see the next day when they sit at their desk because it will have a lasting effect on the whole entire day for them. I sometimes will include a gift card in a thank-you note, but it isn’t necessary. I will sometimes decorate the card or envelope with stickers like the type teachers put on quizzes that say, “great job” or “way to go!” It adds some pizzazz and also reminds them of something fun and positive from their past. It should be a fun activity for you to write them and make you feel good to pass this wonderful feeling of gratitude throughout your team. Thank you for taking the time to read this article. I know that you are a very busy person and are working so hard to take care of the patients on your service, recruit and retain great caregivers, be a good employer for your staff, and reach your goals. This is not an easy business and I know that even taking a few minutes to do something for yourself can sometimes feel overwhelming. Knowing that you will take a moment sometime in the next few days or weeks to write a handwritten thankyou card to someone on your team and pass the joy around makes me feel like it was worth the effort it took me to write this. I appreciate YOU, and all the work you do for seniors. Have a blessed end to 2022.

“It’s such a simple concept, but with today’s busy and stressful lifestyle, so few practice it continuously and purposefully.” - Nicole Peretti 22

Secure Healthcare Messaging

Stop your care teams texting PHI Sharing patient information over consumer apps or text message puts you and your organization at risk of HIPAA breaches.

Retain Staff

Protect Client Data

Collaborate Efficiently

A single breach of HIPAA can be fined up to $50,000 per day until resolved. Healthcare organizations that turn a blind eye to texting in violation of HIPAA can also face civil charges from the patients whose data has been exposed.

$50K per day

$1.5 Million

1-10 years jail

The cost per single HIPAA breach per day.

The average HIPAA fine.

Range of jail-time for HIPAA violations.

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The Road to $10 Million,

Part 4 Steve “The Hurricane” Weiss, President & CEO of Home Care Evolution

Steve “The Hurricane” Weiss is a dynamic and entertaining public speaker, known for his expert knowledge in all things sales and marketing. From a young age, Steve has been driven to succeed and excelled across vastly different industries. Steve founded Hurricane Marketing Enterprises in 2012 with a goal to help other business owners around the globe. Steve’s passion is to lead business owners on the path to find people in need of their services and convert these prospects into clients. His company’s mission statement is to help business owners increase their census, revenue, and profits. Through his programs and presentations, he has guided thousands of individuals to grow their organizations and continues to help them blow away the competition. With his dedication and hard work, Steve has developed a foolproof program that enables start-up companies to quickly get ahead of the competition while helping existing businesses experience an explosive transformation. Many of his clients double and even triple annual revenue in as little as 6 months.

e have finally made it to part four of “The Road To $10 Million.” In part one, we discussed how many locations, how long it’s going to take, and how we can scale this business quickly. In part two, we discussed the office staff, managing them, and the roles that everybody is going to play to be able to pull off $10 million a year in revenue. In part three, we discussed the recruitment effort. How many applicants, how many interviews, and how many caregivers do we need to hire in order to be able to staff $10 million worth of services? And finally, now here we are with part four, where I’m going to discuss the marketing and sales effort it takes for us to be able to generate over $10 million in private pay revenue every single year.

DEFINE YOUR TARGET CUSTOMER The first part of it is knowing our target customer. Our target customer is an acronym, the word N.E.R.D. (see image). The N stands for great need. Specifically, we are looking for patients that suffer from five or more chronic conditions. These patients are taking more than a dozen medications and need a lot of assistance in order to remain home safely. This will allow you to build your census around clients that will most likely stay with you for a long period of time. Second is E which stands for elderly, a patient who is aged 65 and older. The third is R which equals resources. These are people who have the financial resources to afford private pay services. It does not mean unlimited resources, but they or their family can afford the services needed to remain home. The last D stands for disabled and/or dementia. A patient who is permanently disabled is not someone who is going to need services once or twice, but rather every single day for an extended period of time, maybe even the rest of their life. As for dementia, there isn’t a cure and so you’re looking at a long-term client, who needs much supervision. Building your business

around this type of patient will allow you to take care of a few patients, making it easier to manage their care, while having those patients with full-time (or more) care. This will definitely get you to goal faster and you will be providing the ability for those with the greatest need to remain in the comfort of their home for their remaining time.

HOW MANY N.E.R.D.S IN OUR TERRITORY? Just how many target customers exist in our marketplace? This is the second part of the equation here. If you look at the demographics on the next page, you’ll see that for every million people in one area, the statistics show that you will have 6,000 N.E.R.D. patients. That means if I have half a million people in my service area,

“...you will be well on your way to generating the demand to scale your revenue to and beyond $10 million annually.” - Steve “The Hurricane” Weiss

there are 3,000 N.E.R.D.s. Even if I have only a quarter of a million people in my service area, there are still more than 1,500 N.E.R.D.s. The point is, there’s plenty to go around and we can focus our efforts on obtaining these referrals. HOW MANY PATIENTS MUST WE SERVE TO GENERATE $10M? How many N.E.R.D.s does it take for us to be able to generate over $10 million in total annual revenue? To start, let us use a rate of $30 an hour. To generate $10M, we divide by $30 to determine the number of hours per year. Next, we divide by 52 weeks in a year, so we can determine the average number of hours per week we need to bill. Last, we divide the number of averaged hours per week by the volume of care given per client. Being the limitations of our patients with 5 or more chronic conditions, your average hours per client should be well over 40 hours. So for a round figure, we used 40 hours a week. The image here shows us that if we maintain approximately 165 patients on our census for an entire year, that will generate over $10M. The math works every single time.

HOW MANY REFERRALS DO I NEED TO REACH/MAINTAIN $10M? Patients come and go frequently, but because we are focusing on Disabled/ Dementia patients, we can expect our patient attrition to be much lower/ slower than normal, as these patients will need help for extended periods of time. Therefore, we can estimate a need to start care for 300 patients to maintain a census of about 165. Using a conversion ratio of 33%, we would need to receive about 900 referrals to sign up 300 patients. Now having a successful marketing team of 3 FT marketers, this breaks down to each of those representatives averaging 5-6 referrals each week (about 25 per month). The best thing about this is your website (SEO, Adwords, etc.) should also be generating leads

for your company and so to get this type of volume is definitely attainable. Remember while these numbers seem steep, you’re also talking about having a full staff as mentioned in a previous issue.

WHERE WILL WE FIND THESE PATIENTS? This is where our strategic development of referral sources is essential. We have to be able to get these patients from hospitals, rehabilitation centers, long-term acute care hospitals, and skilled nursing facilities. The other places that have these types of patients are our power partners, which are other home-based providers, such as the skilled Medicare home health agencies and our in-home hospice agencies. By having a basis of around 30 to 40 of these types of entities

referring us consistently just two to three patients per month each that will generate the number of referrals needed for us to be able to sign on and start 300 new patients. To achieve this, I recommend having three full-time marketing representatives where each marketing representative is managing approximately 20-25 accounts each. Then that should allow each rep to get 10 or so that will refer you about 25 times per year, just two referrals a month. Then the other accounts will send referrals here or there to make up the difference.

In closing, the numbers don’t lie. There is a huge demand for private duty care in all markets. By understanding the KPIs mentioned here, being strategic in your marketing efforts, and mastering your inquiry/closing process, you will be well on your way to generating the demand to scale your revenue to and beyond $10 million annually. I hope you enjoyed this four-part series, and if you need help accomplishing this goal, check out our services at homecareevolution.com and let’s get you started today.

THE TOP 3 KPIs You Need To Improve For Your Business To Thrive Todd Austin, President & Chief Operating Officer, HCP Todd is the President at HCP, where he is responsible for all aspects of the business. On a mission to guide home care agencies in providing excellent care, Todd is focused on improving agencies’ insights and training, creating a world where every patient, family member, and care provider has peace of mind. He is a sought-after speaker and innovative thinker in home care with a passion for delivering unique, authentic messages. He prides himself on helping businesses, agency owners, and teams achieve their potential. HomeCarePulse.com

he home-based care industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the United States with over 10,000 adults turning 65 each day. Measure your agency’s performance against these top industry metrics to see if your business is thriving in the ever-evolving landscape of home care—or merely surviving. 98% of agency owners admit that the caregiver shortage has had a negative impact on their business—which means only 2% of providers felt like they had adequate staff to run their agency.

To make matters worse, agencies who reported that the shortage caused an extremely negative impact jumped by nearly 10% from last year. We surveyed over 760 providers, representing over 1,461 locations, to uncover the top 3 Key Performance Indicators that you need to track and improve for your business to thrive.

turnover has stayed nearly the same for the past 3 years. Therefore, agencies with an employee turnover rate lower than the average of 65% recognize that the issue with employee turnover doesn’t lie in the recruitment of employees, but in the retention of them.

You’ll end this year on top if:

How to thrive with this KPI: As 85% of all home care providers have had to turn down client cases due to a lack of staff, agencies that are thriving are prioritizing building a strong caregiver recruitment and retention program at the top of their to-do list.

You have a below-average care staff turnover rate ●

You’re building strong relationships with clients and referral sources ●

You offer your staff career advancement ●

offer at least 8 hours of training in orientation and 12 ongoing training hours are making $701,072 more in revenue each year than agencies who only train the minimum hours needed for compliance.

YOU HAVE A BELOWAVERAGE CARE STAFF TURNOVER RATE The average agency will hire around 81 Start building yours by: caregivers this year, but our research shows that 65% of them will quit by ● Offering the end of the year. At $2,600 per orientation and caregiver, that means it will cost your ongoing training: agency approximately $136,890 in The average agency annual caregiver turnover costs to currently only replace them. offers 5 hours of orientation training While the number of agencies that and 8 hours of experienced caregiver shortages ongoing training. has increased, the rate of caregiver But those who

Fostering a culture of recognition: Gather feedback about what makes your staff feel validated and regularly recognize their accomplishments according to their professional “love language.” ●

YOU’RE BUILDING STRONG RELATIONSHIPS WITH CLIENTS AND REFERRAL SOURCES What your clients think about you generates over 35% of your agency’s total income, making their opinion worth $582,700 for the average agency. As a result, providers who are thriving despite the caregiver shortages are

focusing their energy on building strong relationships with their clients and other referral sources. In fact, agency owners who do this are doing better than they have for the last 4 years. Providers experienced 7.3% client growth on average last year, surpassing the mere 5% growth seen in 2020; client growth hasn’t been this high since before 2018. Median revenue also has continued to grow. In the last 4 years, median revenue has grown by 7.1%. How to thrive with this KPI: Your clients notice when your employees have the skills and tools they need in their roles. Likewise,

it’s just as clear when your care staff doesn’t feel confident in fulfilling their job responsibilities. Potential referrers want to be confident you’re able to care for new clients they send your way, so address your clients’ (and staff’s) number one complaint this year: lack of adequate training. To ensure everyone is delivering consistent quality care on behalf of your agency, your caregivers need to have enough training to feel confident in their role before their first scheduled shift in the field. Train your caregivers in the following basics that will equip your employees with the skills they need to confidently care for your clients.

major health insurance, dental/ supplement, sick leave, and daily/ weekly payment options. Periodically reevaluating your wages to stay current: Agencies everywhere are increasing their employee wages by $1-2 for the following positions: Companion/ Homemaker, Personal Care Attendant, Certified Nurse Assistant, and Registered Nurse. ●

DATA: THE SECRET TO GO FROM SURVIVING TO THRIVING Thriving in this industry is an ongoing conscious practice—one you can’t do without data. Measure yourself against more top industry metrics like these with the HCP Benchmarking Report to ensure your business isn’t falling into survival mode. OFFER YOUR STAFF CAREER ADVANCEMENT OPPORTUNITIES With 10 million job openings in the US right now, agencies are having to strengthen their offerings to compete in the job market. Big chain employers all over the country combatted pandemic-induced employee shortages by raising their minimum wages, making it more difficult for independent home care agencies to compete. But agencies who are thriving know it’s about more than increasing pay to combat workforce shortages. How to thrive with this KPI: Providers thriving in the industry understand that in order for their staff to invest their best efforts towards working for their agency, they must first invest in their staff. Actively demonstrate

your involvement in your staff’s professional development by: Showcasing your agency’s career ladder: As 3/4 of caregivers enter the industry with the intent to pursue a career in nursing or healthcare, providers are promoting their agency’s career development opportunities. Allow your care staff to advance in their own interests by offering specialized training to see an increase in both client and staff satisfaction. ●

Offering the top benefits: 90% of all home care agencies now provide their employees with benefits and are improving their compensation packages for less than the cost of high salary bumps. The top benefits from providers are travel reimbursement, PTO, ●

About HCP: HCP leads the homebased care industry in experience management, training, and reputation management. Through its Care Intelligence Platform, HCP empowers providers in home care, home health, and hospice to attract and retain employees during workforce shortages. HCP also conducts the annual HCP Benchmarking Report, the most comprehensive survey of providers in North America, and administers Best of Home Care awards to agencies that achieve bestin-class satisfaction scores. For more information, visit HomeCarePulse.com

9 Ways

The Right Home Care Platform Can Help Your Agency Thrive SmartcareSoftware.com

rior to the pandemic, care for our aging population was already moving from facility to home. The pandemic accelerated this shift across the United States and worldwide by proving that home is the safest place for our seniors to receive care.

In the United States, the population over 65 is projected to grow from 56 million in 2020 to 75 million in 2030, and the US Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 70% of adults over 65 will need assistance at some point. This demographic shift represents both a challenge and an opportunity for home care providers. At the same time, according to Home Care Pulse, 85% of surveyed home care providers have had to turn down clients because of a critical lack of caregivers.

In this article, we explore ways that an advanced Electronic Health Record (EHR) platform like Smartcare Software can set the stage for success and ensure agencies can take advantage of the growth in the home care market. ABOUT SMARTCARE SOFTWARE’S SOLUTION Smartcare is a complete, cloud-based solution for home care providers. With sophisticated automation, connected technologies, and advanced proactive analytics, Smartcare helps produce better patient outcomes, simplifies back-office functions, and drives higher profitability for providers. Using next-generation technology and innovation, Smartcare works diligently to help solve the critical challenges home care providers face as they contend with the explosive needs of an aging population.

1. Improving the hiring process and increasing caregiver retention Great caregivers are the cornerstone of a provider’s business and are difficult to find and retain. Solving the current caregiver crisis requires new approaches and creative thinking. Smartcare’s solution to this problem is unique to the industry. Smartcare Software addresses the market’s caregiver retention pain point with an awardwinning, multi-faceted approach that increases retention by focusing on the caregiver experience. By leveraging the latest research in machine learning (ML), gamification, and advanced automation, Smartcare is solving home care’s staffing and retention crisis while providing a superior user and client experience. Central to Smartcare Software’s retention toolset is Caregiver Rewards, the industry’s first embedded loyalty program, which leverages gamification principles to reward caregivers improving retention and engagement rates. Multiple additional elements intrinsic to the Smartcare platform contribute to caregiver retention, including the new ENGAGE Hiring Hub. ENGAGE is a comprehensive applicant pipeline system designed to address the unique challenges of attracting and onboarding caregivers. It decreases applicant dropout while helping build an employer brand to attract and hire top talent, growing the agency and improving outcomes. 2. Faster client/patient intakes Home care agencies can significantly speed up the client intake process with the right technology. From filling out and signing forms to creating and managing care plans, home care software can digitalize and archive all the paperwork involved in a client’s/patient’s care. The software eliminates many redundancies in the process and flow of new client intakes. In some cases, agencies can shorten the turnaround time for starting a

new client to as little as 24 hours and allow for signing all required forms directly in the home.

WILLIAM MATTLE

William (Bill) Mattle has over 20 years of experience in healthcare and has worked directly with some of the largest health systems in the United States. Bill is a Founder of Smartcare and currently serves as Chief Product Officer (CPO). He is responsible for developing Smartcare’s overall product vision.

SCOTT ZIELSKI

Scott Zielski has extensive sales, marketing, and operational expertise in both corporate and entrepreneurial environments with P&L responsibility and high growth results. Scott is currently serving as CEO, Chairman of the Board, and Founder of Smartcare Software, a complete home care automation platform.

SHARON MORRISETTE

Sharon Morrisette has over twenty years of experience in the software industry, both in marketing and technical roles. With a passion for excellence, she’s spent her career working with dynamic companies that develop technology to create solutions for real-world problems. She currently serves as Smartcare’s VP of Marketing.

In addition to faster client/patient intake and an in-depth record of the patient’s information – including address, medications, diagnoses, and treatment plans – an advanced EHR platform ensures all patient records are kept secure by the home care provider at all times.

3. Better client/patient outcomes Advanced home care technology like Smartcare helps agencies put the client/patient first to guarantee they receive the highest quality of care without the need to change their lifestyle. The right software optimizes the caregiver’s delivery of care and provides consistency for better client/ patient outcomes by giving caregivers real-time access to schedules, care plans, documentation, prescription instructions, and caregiver notes. Additionally, mobile-friendly technology like Smartcare provides advanced, HIPAA-compliant communication tools for agencies, caregivers, clients/patients, and their families – helping agencies to continually build two-way communication, engagement strength, and overall customer satisfaction.

4. Better communication between the agency-caregiver-patient Technology solutions like Smartcare’s family portal make it easier for patients to connect with their caregivers and for families to be more involved in their loved one’s care. Agencies can use similar tools to streamline and organize all communications with their clients, caregivers, and staff remotely via secure messaging and chat. During times of crisis, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, technology ensures home care agencies can keep communication channels open and support effective collaboration between their teams.

5. Keeping up with regulatory requirements It’s essential for home care agencies that bill Medicaid to stay EVV compliant, making sure they report accurate information about the care they provide by tracking hours, notes, location information, and much more about the patient-caregiver interaction. An advanced home care software platform makes this process seamless by automating the tracking.

filing and quick access, so your team can focus on more critical aspects of agency management.

6. Simplifying the billing and payroll process Many billing and payroll software tools are tailored to small and medium businesses, making the accountant’s job much more manageable. Home care agencies can integrate a software platform like Smartrcare with software like Quickbooks Online to keep track of their billing and payments. Smartcare’s integration eliminates the need for double entry of data. Automating and streamlining the billing and payment processes saves time and makes using advanced functions like multi-payer options easier.

7. Keeping up with caregiver certificates and other documentation It’s vital to keep an up-to-date, detailed record of each caregiver’s certificates, certificate expiration dates, upcoming training, and more – which is where the right technology can make a significant difference. Smartcare tracks licenses and training and lists upcoming expiration dates on a centrally located KPI. In addition, all applicant documentation is stored in a centralized hub for easy

8. Solving scheduling conflicts and providing flexibility for caregivers The right technology allows home care agencies to streamline their scheduling and caregiver planning process, automate the caregiver notification process, post and manage open shifts, and more. Smartcare’s Dynamic Scheduling does all of this, in addition to allowing caregivers to access their schedules and tasks, the directions of their patient’s home, accept shifts, clock in/out, enter their task recordings, access company documents, and more. Simplifying the scheduling process, adding flexibility, and keeping caregivers informed and connected means technology can help agencies to increase engagement, motivation, and retention.

9. Real-Time Data for Informed Decisions Every home care provider should track several key performance indicators (KPIs) to strengthen

their business operations. KPIs allow businesses to set specific goals and measure their team’s and business’s success accordingly. In addition, they demonstrate what needs to change or improve and what needs to be celebrated or rewarded. With Smartcare, providers can forget tracking KPIs with stacks of reports that are out-of-date in minutes. Smartcare’s real-time KPIs explicitly designed for home care is the secret sauce providers need to understand their agency’s performance and make adjustments to achieve goals. START THRIVING The right home care technology can help solve many of home care agencies’ biggest challenges, including caregiver hiring and retention. Agencies can ensure success and thrive in the evolving healthcare landscape by adopting advanced home care management platforms. Smartcare Software solutions drive the best practices in care while increasing the engagement of caregivers, clients, and client family members, leading to improved outcomes and increased satisfaction. To learn more about Smartcare Software, visit SmartcareSoftware.com.

The right home care technology can help solve many of home care agencies’ biggest challenges, including caregiver hiring and retention. - Smartcare 35

“Why We Care – Choosing the Right Home Care Agency”

his book, which already reached bestseller status on Amazon, is designed to help the millions of individuals and their families who must navigate the challenges of caring for aging parents and outline their options. “Why We Care” provides essential insight into choosing a home healthcare agency from those in the industry, along with stories from real people who found solutions to help their parents age in place with the dignity and grace they deserve. “This book was written so that we could tell the story about home healthcare for people who need it and the families who have to make that decision,” said Steve “The Hurricane”™ Weiss, co-author of the book, co-founder of the Institute of Dignity and Grace, and CEO of Hurricane Marketing Enterprises. The book was co-written with home care agency owners and professionals, Haytham Najjar; Lynn Marie Houghton; Sandra Dougherty; Vikki Kalitsi; Judy Loubier, PT, CSA CDP; Nicole Peretti; Krista Gaul; and Kunu Kaushal, CSA. Published by the Institute for Dignity and Grace, “Why We Care – Choosing the Right Home Care Agency” is available on Amazon ($17.99 and Kindle version for $4.99). Everyone will eventually need some type of home healthcare services and choosing what form that care will take can be overwhelming. “Why We Care – Choosing the Right Home Care Agency,” provides readers with essential information in a positive way on aging parents, aging at home, and aging with dignity and grace. Proceeds of the book go towards The Institute for Dignity and Grace.

Buy your copy from Amazon here. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/ B075SJ99P3/ To buy wholesale as gifts to your clients and industry partners, call us at 732-414-6155