Home care organizations are made up of two teams: clinicians and operators. A successful marriage between these teams is like a pair of glasses. Each lens has a separate focus but only when connected and working together can you achieve the shared vison of sustained success. We explored the differences between the two in the first part of our series. The second shared vision home care organizations should be focused on is growth.

In home care, you cannot be in business without taking care of your clients and you cannot take care of your clients if you aren’t in business. We will be looking at ways clinicians and operators can ensure the organization can take care of clients while growing the business.

The Clinical Focus

Fulfilling care needs and prioritizing the goal of healthy clients will remain the focus for clinicians. These needs will be decided on through several scenarios: physician order, payer authorization, client or family request, agency assessment or a combination of these items.

• Assess what is essential to client safety and care goals: This must be done on a case-by-case basis, looking through all clients and their specific needs. Someone who was just discharged from the hospital might have care needs that are more essential than a stable client with family members available and willing to perform care.
• Solve the personnel puzzle: This is where your clinical focus can assist the operational team in assessing what caregivers have the necessary skills to cover every need for a client, or as many needs as possible, a puzzle that must fit perfectly to create a successful picture.

The Operational Focus

Financial viability is a must for a home care organization to last. Talking about finances for providing care can sometimes make people feel uncomfortable, but the organization must turn a profit in order to exist.

• Objectively evaluate profitability: Look at the direct and indirect costs of your business.
  • Direct Costs – Is a client demanding only one clinician for care, raising your overtime costs? Can you renegotiate the client’s rate to a fair market value or have the clinician introduce the client to another caregiver with similar skills?
  • Indirect Costs – Is the cost of managing a difficult client with unattainable expectations worth the cost associated with stress on your staff? Are there potential liability concerns that may cause financial harm down the road?

Separate Focus, Shared Vision

While your goal through home care is to provide services and make a long-lasting impact on clients, your organization is not a non-profit; it’s a business. Looking for inefficiencies in both scheduling and your clients’ needs can help grow your organization and achieve the shared focus of sustained success.

You can read more in our series on achieving long-term home care success and how to identify the important variables in our previous blog.

Upcoming installments will explore how the concept of separate focus with shared vision can marry clinical and operational teams for lasting success in the home care industry. Axxess Home Care, our innovative home care software, provides the tools necessary for your organization to succeed.