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Owning a home care agency can be an excellent way to set yourself up for financial security, but the margins are often frustratingly thin.
While providing excellent care to your clients is always a top priority, finding ways to increase revenue and reduce expenses can help you grow your business and improve your profitability.
Here are three specific strategies to help you boost your home care agency's bottom line:
1. Start a Specialty Program.
One of the most effective ways to differentiate your agency and charge a premium is to offer specialty programs. Specialty programs are programs where your caregivers are trained to provide specialized care for clients with specific conditions or backgrounds, such as dementia care or veteran care.
By offering specialized care, you can offer a higher level of service and charge more for it. You may need to invest in additional training and resources for your caregivers, but the additional investment can pay off in the form of increased revenue and a higher level of client satisfaction.
Some specific examples of specialty programs that you could offer include:
➝ Condition-specific care: Focus your agency's care services around clients with one or more specific conditions, such as dementia, COPD, or diabetes. You can then market your agency as a specialist in this area, which can help you attract clients who require more comprehensive care.
➝ Whole-person care: Rather than just focusing on one area of care, such as personal care or companionship, offer a holistic approach to care that evaluates a client's well-being across all the social determinants of health. This may include offering services related to socialization, mental health, and physical activity.
➝ Culturally specific care: Offer programs intended for people with specific backgrounds or cultural beliefs, such as veterans, immigrants, or members of religious communities. By offering services tailored to a specific population, you can differentiate your agency and attract clients who feel more comfortable with culturally-sensitive care.
An added benefit of specialty programs is that they typically provide a clear path to you in terms of marketing and recruiting.
For example, if you decide to specialize in a specific cultural background, it becomes clear that the way to market your agency is to network through the channels and organizations popular with that demographic.
2. Offer Value-Added Services.
While providing basic non-medical care services is the core of your business, offering additional value-added services can help you increase your revenue and stand out from the competition.
Value-added services are additional services related to your core offering that can be priced separately and comprise additional revenue streams. Examples may include:
➝ Meal prepping services: Offer meal preparation services to clients who may not be able to cook for themselves or who would benefit from having nutritious meals prepared for them.
➝ Transportation services: Offer transportation services to clients who need assistance getting to appointments, shopping, or social engagements.
➝ Full-service housekeeping: Offer housekeeping services to clients who need assistance with tasks such as cleaning, laundry, and organizing.
By offering value-added services, you can create additional revenue streams for your business and provide more comprehensive care to your clients.
3. Use technology to become more efficient at back-office
tasks.
Using technology can help you streamline your administrative tasks and become more efficient.
Administrative tasks such as scheduling, billing, payroll, and bookkeeping can be time-consuming and expensive.
If you haven’t already, invest in scheduling software that can help automate the scheduling process and make it easier to manage. This is an absolute must because of the immediate lift on your and your team’s time.
You can also use technology to manage other administrative tasks and reduce overhead costs, such as office space and equipment.
Some specific examples:
➝ Ensure that your team is fully utilizing your scheduling software. If your team is only using 50% of the features, or caregivers are intimidated by the software, you’re likely wasting time and resources.
➝ Use an Applicant Tracking System such as CareerPlug, Hireology, or Carework to minimize the time spent on manual hiring tasks.
➝ Use a project management system such as Asana to track internal tasks with your office team, so that you can easily see everyone’s to-do list and collaborate as needed.
Profitability Requires Investment
Running a successful home care agency requires a combination of excellent care and savvy business practices. By starting a specialty program, offering value-added services, and using technology to become more efficient, you can boost your bottom line and grow your business.
Remember that every dollar you save on expenses or generate in additional revenue is a dollar that can be reinvested in your business, helping you provide even better care to your clients.
It's worth noting that implementing these strategies may require some upfront investment in the form of staff training, additional resources, or technology. However, the benefits can be significant. By differentiating your agency and offering higher-quality services, you can attract more clients and charge more for your services. By becoming more efficient and reducing overhead costs, you can improve your margins and profitability.
If you’re interested in improving your profitability, check out Careswitch—a new agency management system that includes nearly everything you need to run your business from one place. We use a freemium pricing model (Google it!), so you can use most of the features for free as long as you want and add paid add-ons like payroll processing when you need them. It’s also designed to be learned in minutes rather than days, unlike most agency management
software. Learn more at Careswitch.com.
Connor Kunz, Before coming to Careswitch, Connor ran two service businesses, growing their profits by 7 figures in less than three years. He also worked as head of marketing and education at Home Care Pulse, where he led the Home Care Benchmarking Study, founded the Home Care Growth Summit, and launched Home Care TV.
A note from Rachel at Carework
Looking for recruiting help?
We've got you! Here at Carework, home care hiring is all we do and we are experts at navigating this market to get you the best results, exceeding your hiring goals. Connect with us and let us take recruiting off your hands so that you, as an agency owner, can stay in your zone of genius while we are in ours.