Home Health Agency Marketing

NedRN · Mar 10, 2015

Pardon my incredulity, but you worked 7 years in home health without finding out from patients or the office how they were referred? Then you became interested in starting a similar business while still working and still didn't ask patients or office about very basic stuff? That just seems well...

Now that you are presumably no longer working for someone else, it will be much harder to do research. But if you really want to succeed, you are going to have to leave your comfort zone. Walk into hospitals and other facilities and start asking questions. Try social workers, case managers, hospitalists, and any docs you run across. Try cold calling primary care docs, or talk to their office staff about who they refer patients to and why. You might try poaching employees from other home health agencies that do know how the business works and who may have existing relationships they can utilize. You will need back office personnel anyway at a minimum.

As you now realize, starting businesses is hard work and it is not generally recommended to start outside your area of expertise, which is where you are effectively. There are thousands of books on starting up and marketing a business, and facilitating relationships. A simple search on Amazon and twenty bucks will do you a lot more good than a forum query! I have no doubt that there are some specific to home health.

caliotter3 · Mar 10, 2015

As an external nursing employee of an agency, when I was pleased, I took business cards with me and handed them out to both prospective clients and prospective employees. More than one other agency advertised incentives to employees who provided viable referrals. A token amount, even just $25, would be ok at first. You can increase the amount when feasible. Offer to give short presentations at church groups or other such gatherings. You never know where you can find business.

LJ85, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN · May 27, 2015

As an LPN staff nurse at the time, it wasn't my first priority to find out how the clients were referred. I hadn't been thinking about starting my own agency then and I was just graduating RN school at the time the idea was conceived. Trust me, I did ask the office, they weren't jumping at the chance to give me any information about anything that didn't directly relate to me providing patient care and I made the mistake of confiding in a coworker about my thoughts of starting an agency during the time we were just getting going as a company and I was immediately viewed as a competitor and an enemy. At that point I respectfully resigned to reserve my status there and to retain a good review as I was also just graduating RN school and looking for a new job to pay the bills while I started my home health business. We are now a year in and I have leaned a lot. We are still struggling to make it a successful business but we are going in the right direction. I am just apprehensive because I have no one to look to for guidance and I want to do things the right way.

PaleoNurse · May 27, 2015

Home health is one of the toughest, most competitive sectors in health care. I have 8 years of experience in the home health and hospice industry and I've had many roles ranging from nurse to administration to home health CMS surveyor. Unfortunately, home health and hospice are among the greatest areas of Medicare fraud and abuse right now and a lot of referrals from less reputable agencies are obtained illegally (kickbacks to physicians and other referral sources). Marketing ploys such as going to independent/assisted living centers and hosting huge giveaways/lunches, etc. for residents and staff are also looked upon suspiciously. So, whatever you do, keep it squeaky clean because CMS and the FBI do pay attention to all of that.

Getting referrals is really all about establishing relationships with sources out in the community. What does your agency offer that others can't or don't? Get into physician's offices, hospital case management departments, nursing home social work departments, and assisted living facilities and introduce yourself. Be prepared to offer some kind of value to them (that isn't illegal and doesn't have monetary value). Educational presentations to their staff on topics that are pertinent to you both (pain management, advanced directives, etc) can be a way to get your foot in the door. If you can apply to be a CEU provider to nurses, CNAs, SWs, etc, that can be hugely helpful. Good luck!