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Referral sources are the lifeblood of home care companies, and strong relationships with them are a path to sustainability for providers, even when there are headwinds in payments and staffing.
Avid Health at Home’s referral source strategy incorporates many elements: The company prioritizes daily communication and personalizing outreach.
“No two referral sources or payers are exactly the same, so it’s important to get to know the people who are referring cases to you and tailor your communication style to their needs and preferences for how they want to hear about your business,” Jennifer Lentz, CEO of Avid Health at Home, told Home Health Care News.
Avid Health at Home is an in-home care platform backed by private equity firm Havencrest Capital Management. The company has made several acquisitions over the past year and is experiencing rapid growth.
Feedback is another key element of Avid Health at Home’s strategy, Lentz said.
“Only when we understand exactly how we are perceived in the community can we do better, improve and grow,” she said. “We have established channels for regular feedback from referral sources and payers so we can address concerns in a more timely manner, just as we do with customer and employee satisfaction scores.”
Referrals to Avid Health at Home come from word of mouth, partnerships within the community and payment sources.
American Advantage HomeCare is another company that understands the importance of strong relationships with referral sources, which have helped grow the company’s customer base since CEO Creamon Moore Jr. acquired the company in 2019.
Based in Dearborn, Michigan, American Advantage Home Care provides skilled nursing, rehabilitation and specialty care services. The company currently serves four counties in southeast Michigan with a patient population of 200.
About 70% of American Advantage Home Care’s referrals come from patients discharged from hospitals, according to Moorer, who also gets referrals from local doctors and through word of mouth.
As part of its enhanced referral strategy, American Advantage Home Care has positioned itself as a solutions provider for case managers and discharge planners.
“Not only can we help with referrals of patients that we can take, but we go a step further and help strategically identify other providers in case we can’t take on a patient,” Moeller told HHCN, “Some of those other providers could be infusion services for patients who need antibiotics or inpatient facilities if a patient needs physical therapy or rehabilitation.”
The idea behind becoming a solutions provider means going beyond the transactional nature of your relationships with referral sources.
“How can we change the experience for not only the patient and their family, but also the discharge planners and caseworkers who are trying to care for these patients,” Moorer said.
Consistency is key for Friendly Faces Senior Care, a Houston, Texas-based in-home care provider that specializes in caring for patients with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
“Consistency is key,” Kiana James, CEO of Friendly Faces Senior Care, told HHCN, “There are so many other in-home care providers out there, the minute you leave, three or four more are coming in behind you, so I teach my team to be consistent when it comes to follow-up.”
According to data from Activated Insights, when looking at what areas home care and home health providers see as their biggest growth opportunities in 2024, 33.1% of home care providers and 16.8% of home health providers identify strengthening relationships with referral sources as the biggest opportunity.
Source: Activated Insights
As a result of Avid Health at Home’s strategy, the company has realized a significant uptick in organic growth coupled with growth through acquisitions.
Similarly, American Advantage Home Care has seen consistent success through its focus on referral relationships.
“We think of growth in terms of patient retention, not just new patient acquisition,” Moeller says. “A lot of agencies want to focus on more growth, more patients, more territory, more revenue, but if you really dig in and say you want to do more and contribute more for the patients that you serve and the stakeholders in your community, that will lean more toward quality conversations and improved credibility.”
Ultimately, Moore believes home care leaders should cement themselves as part of the overall health care ecosystem.
“You want to position yourself and your agency as a key part of a larger ecosystem, and to do that you need referrals and cross-referrals from other types of organizations,” he said.
