This article is part of the HHCN+ membership
With a multi-state footprint, including large national players like AccentCare and Help at Home, home care providers are discovering not only cultivating strong local presences, but also comforting clients and caregivers, driving better outcomes and strengthening referral pipelines.
Combining national enterprise resources with a personalized approach to care requires dedicated marketing and operational strategies, experts told Home Health News.
“We've seen a lot of effort into our business,” said Janet Weinz, executive homecare brand president. “They feel that they understand where they live, their culture, etc. They really feel that they are hiring the right caregivers to provide that experience.”
Based in Hackensack, New Jersey, Executive Home Care offers non-medical home services, including dating, personal care, live-in care, and the Alzheimer's and Dementia Care Service Line. The company has 82 franchise locations in 17 states.
Some executive homecare franchise operators have chosen to highlight the company's national presence and instead highlight the local nature of the individual franchises, Wines said.
The franchise business is not the only company that emphasizes local presence.
According to the company's chief operating officer, Ray Smithberger, HOME AT HOME, which has 200 locations in 11 states that offer personal and integrated care management services, they are trying to “absolutely” develop a local sense.
“I have 50 years of experience so I understand that home care is local, it's personal,” Smithberger told HHCN via email. “As we have grown as an organization in breadth and depth, we intentionally embed ourselves in our community, which allows us to provide the best home care experience.
Personal Touch – and a more powerful referral pipeline
Healthcare decisions are very personal and are made at a local level, according to Heather Wilson, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Accentcare.
“Patients and their families want to know who will take care of them or their loved ones,” Wilson said. “Having a shared sense of community and culture plays a role that comes from connecting locally.”
Acute healthcare provider AccentCare offers personal care, home hygiene, palliation and hospice care in more than 250 locations in 32 states and Washington, DC, and the company is trying to create a local sense for its clients.
Patients and clients want connections and personal touches from home-based care providers, but certain benefits come with being a large business. Technology stacks are usually more robust, training is often standardized, and franchisees help franchise operators with tasks like marketing and branding.
Becoming a franchise owner for a national company typically provides additional help to make the process much faster than opening up mama and pop operations.
Combining the benefits of a national presence, a hyperlocal approach combines patients with the best in both worlds. It also helps providers to build referral pipelines.
“Referral partners want to know that patients are cared for, and they want to know and trust the people who are entrusting them with.
Building a local presence and reputation can provide difficult and accurate information about home-based personal care options to the Medicaid-qualified population and veterans at home.
“We are community experts with years of relationships with referral agencies and state partners, and we can be a reliable resource to bridge that gap, simplifying information and providing guidance on options (home-based and community-based services),” Smithberger said.
Create a hyper-local feeling
Providers use operational and marketing strategies to create a local feel for their clients while taking advantage of the benefits of large companies.
Technology plays a key role in supporting your home strategy.
“Our investment in technology and innovation streamlines and enhances operations between caregivers, clients and partners in the communities we serve,” Smithburger said. “By focusing the management process and simplifying recruitment and retention, we have enabled local teams to focus on what is most important, supporting caregivers and clients in our local community.
In fact, Help at Home technology products include on-demand apps available to employees. The app consists of learning opportunities, scheduling, payment details, and chat and telephone communication.
The company has also created a “Community Hub” within Walmart and near local grocery stores, providing potential clients and caregivers information while “meeting people at the heart of the community.”
Marketing also plays a key role in creating local relevance across the nation.
“It's a challenge to have a national brand that requires local franchisees to run the brand and build it at the same time,” said Teresa Celmer, chief marketing officer at BrightStar Care, at the HHCN webinar in April. “So what we did is have a team of people who are dedicated to local marketing.”
Chicago-based BrightStar offers home care, senior living and supplemental staffing services. Peak Rock Capital acquired Brightstar in March.
BrightStar's local marketing team creates marketing infrastructure for company franchisees, Celmer says, including setting up a website, configuring the right keywords, building a Google business profile, launching a social media presence on Instagram and Facebook, and more.
“We have this mindset that we can always have a portfolio of assets targeting their services and their location,” Selmer said.
With AccentCare, building local relevance through marketing involves telling hyperlocal stories, and having a team on the ground become their own storytellers, telling local stories, and creating local relevances.
Through a variety of combinations of marketing and operational strategies, a community-focused approach to home care is rewarded for providers.
“We unlocked the possibilities of community-centric care with a high-five, high-tech model that strengthens connections,” Smithburger said. “The results are measurable improvements in the well-being, satisfaction and outcomes of caregivers and clients.”
