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The home health care industry faces pressure to remain profitable while innovating care models and reimbursement systems, and technology is emerging as an important way for providers to do so, even though technology tools require their own investments.
Uncertainty within the industry, such as that caused by the proposed CY2026 Medicare Home Health Payment Rule in 2025, highlights the imperative for healthcare providers to evolve their organizations through AI.
“When you start talking about, ‘Can we afford to innovate significantly?’ – we have to innovate,” Alivia Care Chief Operating Officer Philip Ward said at Home Healthcare News' FUTURE conference. “We have to change. Instead of saying, 'We can't invest in a fee-for-service world right now,' we have to look to the future in 2030. Well, if we're going to protect a fee-for-service world, I think the viability of the next five years is going to be very questionable at best.”
Based in Jacksonville, Florida, Alivia Care is a nonprofit organization serving northern Florida and southern Georgia. Its services include home health care, hospice care, personal care, palliative care, and Program of Comprehensive Care for the Elderly (PACE) care.
According to Andrew Olowu, chief technology officer at Axxess, there is a “false price” for providers who decide to invest in technology.
Axxess is a global technology platform for home health care, serving more than 9,000 home health, home care, hospice, and palliative care organizations.
New AI technologies have the potential for downstream cost savings, so providers should consider long-term cost savings.
“You can experiment,” Mr. Olow said. “We'll see if this works or not, and we can adapt it to improve our workflow. But if we decide not to invest, we'll keep doing the same thing and getting the same results.”
Andrew Olowu, Axxess Chief Technology Officer
According to David Jackson, founder and CEO of Choice Health at Home, there are some “easy” places to implement technology. For Jackson, revenue cycle and revenue capture automation is one of these easy applications. The company has seen cost savings since implementing these technologies.
“These are positions that don't face the patient,” says Jackson. “We've made it possible for people to practice at the highest standards of licensure. They're excited to go to work. They're not just data entry, they're making actual decisions. So that's the kind of project it is. I just encourage them to embrace it.”
Based in Tyler, Texas, Choice Health at Home provides home health, hospice, personal care and rehabilitation services in seven states. The company recently acquired three home care organizations: Cy-Fair Health Care, Alliant Home Health, Palliative and Hospice Care, and Senior Nannies Private Care.
David Jackson, Founder and CEO, Choice Health at Home
For Ward, the exciting innovation involves electronic medical records (EMR). These platforms are moving beyond just serving as compliance and clinical documentation to assist clinicians, creating a mindset shift in how the industry innovates.
practical aspects
Although technology is advancing rapidly and ushering the home care industry into a new era, practical considerations still need to be taken. Due to low profit margins, technology investments must have a clear ROI and investments based on the “shininess” of the tool should be avoided.
“When we talk about (AI)… what we're talking about is the discipline of saying, 'What problem am I solving?'” Ward said. “Is it a shiny object or a solution? Because while we may be very excited about the capabilities of AI, we also know that there are problems that need to be addressed.”
Philip Ward, Chief Operating Officer, Alivia Care
Alivia is asking three questions about investing in AI, Ward said. How does AI impact the experience? How does it impact cost? How does it impact real-world outcomes and quality of care?
Once Jackson identified the problem, he took it to multiple vendors and told them that Choice wanted to test their products. Leaders will incorporate feedback from employees when making final choices, which will improve adoption and agility, he said.
According to Olowu, AI tools should ultimately be human-centered. Providers should choose tools that increase productivity, reduce repetitive tasks, and allow employees to focus on high-value work.
It is essential to adopt technology while carefully considering which technology tools to adopt. Jackson encouraged executives to rely on their chief technology officers to ensure data is protected, but to be “forward-thinking” when it comes to embracing technology.
“With the rapid advancement of technology, there will be winners and losers,” Jackson said. “My job as CEO is to really lean forward. … That's absolutely necessary right now. We need to lean forward and pick the winners, but we need to experiment to find ways to best support clinicians.”
