This article is part of the HHCN+ membership
The home care industry is increasingly pursuing value-based reimbursement models, but that transition requires new marketing and communication strategies for providers.
Experts told Home Health Care News that value-based care has the potential to improve outcomes and reduce costs, but success depends on providers' public education, payer partners, and hospital systems' willingness to invest.
“With the shift to value-based care, the public's perception of home care is more important than ever,” Michael Vinson, senior director of marketing at LHC Group, told HHCN in an email. “When people don't understand these benefits, they often wait until a crisis occurs, which runs counter to the proactive, coordinated model that value-based care promotes. Increased awareness can also help clarify the differences between home health, personal care, and hospice, so families can make informed choices sooner.”
Lafayette, Louisiana-based LHC Group provides home health care, hospice, and home and community-based services in 37 states, and Optum, the healthcare services division of Washington DC UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), acquired LHC Group in 2023 for $5.4 billion.
Value-based care is becoming increasingly important to the home care industry. Guy Tommasi, president and CEO of Corcoran Consulting Group, told HHCN that home health and home care agencies need to rethink their strategies as managed Medicare continues to grow in dominance.
“As managed Medicare becomes a bigger thing, home health (and) home care agencies will have to step up their efforts, be more proactive in this value-based care ecosystem, think differently, partner and collaborate, and start collecting data on readmissions, functional outcomes, and satisfaction, all of which are pillars of value-based care.”
Vinson said public awareness of home care is critical because it allows people to participate in home care earlier, thereby improving health outcomes and reducing costs, key tenets of value-based care.
Although general knowledge about home care has improved in recent years, there is still much work to be done. Vinson said the public often confuses home health care, hospice and personal care.
“From a marketing perspective, it’s both a challenge and an opportunity,” he said. “Families often learn about home care only in times of crisis, making it difficult to plan ahead. We have an opportunity to create a simple, relatable campaign that explains the value and outcomes and really connects the dots between home care and improved health outcomes.”
Payer education
It's not just the general public who needs to better understand the home care industry.
David Kearns, CEO of LTM Group, told HHCN that the transition to value-based care will require payers to deepen their understanding of home-based care.
“For a long time, Medicare has subsidized these managed care contracts, but many agencies are now saying no,” he said. “They all say they're value-based long-term care payers and things like that. But when you put a proposal in from them, they don't do it. And these are the same payers that own some of the largest home care agencies in the country, and they don't even do it in their own home care agencies.”
Headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, LTM Group is a network of home health, hospice and home care agencies with operations in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and now Florida. The company provides care for approximately 25,000 patients annually and employs more than 1,500 employees.
For Tommasi, the most important party to educate about the value of home care is payers.
Tommasi said the COVID-19 pandemic has deepened payers' understanding of the importance of non-medical home care. Before the pandemic, payers viewed home care as “glorified babysitting,” he said.
“That's because we haven't done a good enough job in education,” Tommasi says. “Post-coronavirus, we see improving home care as a strategic rather than a supportive partner. This is a big difference.”
Required changes
Healthcare providers can take several steps to increase awareness of their services and usher in the era of value-based care.
To communicate the importance of home care to payers and hospital systems, home care providers must identify key indicators of home care's ability to improve outcomes.
Additionally, Kearns says advocacy efforts aligned with other health care providers and organizations, such as the National Home Care Alliance and state associations, are important to raising awareness.
To increase public awareness of home health care, Vinson said companies must first listen to patients and work with clinicians to understand what works well, what can be improved and how to communicate home health care's role in overall health.
“Content marketing supports this by dispelling myths and providing families with trusted resources,” says Vinson. “Overall, we are taking a multichannel approach, blending traditional outreach such as community events and partnerships with digital strategies to reach our target audience and highlight the true value of home care.”
Community connections are also key to increasing public awareness of home care. Because of the local nature of health care, health care providers who establish partnerships with communities can spread awareness most effectively, Tommasi said.
While avenues exist to increase awareness of home care among both payer partners and the general public, home care stakeholders must actively tread these paths to improve the status quo of value-based care in the industry.
“We have made progress, but there is room for more work,” Vinson said. “We need to be proactive in our outreach, including campaigns that normalize the conversation around care, clearly differentiate services and brands, and capitalize on what people really want to see.”
