What will Biden's new 400 BILLION dollar investment in home based care mean?

The home care industry has been through A LOT since the start of the pandemic 1 year ago. To say it has been a wild ride doesn’t even come CLOSE to describing the rollercoaster businesses, caregivers, and clients have been on. Now, there are some new shake-ups on the horizon, as President Biden proposes a 400 BILLION dollar investment in home based and community care, and the people who provide it. So, what could that mean for home care organization owners?

First, there’s a good to great chance that an increase in funding will mean an increase in demand (which has already been growing rapidly for many home care organizations as a result of COVID). If you’re a home care owner trying to grow… This. Is. Awesome.

But… as any business owner knows growth comes with its challenges. Primarily, HOW are you going to RECRUIT and RETAIN caregivers in an increasingly competitive employment market? There is already fierce competition amongst home care organizations to tap into the small supply of professional caregivers in a given market, and the even smaller supply of REALLY GREAT professional caregivers available.

This is a HUGE problem even in the current climate. Why? a home care organization is only as strong as it’s caregiver pool. Organizations that don’t have a well-trained, reliable and loyal base of caregivers to staff client hours end up having to turn away clients, turn expensive office staff (or owners) into temp caregivers, struggle under the constant stress of scheduling, or spend huge amounts of money paying overtime to the current caregiving pool (often all of these things are happening at once). In the struggle to get caregivers into homes, poorly trained, hasty hires can result in injuries, falls, complaints, and ultimately lost clients.

The economic fallout from these issues alone is MAMMOTH, not to mention the cost of high caregiver turnover. (you can calculate the impact of lost clients alone HERE and the cost of turnover to your organization HERE).

So what is a home care organization to do? If the competitive marketplace for caregivers is about to get more competitive, how can YOUR ORGANIZATION get AHEAD of the curve?

The answer is to invest in your caregivers and caregiving pool NOW. Build and RETAIN your caregiving workforce by training them early, often, and consistently. And MOST IMPORTANTLY, make that training VALUABLE. That means going beyond cookie cutter programs made to cover your bases and providing REAL, PRACTICAL training that addresses education needs on an ONGOING basis. It means offering training that is available ON DEMAND and LIVE to fit hectic and changing caregiver schedules. It also means making sure the person providing the training… actually knows how to handle ALL of the situations your caregivers will find themselves in. Because it’s NOT ENOUGH to just make sure someone knows how to use a gait belt and do a stand pivot transfer. I am going to say that again. ITS. NOT. ENOUGH.

If your palms are sweating right now, you’re not alone. The solution I’ve described seems monumental, time consuming, highly logistically complex…. And I can assure you… IT IS!

I know… because I’ve already built it. And… lucky for you, I’ve already done the work to make it work for your organization so that you can step back, relax, and focus on riding the wave that is on the way. And actually ENJOY the ride.

If this article struck a nerve, or you’d like to talk about your organization, reach out to emilia.bourland@aipctherapy.com, or call her at 469-998-1245.