Best Practices And Future Insights: Where Do You Land In The Sea Of Data And How Can You Do Better In Employee Retention?

If you follow this blog, you will know that our last post dealt with some information obtained in the National Healthcare at Home Best Practices and Future Insights Study.  There are so many excellent data points and today we want to look a little more into expectations for new employees and retention of staff as well as legacy planning. If you have not downloaded the entire report, then please do. When you read the items we reference from the report here, then consider where your agency culture could potentially change to improve retention of staff.

Recruitment of Nurses to the Industry:

It is no surprise that topping the list of barriers is compensation being higher in other healthcare venues than home health and hospice. This is not new considering our our reimbursement in comparison to hospitals, etc. However, within the top 3 barriers was a misinformed or wrong perception of the industry. This was true for Home health and Hospice Centers of Excellence reporting as well. Our industry is somewhat handcuffed on the reimbursement issue, but what does that tell us we need to do to help those nurses understand the industry differently? How can we reach people to change it? After a few years working in the industry, I had several nurses communicate to me a feeling that they did not believe their assessment skills were good enough to be in home health or hospice. I communicated the opposite. When working with other staff directly around me, I always felt I didn't need to figure things out on my own. My assessment skills got much better working independently in home health and hospice. How many nurses shy away for this exact reason?

Recruitment of Aides to the Industry:

Again, the biggest barrier lies in reimbursement. This is a tough thing, but we as home health and hospice agencies don't utilize aides to their fullest capacity most of the time. If we did, then what resources in terms of additional visits made by higher cost employees could be decreased. Doesn't this allow us to train, increase expectations of certain skilled aides and change rates of pay because of the advanced care provided by these staff? The biggest take home here is that the Centers for Excellence agencies are more likely to  utilize colleges/ universities and preceptor programs as sources of recruitment than those non Centers for Excellence agencies. Are you looking into this in your area?

Legacy Planning:

This data point was very interesting from a consulting standpoint. We all know that major changes to leadership can be very disruptive to employee job satisfaction as well as recruitment and retention. Hospice agencies reported the effect of leadership changes in the next 3-5 years as having a 64.13%  neutral impact. Meanwhile, when home health was surveyed, it reported a negative impact of 62.57% and very negative impact at 35.50%.  Only 2.23% of home health agencies reported leadership changes as a neutral impact. Although the industries have differences, the stark contrast to the impact of leadership changes is drastic. It is clear why over 89% of the 1,000 home health agencies involved have formal legacy planning. Meanwhile, only 11.41% of hospice planned for change. As far as best practices, 99% of Home Health Centers of Excellence agencies have formal legacy planning.

Kenyon Homecare Consulting can Help:

Our next article will focus on another portion of this  report. We would suggest agency leadership use the metrics involved to understand their own agency strengths, weaknesses, and need for planning. Ultimately, there is so much data here to digest and so much of it can help you look at your agency through a different lens. At Kenyon Homecare Consulting, we help agencies improve clinically, financially, and operationally to function the best way they are able. If you would like assistance with your agency, then call us today at 206-721-5091 or contact us online to see how we can help!