Unlock Profit Growth and Boost Employee Engagement!
Every home care/home health agency is in the business to make a profit. To do so one must increase retention of staff you already hired. In previous blogs, I wrote about the cost of recruitment, hiring, orientation and training. It is estimated that it costs an agency around $2000 to $5000 to hire and replace an aide. We also see that the turnover rate is still close to 80% a year. Therefore, it is estimated an agency is spending on average $171,600 per year for an agency per 100 aides.
What if most of that money spent on recruitment could go to your bottom line? The key to increased profits is increased referrals and retention of staff. Over the years running agencies, I learned that to increase my referrals I had to have the best staff of any other agency in my territory. And, I had to retain that staff. The key was listening to and investing in the staff.
For that reason, I created a Chronic Disease University. Each disease process is an 8-hour course divided into 4 modules. There are tests after each module and when someone completes the course material. The courses are “take it until you make it”. They are designed to educate, not pass or fail! The courses are certified by DSHS as 8 hrs. of continuing education for field staff.
Two of the courses were tested in the acute wing of a nursing home. The facility, in a 6 month time period, had 13 CHF and 3 COPD patients readmitted to the hospital in the first two weeks of admission to the SNF. This resulted in financial penalties to the nursing home. All 32 staff were required to take both of those Kenyon chronic disease courses. It took 3 months for all the staff to complete and become certified. The results were beyond what we had anticipated. Readmission for these two chronic diseases dropped to 0 and 0 not only on the acute wing but for the entire 164 bed building, as the MDS nurses worked the entire building.
When the hospitals discovered that there were no readmits for these two diagnosis, referrals increased by 30% and the SNF was invited to participate in A Robert Wood Johnson study on CHF. The surprise was the increase in retention. Retention climbed to 80% with those leaving only because they were hired by the area hospitals who paid more than the SNF. Increased referrals, increased retention and increased profits! A win, win, win!!
If you want to win, win, win, go to Kenyon Education under the store tab. Make your agency truly stand out among the rest. Hire the best, train the best, retain the best and let the profits grow! If you need assistance, please contact Ginny Kenyon at gkenyon@kenyonhcc.com or 206-721-5091.
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