Home Healthcare Weekly News - June 26, 2020
Even though the FLSA rules for overtime pay for home care workers have now been in vogue for a while, most private duty nursing and non-medical agencies have to strike a careful balance between the high quality and continuity of care they provide and minimizing the overtime cost.
With falling reimbursements from third-party payers, and trying to strike a balance between expectations and quality of service for private pay patients, most home care agencies are trying to adapt their business models to limit caregivers to 40 hours a week.
Overview of the Home Care Industry – A ready reckoner
As the country ages, the Home Care Industry is poised to grow. The US home healthcare market is projected to grow about 7% annually from $103 billion in 2018 to $173 billion by 2026 — outpacing growth in all other care types, including hospital care (+5.3% annually) and physician services (+5.6% annually). The industry has also come into a lot of focus during the COVID-19 crisis as well.
We have put this ready reckoner guide together to help you understand the different services that make up the industry.
Home Healthcare Industry News
in light of COVID-19, senior living facilities have turned to home care providers for help meeting their staffing needs.
Market Forecast: COVID-19’s Long-Term Impact on Home Care
While agencies are still very much in the thick of navigating the COVID-19 crisis, their success in doing so is setting them up for a new, professionalized era of home care — one where providers get more attention from consumers and policymakers alike.
Home Health Care News predicts that home care’s long-term outlook will be defined by diversification of payers, more expansive services offerings, improved retention metrics, and a slew of other positive changes.
SNF-to-Home Diversion Opportunities Skyrocket for Home Health Providers
The nursing home industry has taken the brunt of the nation’s coronavirus blow, with more than 40% of all U.S. COVID-19 deaths involving skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). Those staggering statistics have prompted fewer seniors to receive care in the setting, both for voluntary reasons and because many SNFs stopped accepting new patients and started discharging others due to transmission concerns.
While it’s unclear when the COVID-19 crisis will end, one thing’s for sure: The virus will have a lasting impact on the SNF industry. In turn, that will likely equate to more SNF-to-home diversion opportunities for home health providers, a trend SNF operators have denounced in the past.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, many employers have made the difficult decision to downsize staff or suspend operations entirely. In the homecare industry, operations weren’t completely halted, but employers still faced decisions that required adjusting schedules and reducing staffing levels to ensure the safety of employees and patients alike. Now, as many jurisdictions are allowing businesses to return to a level of relative normalcy in their operations, employers are left to navigate how and when to bring back staff affected by the coronavirus or its associated economic downturn.
Request for Information
To get additional information on CareVoyant Software or to schedule a meeting.