HMA white paper examines expanding home care value through innovative client and caregiving supports
February 6, 2024
As the U.S. population ages, non-medical personal care services are increasingly important for supporting Americans to remain in homes, as the vast majority of them prefer. But in-home personal care services will remain in short supply throughout the country unless home care agencies have greater success recruiting and retaining caregivers. In this HMA white paper, we describe the programs developed by Help at Home, the nation’s largest personal care services providers with 53,000 in 11 states, to use technological solutions to increase ease of caregiver recruitment and to provide its caregivers with a greater sense of purpose and meaning in their work.
The latter accomplishment has been achieved through Help at Home’s innovative care management program, “Care Coordination at Help at Home,” in which its caregivers receive a weekly text asking them to complete a brief survey about their personal care client’s physical and behavioral health symptoms and any health-related social needs. This information is transmitted to the agency’s Clinical Support Team, composed of nurses, social workers, and community health workers, who review the caregivers’ observations and, if needed, conduct further evaluations of the clients and/or alert the appropriate primary care or specialty providers about their escalating health and social needs. The program’s outcomes: Decreased client utilization of Emergency Department visits and hospitalizations since brewing health concerns are addressed earlier on. Increased caregiver retention because caregivers feel like they are making a significant difference in the health and well-being of their clients.