​Home Care in 2021...continued again!

​What does the home care industry look like in 2021 and beyond? We continue our conversation with HCAOA Board members as they look into the crystal ball…

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​Matt Boever, Home Instead

“We were already seeing in recent years more states regulating home care as well as expanding the role of home care workers. Those trends will only accelerate in 2021 as both state and federal policymakers renew their focus on increasing access to care in the home and empowering the home care workforce. Federal and state governments will also continue to work to innovate America’s fragmented system of financing long-term care, with legislation like the bipartisan Home Care for Seniors Act, which would allow tax-free distributions from health savings accounts to cover qualified home care services.”

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​​Carl McManus, Comfort Keepers

Home Care Positioning 

• Homecare/Home Health solidify position in continuum of care
• We will continue to see a blurring of lines between home health and home care services, payer sources, expectations
• Hospital at Home and Hospital to home will increase due to cost saving and improved patient outcomes. This drives additional partnerships between home care / home health and hospitals
• Due to Covid and more interaction with hospitals and home health, home care will see an increase in regulation and the continued use of PPE and other safety protocols
• Payer sources such as hospitals and insurance companies will continue to include more and more home care services

  
Addressing caregiver shortage

• Covid had added more strain on caregiver shortage due to needed 1:1 care and caregivers not able to work due to quarantine rules
• Following Covid, this shortage will continue and home care will need to adapt;
• Home care prices will increase due to state minimum wages going up as well as overcoming competition with other minimum wage industries
• The 1:1 model will continue to evolve towards a caregiver’s ability to meet with multiple clients with the help of technology and monitoring services

 
Client experience

• The overall client experience expectations will continue to increase;
• A more robust, transparent and streamlined sales and initial assessment process
• Increase services from the same provider or one stop shopping (services that address more Social Determinants of Health needs) 
• Different companies outside of homecare are exposing seniors to additional services or a different perspective of overall services (CVS, Best Buy Health, etc.)

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​​Chani Feldman, MGA Homecare

“I think there are going to be endless possibilities in the world of home and community-based services. With so many people stuck at home, there was a realization that many things can happen within the walls of the home that never happened there before. (Think Zoom meetings while juggling kids on Zoom school!) The place where healthcare will be delivered will shift and more options will be open for homecare providers to partner with payers to meet clients’ needs in the community.  

COVID has shown the industry that “healthcare” today should really be called ‘sickcare.’ The future of healthcare will need to shift to wellness and preventative services. Investments into keeping people healthy will increase, and the best place for the changes to happen is where people actually live. True change takes time, education, and support. Homecare providers are uniquely positioned to pillars of that much-needed change.”

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