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\nThis article is a part of your HHCN+ Membership\n<\/p>\n
Thus far, 2025 has been tumultuous for home-based care providers. Regulation and policy shifts have prompted industry stakeholders to engage in a high-stakes guessing game as they predict the latest headline\u2019s implications. <\/p>\n
While a focus on the future is critical, looking to recent history can give providers essential information on how to angle their businesses for success \u2013 and how their peers are performing. <\/p>\n
Activated Insights, formerly Home Care Pulse, released its latest benchmarking report last week, based on the results of a survey of nearly 1,000 home-based care providers,\u00a0along with surveys of 120,000 home-based care clients and employees. Its findings surprised me on multiple counts. Much of the news was positive, from home care median revenue hitting a six-year high to significantly lower home health employee turnover rates from the year prior.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But also, pretty much every finding that gave me the most hope was followed by a takeaway of, \u201cbut also.\u201d <\/p>\n
Employee turnover is down, but hiring is harder, for example. Home care revenue is high \u2013 but two-thirds of providers are missing out on opportunities to capture additional revenue. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a case of providers being forced to chase their tails, pursuing opportunities only to face eventual drawbacks. The report suggests how providers can start down a path to align resources and create positive change.<\/p>\n
In this week\u2019s exclusive, members-only HHCN+ Update, I\u2019ll share the report\u2019s findings that I think are the most critical for providers to consider in 2025, offering analysis and key takeaways including:<\/p>\n
\u2013 The problem with home-based care client acquisition costs<\/p>\n
\u2013 An employee retention success story<\/p>\n
\u2013 The home care revenue jump and opportunity <\/p>\n
Customer trends <\/strong><\/p>\n Home-based care companies face a lengthy list of problems, from reimbursement to staffing, but ultimately, it all comes back to the patient or client. And there\u2019s good news to be had. <\/p>\n Overall, home care saw a median customer growth rate of 12.9% in 2024 \u2013 that\u2019s higher than it has been in six years. Activated Insights doesn\u2019t have as many years of data for customer growth rates for the home health and hospice industries, but there\u2019s good news to be had anyways, with hospice client growth rates staying strong at 14.5% and home health jumping up significantly from 0.7% to 9.4%. <\/p>\n The good news about rising customer growth rates is, as is the theme here, tempered. In this case, my excitement about the revenue climb was balanced out by the news that customer acquisition costs also hit a six-year high, reaching $845 per client in 2024. <\/p>\n I\u2019ve reported on high customer acquisition costs before, in the behavioral health industry. If you have been buffeted by BetterHelp ads on podcast episodes and YouTube videos like I have, you\u2019ll understand the kind of investment that some digital behavioral health companies make to acquire a customer \u2013 who doesn\u2019t already stick around. <\/p>\n Providers must balance customer acquisition costs with a customer\u2019s lifetime value, behavioral health investors have previously told me<\/a>, and hope that the acquisition cost is lower than the margin dollars on an episode of care. <\/p>\n Some providers have found novel ways to do so. For example, Asian American-focused mental health company Anise Health works with Asian employee resource groups (ERGs) or colleges with high Asian student enrollment to create referral pipelines. <\/p>\n While such a narrow focus may not be immediately applicable to home-based care, I anticipate that if this patient acquisition cost trend continues, we\u2019ll see providers looking for new and creative ways to find people in need of their services. <\/p>\n Agencies that track every single inquiry and focus on their reputation are likely to overcome customer acquisition costs and grow revenue, according to Todd Austin, president and chief operating officer of Activated Insights.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s fascinating is that the agencies that are tracking every single inquiry, or at least indicate that they have a high affection for tracking inquiries, have brought in nearly $1 million more in revenue than those who don\u2019t,\u201d Austin said on a recent webinar. \u201cSo if you\u2019re not tracking every inquiry, there\u2019s a huge gap in your business.\u201d<\/p>\n Building reputation can also help address the customer acquisition costs, Austin said, because people are increasingly choosing care providers based on the quality of the experience and referrals they get from others. Two-thirds of providers now use reputation or recognition management programs, a substantial increase from a few years ago, Austin said. <\/p>\n \u201cReputation is no longer just optional,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Retention progress, hiring woes<\/strong><\/p>\n Home-based care companies are all fighting a battle to have sufficient workers to meet rising demand. Leaders have emphasized the importance of retention to me again and again. <\/p>\n \u201cPeople spend so much time recruiting staff and then training staff, only for those staff within the first couple of months [to] move on because what they anticipated may not have been there,\u201d Bill Dombi, senior counsel for Arnall Golden Gregory law firm, previously told me<\/a>. \u201cDevoting time to retention is the most efficient, economical and successful way to deal with the workforce shortages today.\u201d<\/p>\n The Activated Insights report demonstrates progress on the retention front (hold please, for the less sunny staffing news). <\/p>\n Caregiver turnover dropped from 79% to 75%, the lowest rate in three years and a positive indicator of labor markets and improved company cultures, according to Austin. <\/p>\n An example of improved company culture, according to Austin, is a Visiting Angels location, which set out to improve onboarding, recognition and ongoing communication with employees in 2024. The location achieved its top growth quarter in company history, attributing the success to creating an environment in which caregivers want to stay. <\/p>\n \u201cThat commitment to build a positive employee culture translated directly into business success, and we see that time and time again,\u201d Austin said.<\/p>\n The home health and hospice side got even better news, with a dramatic drop from 32% clinician turnover to 17%. <\/p>\n Here\u2019s the bad news. While retention has improved, recruitment is getting harder. <\/p>\n Application-to-hire ratios worsened in 2024, according to Austin. Only 9.6% of home-based care applicants got hired, a drop of nearly 5% year-over-year.\u00a0 Simultaneously, 39% of providers reported turning down cases due to insufficient staffing.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSo we have to think about our approach. So not just hiring more, but hiring smarter,\u201d Austin said. \u201cI was getting feedback from that Visiting Angels location, they were focusing more about who they hire and what that first 90 days looked like, that impression of creating a good match. \u2026 That\u2019s a great starting point to apply at your own organization, dig into your funnel and data and identify [where] the drop off really happens. That insight will tell you where to focus your energy.\u201d<\/p>\n While improving retention rates is a good sign for the industry, these hiring statistics are certainly a concern. Working \u201csmarter\u201d is likely a key factor for both recruitment and retention \u2013 for example, soliciting applications through word-of-mouth referrals<\/a> may be a better use of company time than casting as wide of a net as possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n Home care revenue high <\/strong><\/p>\n The report included several reasons for home care industry stakeholders to be optimistic. Most notable to me was the finding that the median revenue for home care providers reached $2.3 million in 2024, an increase of $291,315 and the highest it has been in six years. <\/p>\n The discussions I have with providers so often focus on struggles in the industry, from Medicaid budget uncertainty<\/a> to a chronically insufficient caregiver workforce<\/a>. To be sure, median revenue is not the only benchmark of the health of an industry. But it certainly is one benchmark and indicates that providers are staying solvent to expand access to essential services.\u00a0<\/p>\n Revenue climb is outpacing client growth rate, which Austin said means that rate increases are starting to take effect and show up in home care companies\u2019 top-line performances.\u00a0<\/p>\n The downside associated with this finding is also an upside. One of the key drivers of increased revenue, according to Austin, is that more agencies are billing based on both length of visit and the skill of the caregiver. Just over 32% of agencies did so in 2024. <\/p>\n While that figure is an increase from 2023, when it came in at 29%, it still leaves a sizable opportunity for more providers to jump in on. Home care providers \u2013 especially those with robust employee training programs \u2013 have a clear path to capture more revenue. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re seeing organizations really think about, \u2018What are the chronic conditions of the individual I\u2019m going to care for, and what are the skill levels of my caregiver, and are those matching into the billable hours?\u201d\u2019 Austin said. \u201c My takeaway is pretty simple here, a financial scale and smarter billing create[es]the room to do more of what matters, serving your clients well and growing sustainably.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This article is a part of your HHCN+ Membership Thus far, 2025 has been tumultuous for home-based care…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":71750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[50154,210,1141,1142,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-71749","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-activated-insights","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-health-care","11":"tag-healthcare","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114872416020763737","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/graph-1.png\")
<\/a> Activated Insights<\/p>\n<\/a> Activated Insights<\/p>\n