3 Eye-Opening Data Points From the Fall Edition of the 2019 Home Care Benchmarking Study

The median care coordinator to caregiver ratio is 1:27.

Knowing and understanding your coordinator to caregiver ratio is beneficial as your agency grows and scales. Understanding what other agencies are doing provides useful context as you evaluate the current needs of your own agency. This is an important ratio to understand and consider in light of your agency’s needs. We recommend your agency calculate your current care coordinator to caregiver ratio and deliberately create a strategy to adjust that ratio to meet the needs of your coordinators and caregivers.

If your agency is seeking increased caregiver support, then you should be looking to decrease your ratio. A lower ratio could potentially impact turnover and help your agency retain caregivers because of the increased support. With a lower ratio, often times caregivers and coordinators will experience better communication, higher quality of service and an increased sense of connection to the rest of the company.

If your agency has a greater need for staffing efficiency, then you should be striving for a higher ratio. While a high ratio can sometimes be an indicator that you’re understaffed with supervisors, a high ratio achieved intentionally by creating strong internal processes can also be a useful step towards greater efficiency and profitability.

Neither of these ratios is better than the other. Your care coordinator to caregiver ratio is your own; we provide this data to help your agency compare itself to the industry median and make an informed decision with greater context. Take the time to evaluate your ratio and put in place a strategy to increase or decrease that ratio depending on the needs of your employees.

If you need help in getting feedback from your caregivers about what they need, we can help.

50% of agencies don’t employ a full-time sales rep, but those that do earn as much as an added $1 million in revenue.

It’s important to recognize while this may be a correlation rather than a causation, it still strongly suggests that bringing on a full-time sales rep is a key step in raising your revenue.

Home care agency owners across the country avoid the daunting questions of when to bring on a sales rep. No two agencies are alike. The Fall Edition of the Study showed that six of the top 10 referral sources are healthcare professionals—a strong case that if you don’t currently employ a dedicated rep to focus on these relationships, you should evaluate whether it’s time to add one.

In the Fall Edition of the Study, we can see that agencies generating $1.6M+ in revenue begin to bring on at least 1 sales rep, if not more. A sales rep plays a critical role in fostering relationships with the community, local healthcare providers, and other referral partners.

There’s a good chance you already have a sales rep. If you don’t, take time to consider if it’s time for you to start thinking about hiring one.

79.8% of agencies aren’t using a reputation management company, but those that do are earning over $100,000 more in annual revenue.

Protecting your reputation has become a home care agency marketing strategy to bring in new clients. Home care agency owners are recognizing it’s essential. If you aren’t yet managing your online reputation, we recommend looking into our Review Manager. A similar service is also offered by aging care marketing agency Corecubed.

Actively managing and improving your online reputation should be a core component of your agency’s marketing plan and overall vision as a company. Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, said it well: “It used to be that if a customer liked (or didn’t like) your company, they might tell 6 friends. Now, with the Internet, they might tell 6,000.” The power of voice and opinion has been taken to a new level with the internet. More and more generations are on using the internet and whether you’re recruiting new caregivers or reaching out for new clients, your people are online.

Home Care Pulse CEO, Erik Madsen said in a recent letter to the industry, “Arguably the most important place to monitor and facilitate conversations about your agency is in online reviews. 88% of consumers read online reviews before they make a purchase and that number is likely to be even higher in a major decision like getting in-home care.”

For those of you who need help getting more online reviews for your agency, review our guide to getting more online reviews. As an employer, take note that both clients and caregivers are reading online reviews; set yourself up on the right platforms with the right content to build trust for both audiences.

Does your agency have an online reputation management strategy?

Data is the Starting Point

Data can be overwhelming and intimidating. Today, we’ve only provided you with three data points to get your minds thinking about what’s happening in the industry. Let data be the starting point for change and innovation at your agency.

If you’ve had success at your agency because of these tools or tactics, please share them with us in the comments below. If you feel like you’re falling short and could use help in one or more of these areas, reach out.

Once again, the benchmarking study is loaded with data and strategies to propel your agency forward. Check out the free downloadable 2019 Fall Playbook to preview some of this fall’s benchmarking study data points and learn how you can turn this information into action.