Does Your Agency Provide Private Duty/Personal Care?

Is your agency or an affiliated entity providing private duty, private pay or personal care services to the same market you provide skilled services?  If not, you could be losing out on a huge opportunity.  In fact, several publicly traded companies continue to make investments in this market.

Amedisys recently revealed that it is actively seeking new opportunities in several states. Target areas for Amedisys include Florida, Georgia Pennsylvania and Tennessee.  Amedisys already purchased several private duty home care providers in Massachusetts with the most recent purchase occurring a few weeks ago.

But why is one of the nation’s largest, most well-known providers of skilled home health going after the private duty market? They understand the continuum of care that goes beyond skilled home health and they understand that home health is no longer going to be restricted to a traditional visiting nurse or therapist model.

As payment models shift from Medicare to non-Medicare sources the need to diversify and add additional streams of revenue will be critical. The ability to expand beyond government-based insurance and commercial insurances will not only grow your reach but also your influence in the community.

Providing private duty services increases your agency’s attractiveness. The continuum of care extends beyond traditional services.  The ability to provide these new services can open up new referral sources while holding on to current referral sources.  Focusing on both skilled and non-skilled services will keep your patients within your sphere of influence and allow you to treat those patients for skilled and non-skilled services.

Your marketing will be enhanced by allowing you go out above and beyond the traditional home health or VNA scope that so many agencies are using as a selling point.  Relationships with non-standard groups will also be enhanced and allow for more referrals.

Private duty and private pay margins are also much higher than for traditional skilled services.  Based on volume (hours), your agency can be flexible and competitive.  However, you will also be able to turn down clients that do not meet your agency’s criteria. Private duty agencies typically have restrictive admission criteria and payment terms that are set up front.  Think about not having to deal with Medicare ADRs or take-backs from insurance companies!

We recommend that agencies have to separate entities for private skilled care and private duty care. This separation allows for clear distinction and not having to worry about over compliance for the non-skilled side. If you are interested in learning more about our turn key programs for private pay agencies, please let us know!