November 14, 2012
Issue No. 6
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Greetings!

... to Caregiver Quality Today!, the electronic newsletter for recruiting, selecting and retaining in-home care staff for home health, hospice, and private duty home care.  If you want to grow your business, serve more clients, and make more money, this is the newsletter for you.  

Please enjoy this newsletter, and join our interactive community.

 

Best regards,

Diane West
Program Manager
Caregiver Quality Assurance (TM)
Leading Home Care ... a Tweed Jeffries company

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Fill the Funnel with High Quality Caregivers

 

 
The other day I was working with the owner of a very successful private duty company.  We were talking about the challenges of growing a home care business in today's economy.  One of the interesting points he made is that it's becoming more and more difficult to find high quality caregivers to meet his business growth plans. 
 
As I've talked with owners this year about their growth, it seems that companies are either flat, or up 20% in revenue.  Not many in the middle. To grow 20% you need to always be recruiting new caregivers, and working to keep the ones you have. 
 
Over the past ten years, we've been conducting a lot of research in to the best techniques for recruiting, selecting, training, and retaining high quality caregivers. This research shows that the companies who have low turnover and keep great caregivers have a higher level of client satisfaction, greater word-of-mouth marketing, and higher than average revenue per client. 
 
What can you do to grow your business and increase your revenue? 
  
Make the Interview Count 
 
By Diane West
Program Manager
Caregiver Quality Assurance (TM)

The applicant has answered your basic pre-screen questions correctly. They've completed your application showing they have caregiving experience.  Now what?  You sit down for an interview and ask the standard questions about their experience, past employers and maybe a few situational questions. 
 
You've spent 30 minutes with this applicant.  Do you really know this person?  Will they be dependable?  Are they honest?  Do they have a temper?  How engaged will they be with the job and your company? After a 30-minute interview are you comfortable placing this caregiver in a client's home with no supervision?
  

Make More Money by Saving Money on Workers Compensation Insurance

There are two ways to drop more money to your bottom line:

1. Increase your Revenue
2. Decrease your Expenses

Since you are in the people business, most of your operating expenses are generated by your people.  Wages, insurances, taxes, travel, training, recruiting, and retention are all  elements of your business cost structure.

I don't know about you, but one of the things I like least in my business is dealing with insurance, and making decisions about our company's various insurance policies. We frequently get calls in the office, and questions in our web conferences and live workshops about the best place to find workers compensation insurance, professional liability insurance, and non-owned automobile insurance.

A number of years ago I was speaking at a franchise owners meeting and had the pleasure to meet David Dickie from The Solutions Group in San Antonio, Texas.  We had a great conversation and I learned a lot about the right questions to ask when selecting the right insurance program.

Court rejects independent contractor's claim for workers compensation

A recent court case in Louisiana rejected the claim of a home care worker who was injured on the job, and filed a workers compensation claim against the individual for who she was providing care.  The court's action was upheld by the appeals court.  This verdict opens the doors for using the Registry Model of employing caregivers as independent contractors.
 
Gamez v. Pinke, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 1017 (La. App. Aug. 1, 2012), involved a caregiver who alleged that she slipped and fell while performing home care for an individual, and asserted a workers' compensation claim against the individual. The caregiver worked for the individual twelve hours per day, seven days per week; and the work consisted of bathing the individual, driving her to appointments and sitting with her.  The care recipient's sister set the caregiver's hours of work and issued her checks, from which no taxes were withheld. The caregiver testified that she paid her own taxes. The caregiver, while working for the care recipient, also concurrently performed housekeeping work for another person. 
 

Lined In 3D logoOne of the benefits of belonging to the Caregiver Quality Assurance program is the opportunity to interact with other members through the CQA discussion group on LinkedIn.  This is a closed group, and limited only to memers of the CQA program.

The hottest topics of discussion in the group recently have been:
  • Tips on navigating the CQA dashboard
  • What are some sure fire ways to say "no thanks" to applicants
  • CQA Members get a discount on Liability Insurance
  • Is anyone tracking benchmark data for assessment results related to caregiver performance
  • Using the pre-employment assessment to match caregivers to clients.
  • How has using the assessments impacted your company?
  • Exit interviews - are they part of the process?

If you would like to be part of an interactive group discussing tools, tips, and techniques to recruit, select, hire, train and retain the highest quality caregivers, you'll want to become a member of Caregiver Quality Assurance

 

Caregiver Quality Assurance is a division of Leading Home Care ... a Tweed Jeffries company.  Members of the CQA program use the online assessment process to hire and retain high quality caregivers.  They then use the CQA Seal and the elements of the program to create competitive advantage in the marketplace.

If you want to have a business built on caregiver quality, and the ability to create competitive advantage in your local marketplace based on caregiver quality, then you'll want to become a member of Caregiver Quality Assurance.
In This Issue
Fill the Funnel with High Quality Caregivers
Make the Interview Count
Make More Money by Saving Money on Workers Compensation Insurance
Court rejects independent contractor's claim for workers compensation
CQA Members Use LinkedIn Discussion Group
Upcoming Events:

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November Webinar:
 

"Increase your Income Selling to Bank Trust Officers and Other Trusted Advisors"

 

With Michael Sullivan and Stephen Tweed

 

November 29, 2012

4:00 pm - 5:00 pm EST


In these times of rapidly increasing competition in home, the fastest growing companies with the strongest marketing strategies will survive.  In this high impact, interactive workshop, Stephen Tweed and Michael Sullivan will share with you the latest insights and strategies from their experience in home care and financial services including trust services.  Then Stephen and Mike will guide you in developing a highly effective bank trust officers marketing strategy to help you create a sales strategy that leads to improved performance, more inquiries, convert more admissions, and serve more clients.

 
This interactive workshop is loaded with time-tested tips and ideas which the presenters have found useful and usable from their experience, as well as conversations with bank trust officers and other trusted advisors.  We believe that effective and professional selling grows on a sound base of knowledge and application.  The most successful home care firms at generating quality referrals are those that understand their targets. 
 
 
*NOTE: YOU MUST REGISTER (AND PAY) AHEAD OF TIME. REGISTRATION WILL CLOSE 30 MINUTES BEFORE THE WEBINAR BEGINS TO ENSURE EVERYONE RECEIVES THE ACCESS INFORMATION. 
 
Get the
Best:
9 Steps to Hiring High Quality Caregivers

What do you get when you combine the latest behavior and attitude assessment technology with more than 30 years of first hand experience? You get 9 steps that will help you create a private duty caregiver recruitment, selection and retention system that will take your company, and your bank account, to the next level.

This 82 page e-book contains everything you'll need in a simple step-by-step format. Not only will you learn the 9-step process for selecting quality caregivers, but you'll also have all of the forms you'll need to get started. Finally you'll have a primer on the legal issues you'll face when using pre-employment assessments and behavioral interviewing techniques.

Order Your Copy Today!