What Staff Is Your Home Care Agency Missing?
How to build the best home care team for your agency
Caregivers may be the most vital part of any home care agency, but no agency can run without the behind-the-scenes staff that schedules home visits, manages payments, and ensures the quality of care is top-notch and consistent.
As you consider how to scale operations as your business grows, it’s important to have the right home care staff in place.
Right-sizing your home care agency
What works for your home care agency won’t necessarily work for another—the type of staff, the total headcount, as well as the hierarchy of your organization will vary based on the size of your client base and the number of services you offer.
According to a Home Care Pulse benchmarking study, in addition to caregivers, most home care agencies staff an average of:
- 1–2 executive members
- 1–4 administrators, who handle things like payroll and billing
- 1–4 business development professionals to bring in new business
- 1–3 scheduling coordinators
- 0–2 care supervisors
Essential home care staff
Executive leadership
At the top of any organization are the executives who make the business decisions. This usually includes a founder who serves as managing director or CEO, and sometimes a partner, like a co-founder or chief operations officer.
Caregivers
Without caregivers, there is no home care agency. Your caregivers should be varied in their skills, specializations, and length of experience in the field. Your caregiver roster may include behavioral health specialists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, nutritionists, registered nurses, personal care aides, and certified nursing assistants.
Client care manager / clinical manager
If you have too many caregivers for them all to report into the executive team, you may need a client care manager. Client care leaders usually have a medical background and credentials like registered nurse, nurse practitioner, or physicians’ assistant. Many of them have been caregivers themselves.
These managers oversee client care plans and set clinical standards. Sometimes this position is called nurse manager or RN supervisor.
Scheduling coordinator
Scheduling coordinators, sometimes called home care coordinators, are the operational engine of any home care agency. The coordinating team ensures that client needs are met consistently and in a timely manner and that caregivers are in the right places at the right time. In a smaller agency, care coordinators may also serve as customer service representatives.
Branch manager / operations manager
At larger agencies, scheduling coordinators may report into a branch manager or operations manager. This senior leader usually has a deep background in operations, and often experience as a caregiver.
Clients services manager
Client services managers are an agency’s customer service pros. They’re available to answer client questions and troubleshoot non-clinical care questions. This team often handles client billing matters as well.
Human resources
The human resources department comprises a variety of skills, including recruiters, payroll administrators, and benefits specialists. In very small agencies, these responsibilities are often shared across only a couple of staff or are outsourced to third parties.
Marketing / business development manager
If you want to expand your home care agency, it may be time to invest in a marketing, or business development, team. Marketing managers run ad campaigns, which might include digital ad campaigns, email campaigns, or local print media campaigns. Your marketing manager may even be able to help you land mentions in the local paper or on local outlets.
In times of agency growth, a marketing manager can work with your HR team and/or clinical managers to recruit new caregivers.
Medical social workers
Some agencies employ medical social workers. These professionals don’t necessarily have caregiving experience, but are licensed for clinical social work practice and usually have titles like Licensed Clinical Social Worker, or LCSW. These workers make home visits for evaluations, then work with clinical care managers to design care programs and interventions.
Sometimes outsourcing just makes sense
Your home care agency won’t likely need to fill all of these roles. Most agencies won’t need four administrators and four marketing coordinators. Care agencies often have to run lean, and there will be roles that cannot be supported in-house full-time, so it often makes sense to outsource some responsibilities.
For instance, it’s hard to imagine a home care agency needing a full-time chief technology officer, but it is important to ensure client data is safe and clinical databases are up to date, so having a software provider well-versed in cyber security is a necessity.
Identifying your team on your home care website
As you build your team, don’t forget to show off your talent on your website. Add staff names, photos, titles, and bios to your home care site to show potential clients who they’ll be working with.
Ready to show off your stellar home care staff?
Whether it's showing off your agency's team on your own professionally built home care website or helping with online recruiting tools to get you the staff you need, Home Care Marketing Pros is here to get you what you need! Find out more!
