We all know the story…
Your home care agency’s community liaison, Shay, approaches the hospital front desk hoping to connect with one of the area’s top sources of home care referrals. She is greeted by a person who immediately asks, “Are you here to see a patient?”
She is quickly told visitors are only allowed for patient visits or if they have a scheduled meeting with hospital staff. The tone is robotic, and it sounds as if this quintessential “gatekeeper” is reading a movie script. Shay tries once more the following week with the same disappointing outcome and notes in the home care CRM, “no access.”
December rolls around, and you notice a taco truck in the hospital parking lot as you drive past. It’s sponsored by your main competitor and is providing a free lunch to the Case Management and Social Work team. The sign reads, “Happy Holidays—thank you for your service!”
Then it hits you: The hospital isn’t limiting access to all agencies—they just have “favorites” who are getting all the home care referrals.
Why Gatekeepers and Preferential Access?
Gatekeepers have always been a thorn in the side for home care liaisons—especially newer ones. But the climate has gotten more extreme in recent years for a few reasons.
The most obvious one is COVID and its lingering effects on facility protocols and gatekeeper culture. The landscape fundamentally shifted during the pandemic, and it never fully recovered. Many hospitals and facilities still employ legacy policies that are very restrictive to “vendor” access.
In addition, high-profile incidents have rocked the industry, including workplace violence, confidentiality breaches, and patient financial abuse. This resulted in widespread use of security guards. Finally, nearly 50% of healthcare systems implemented “vendor management systems” (VMS) that formalize liaison access with printed badges and prerequisite credentialing.
But here’s the reality: Access is still available. It’s just conditional.
Hospitals and other high-value accounts aren’t saying “no” to home care sales representatives. They’re saying “no” to those who don’t approach them with credibility, consistency, respect, and a valued reason for their visit. Gatekeepers are filters, but they’re not insurmountable obstacles.
3 Myths Holding Your Community Liaison Back
Myth 1: “The account is completely closed off — they don’t allow any reps.”
Reality: This isn’t fun for a home care agency owner to think about, but competing agencies are getting access to your “white whale” account. The challenges facing your representative are not absolute but result from methodology and persistence (or lack thereof).
Successful liaisons diligently execute plans and stay consistent week after week. Most are leveraging visits to hospitalized agency clients, which is usually greeted as “legitimate” by the gatekeeper. They’re also following VMS protocols, despite the annoyance.
The best representatives are also building true relationships with both the gatekeepers and referral sources, resulting in top-quality home care leads. When successful, these human bonds circumvent even the most restrictive protocols. If “Maria” is the gatekeeper for a hospital case management office, a home care liaison with rapport can simply text her and ask for permission to “come on up.”
Myth 2: “If I get a foot in the door once, the referrals will follow automatically.”
Reality: This is perhaps the biggest trap for newer home care liaisons. A successful in-service or lunch usually doesn’t result in immediate referrals or continued facility access. The account is scheduling competitor lunches as well, and a representative only stays top-of-mind for a week (at best).
Case managers and social workers have met dozens of home care agency liaisons over the years, and that doesn’t even include the constant parade of vendors they see from related services. Their “resource lists” often include 50+ home care agencies, and their desks are overflowing with competitors’ brochures.
Ultimately, weekly touchpoints with value-add updates are what shifts an agency’s liaison from the forgotten lunch sponsor to the person who gets regular text message referrals.
Myth 3: “The gatekeeper is just being difficult — I should bypass them and go straight to case managers or social workers.”
Reality: The gatekeeper can be your biggest adversary or your best partner. If you treat them as the former and attempt to bypass them, you’ve set the tone for all future engagement. You might get a “win” here or there, but you’ll never become the “preferred” home care agency.
However, if you make a genuine connection, the gatekeeper becomes your ally. They push the Director to approve lunch requests. They make sure your brochures are front-and-center in team mailboxes. They may even directly refer to you.
Finally, remember gatekeepers are tasked with enforcing critical safety protocols and protecting the team’s valuable time. They might see 10 or more reps every day. And their Case Managers average caseloads of 30+ patients. Respecting their valuable function is how you stand apart from the pack and gain legitimacy.
Action Plan
Here are four easy steps you can start taking this week to get past gatekeepers:
- Prioritize low-hanging entry points. Do you have any existing home care clients hospitalized at this facility? If so, that’s your golden ticket for access. Use the opportunity to build rapport and credibility with the gatekeeper while also tracking down the assigned Case Manager or Social Worker on the floor.
- Understand the gatekeeper‘s landscape. Learn the facility’s compliance requirements. If credentialing is required to be included on resource lists or in VMS systems, make it a top priority. This is mandatory even if it’s inconvenient.
- Schedule consistent touchpoints. A big in-service or lunch is a great kickoff to the relationship. But it isn’t your ongoing strategy. Aim for a 10-minute weekly check-in for patient updates and community/company announcements. If your point-of-contact/s have sent recent, qualified referrals, ask permission to bring them coffee.
- Improve your credibility in the community. Prioritize digital home care marketing campaigns that optimize online visibility and generate Google reviews. Have your liaison print fliers with Google reviews and a QR code to your Google Business Profile (GBP) for use as leave-behinds when denied access.
From “Another Vendor” to the Go-To Source for Home Care Referrals
The gatekeeper problem isn’t a barrier—it’s a filter. Facilities are more selective now, and that’s by design. Your liaison’s job is to become a valued resource as opposed to being just “another vendor.”
Ready to bolster your sales strategy with digital marketing leads for excellent ROI? Schedule a free 30-minute strategy session with Home Care Marketing Pros today.
