Leading Age Home Health and Hospice Study: 3 Key Findings Marketers May Want to Know

Referred to as “groundbreaking in depth and reach,” a recently released national healthcare study by LeadingAge, the association of nonprofit providers of aging services, is being touted as setting a “precedent for future studies.”

The National Healthcare at Home Best Practices and Future Insights Study, was conducted in collaboration with national accounting and consulting firm Berry Dunn. Results were announced on June 9th, 2022. 

Although the goal of the study was to provide insights for agency leaders regarding “what is working for successful agencies,” marketers can benefit by understanding what factors are contributing to patient and family satisfaction—and integrating them into marketing messaging as appropriate, in alignment with agency offerings.     

An Extensive Study 

In a yearlong effort, data was collected from “over 1,000 agency sites in the areas of clinical, operational, and financial best practices as well as technology, palliative care, staffing, and future deliveries of care,” according to the announcement. “The data reveals actionable insights for agencies to advance their efforts and achieve optimal performance.” 

“With over 400,000 data points, we have only begun to skim the surface on findings from this study,” said Lindsay Doak, Director of Research at Berry Dunn and Co-Chair of the National Healthcare at Home Best Practices and Future Insights Study. “The goal is to continue to uncover exactly what is working for successful agencies and share those findings with providers throughout the aging services sector. Not only will this have a positive impact on home health and hospice agencies as we prepare for value-based care, but it will also have a tremendous impact on the US healthcare sector.” 

“The data from this survey are truly groundbreaking—both in its depth, and in its reach, by providing insights from across the growing and diverse home health, home care and hospice sector. The result is a comprehensive, operational view of an evolving field, which comes at a critical time as care and services are in high demand,” said steering committee member Dr. Robyn Stone, senior vice president, research, LeadingAge, and co-director, LeadingAge LTSSCenter @UMass, Boston.

3 Key Findings Marketers May Want to Know

The announcement listed three “initial top-line findings,” which include:  

• “Home health agencies with registered nurse case manager caseloads under 25 have the highest Quality of Care and Patient Satisfaction Star Ratings.”   
• “Hospice agencies who admit their patients within four hours of receiving the referral have significantly higher family satisfaction scores than those who take longer.”  
• “A staggering 92% of agency respondents use telehealth, with 44% of those continuing to use telehealth after patient discharge for population health initiatives.”  

In light of those findings, here are three questions marketers may want to ask agency leaders to determine whether a tweak to messaging may be in order: 

• What’s the typical caseload for a registered nurse case manager? If it’s comparable to study results, that may be something to tout. 
• Once a hospice referral is received, how quickly are patients admitted? Though promising a specific timeframe may not be possible, messaging that indicates a rapid response might be something to consider.
• Is telehealth being used for patient care? If so, you may want to find out how and how much, and be sure prospects know that option is available.  

The announcement also notes that “future study data is expected to be released over the next six months and made available to survey participants in the study’s interactive web portal, as well as through state and national association sponsored presentations.”

If you’d like to dig in more, the comprehensive study results are available here.   

Contact us today to find out how we can help level up your healthcare marketing strategy.