HealthcareFirst, a software provider to home health and hospice agencies, recently conducted a survey and the results shouldn’t surprise too many agencies.
- 53% responded that managing overhead and costs in order to keep their bottom line and margin intact was the biggest challenge.
- Finding qualified staff was also a major challenge. Turnover in home health has always been an issue. However, with the consistent shortage of qualified healthcare professionals, finding staff is becoming even more difficult. It also doesn’t help that home health has some of largest documentation burdens in healthcare.
- Compliance is also high on the list of issues facing many agencies. Smaller agencies who can’t afford larger administrative staff to cope with requirements often feel this the most. 18% of respondents cited that the potential for audit or review was always on their mind.
- Referrals – which is never shocking – was also on the list. Many agencies simply can’t get enough. This is partially due to the number of agencies out there. Too many licenses and not enough patients.