Tag: Home Health

HCA Offers Monthly Aide Webinars to Help with 12-Hour Education Credits

The Home Care Alliance of MA partners with the Association for Home & Hospice Care of North Carolina to put on monthly Aide education webinars. These webinars help satisfy the mandatory 12-hours of education your staff needs to remain complaint.

Take a look below for the following opportunities available until next June! All webinars are just $95/Line for HCA of MA members!

August 8, 2019
TOPIC: The Aide’s Role in Nutrition and Hydration
Speaker: Cindy Morgan, RN, MSN, CHC, CHPN

Description: Nutrition and hydration are necessary to sustain life. The provision of food and water is frequently related to the providing of comfort and nourishment as well as to the giving of life and preserving of life. Adequate nutrition has many advantages to the human body. This presentation will explore some of those, such as: healing, prevention and good health. We will also discuss the element of safety related to nutrition and hydration with a focus on the patient with advanced illness and those at end of life.

September 12, 2019
TOPIC: The Aide’s Role in Advance Directives & Patient Rights
Speaker: Jane Garrett, RN, BSN, MHSA

Description: Legal and ethical responsibilities of the healthcare staff regarding Advance Directives are described from the patient and caregiver’s perspectives. The types of various Advance Directives are explained along with examples and the practical application of this fundamental patient right.

October 10, 2019
TOPIC: The Aide’s Role in HIPAA and Confidentiality
Speaker: Michelle White, DNP, RN, CNL

Description: This workshop will focus on assisting your In-Home Aides in understanding HIPAA and confidentiality guidelines. This workshop will offer practical tips to ensure that the para-professional adheres to the required privacy standards. Also included: the impact of social media such as Facebook, My Space, YouTube and cell phones, text messages, etc.

November 14, 2019
TOPIC: The Aide’s Role in Alzheimer’s and Dementia
Speaker: Kathie Smith, RN, BSN

Description: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a type of dementia that affects thought, memory and language.  As the disease gets worse, people often need more and more care. This can be hard for caregivers and can affect their physical and mental health, family life, job and finances. In home aides play a vital role in helping to care for these patients and provide important respite to family caregivers. This teleconference will assist the in-home aide in being able to describe the role they play in helping to manage patients with AD.

December 12, 2019
TOPIC: The Aide’s Role in Maintaining Client Dignity
Speaker: Cindy Morgan, RN, MSN, CHC, CHPN

Description: It is the responsibility of every health care staff member to maintain the dignity of their patients with every contact they have with them. The Nurse Aide works with most patients in an intimate way with the duties assigned to them. This presentation will list strategies to ensure the patient’s dignity is protected.

January 9, 2020
TOPIC: The Aide’s Role in Falls Prevention
Speaker: Jane Garrett, RN, BSN, MHSA

Description:  In this session, there will be a discussion of the many challenges aides face daily in protecting their patients from injury, particularly those resulting from accidental falls. Additionally, as the number of patients with Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia continues to grow, we all have the added challenge of managing the manifestations of dementia that may increase the risk of falls.

February 13, 2020
TOPIC: TBD
Speakers: John Conrad and Libby Hart, RN

March 12, 2020
TOPIC: The Aide’s Role in Infection Prevention and Control
Speaker: Michelle White, DNP, RN, CNL

Description: This workshop will focus on understanding the basic principles of infection prevention and control. This workshop will also focus on Blood Borne Pathogens and the principles surrounding transmission and methods in which the aide can protect themselves and the patient.

April 9, 2020
TOPIC: The Aide’s Role in Home Care Safety
Speaker: Kathie Smith, RN, BSN

Description: Safety hazards can exist in many areas of the client’s home and the hazards may increase the risk of client falls and other injuries. This workshop will cover ways the In-Home aide can help the client to make their home safer and avoid injury to the client and worker.

May 14, 2020
TOPIC: The Aide’s Role in Understanding the Role of Animals in Patient Care
Speaker: Cindy Morgan, RN, MSN, CHC, CHPN

Description: Do you find that many of your patients have animals as pets and do you wonder why? This presentation will explain the importance of animals to patients. The animal may provide a level of love and care for patients that they get from no other source. There may be times that having to deal with animals in the home are challenging and we will discuss strategies to consider making your visits as pleasing as possible despite those challenges.

June 11, 2020
TOPIC: The Aide’s Role in Recognizing Violence and Patient Abuse
Speaker: Jane Garrett, RN, BSN, MHSA

Description: Many cases of abuse in elderly patients are not reported because they often must decide whether to tell someone they are being hurt or continue being abused by someone they depend upon or care for deeply. This webinar will provide information on recognizing signs of patient abuse and violence and the importance of reporting appropriately.

Check out our calendar at https://www.thinkhomecare.org/page/education for the most up to date information on these webinars and all other education being offered!

New Emergency Prep 4-Part Webinar Series

Agencies continue to struggle with the development of a disaster preparedness plan that will not only be in compliance, but realistic in an event. Areas of weaknesses in the process have been identified by CMS and accrediting bodies. On top of that, there were changes made to regulations at the end of 2018 and appeared in the 2019 interpretive guidelines. This series of one-hour webinars will provide in-depth knowledge of the requirements that home health and hospice organizations are subject to, with specific focus on: an overview of the regulations, starting the agency-specific plan, building the plan, development of policies and procedures, communication, and testing and training.

Program Goals: Through attendance in this web series, participants will increase their understanding of the newly updated federal emergency preparedness requirements that are part of the home health and hospice
Conditions of Participation (CoPs) and become knowledgeable in how to apply the federal requirements for disaster preparedness in their own specific agencies. Enhance disaster plan development for all community based agencies.

Following is the planned content and schedule for the live webinar sessions; for those who are unable to attend the live sessions, recorded sessions will be available.
Please note there is limited seating in the live sessions so please register early.

Part 1: OVERVIEW OF THE REGULATIONS – June 4, 2019, 1:00-2:00 pm EDT
Including Lessons Learned, Home Health and Hospice’s Role in an Event, All-Hazards Approach, Regulatory changes since 2018 and survey findings from the first year under the disaster preparedness CoPs.
Part 2: STARTING AND BUILDING THE PLAN, – June 11, 2019, 1:00-2:00pm EDT
Including Four Phases of Emergency Management, Incident Command System, and Hazard Vulnerability Assessment , Infection control and prevention, Continuity of Operations (Defining Essential Function, Succession Planning, Human Resources, Alternate Location, Defining Patient Populations, and Data Management)
Part 3: DEVELOPMENT OF POLICIES AND PROCEDURES – June 18, 2019, 1:00-2:00 pm EDT
Patient Classification Systems, Transportation Classifications, Surge Capacity, HIPAA/IT, Tracking Patients and Staff, and Roles and Definitions., Organizing the plan.
Part 4: COMMUNICATION/TESTING AND TRAINING – June 25, 2019, 1:00-2:00 pm EDT
Health Care Coalitions; Specific Hospice Requirements; MOUs; Government Emergency Telecommunications System; Collaborative Relationships with Local, State, Federal, and Indian Tribe Nations; Annual/Orientation Requirements, Documentation of Training, Types of Exercises (Tabletop, Functional, Full-scale), After Action Report, Revising and Updating the Plan

REGISTER AT:
https://www.rbclimited.com/product/edp-4-part-series/

DISCOUNT CODE: RBCEDP

Good for all community-based, home care, hospice & Medicare certified home health agencies

Lunch & Learn Series Continues with Discussion on Connecting Care for Patients

There’s a reason for the saying: “It’s lonely at the top.” Being a leader can sometimes become a very isolating experience. With this new “Lunch and Learn” series, HCA of MA is encouraging our industry leaders to ease that executive isolation by joining with a peer group whose responsibilities and challenges mirror your own. Each session features an “expert” talk on a topic of relevance to you as an industry leader. There will also be lunch and plenty of time to talk. Step away from the office, and the phone for a few hours to connect because sometimes “what you know is who you know.”

Connecting Care for Patients: Interdisciplinary Care Transitions and Collaboration
Friday, June 14th, 12:00-2:00PM

Spotty communication, task‐oriented case management, inadequate teamwork and work silos all conspire to fuel poor outcomes, higher costs and staff and patient dissatisfaction. The recently published book Connecting Care for Patients: Interdisciplinary Care Transitions and Collaboration is a powerful system of evidence‐based strategies for reducing fragmentation and achieving quadruple‐aim goals. Come out to hear a high level look at techniques for implementing truly connected care.

Speaker: Barbara Katz, RN, MSN, President, BK Health Care Consulting, LLC

Additional upcoming sessions include:

Gas Explosions in Lawrence MA: Emergency Preparedness, Management and Lessons Learned
Wednesday, July 17

In September, 2018, a series of gas explosions rocked the towns surrounding Home Health Foundation’s corporate office. Thousands of residents, including HHF staff, patients and families were impacted, and HHF was plunged into rapid implementation of their emergency plan. What followed was a testament to the importance of preplanning and how a creative, nimble and dedicated team can make all the difference in the face of an unprecedented emergency. As the fires receded and life began to return to normal, the emergency team moved into after-action analysis in order to continously improve the quality and scope of its emergency preparedness. This presentation will describe in detail the pre-, inter-, and post-emergency activities employed, and lessons learned.

Speakers: Donna Beaudin, OTR/L, MBA, CHC, NHA, Corporate Compliance Officer, Karen Gomes, RN, MS, CPHQ, President and CEO

Medicare Advantage’s New Supplemental Benefit: Plan Views And Next Steps
Monday, August 26

As part of the Chronic Care Act of 2018, Medicare Advantage (MA) plans were allowed greater flexibility in structuring and targeting supplemental benefits, so that plans could offer benefits to “maintain the health or function of chronically ill enrollees” that are not “primarily health-related.” A small percentage of plans added some services in 2019 (primarily nicotine replace therapy) In the only report of its kind, the Long term Quality Alliance interviewed Medicare plans to identify challenges that they face in including a supplemental benefit in their MA bid and preparing to launch it. Hear about LTQA’s findings as well as their recommendations for statutory, regulatory or CMS Guidance they are looking toward to move this important change forward.

Speaker: G. Lawrence Atkins, Executive Director, Long-Term Quality Alliance in Washington, DC.

Registration is just $40/Person!

New PDGM Educational Material Now Available!

In a partnership with the National Association for Home Care, we are pleased to extend to you a special NAHC discount on several PDGM educational offerings. As a member of HCA of MA, you will receive the NAHC member rate* when you purchase any or all of the following:  1) the PDGM: Strategies for Success in 2020 and Beyond video;  2) the individual webinars;  3) seven-part Webinar Series;  or 4) the package,  which includes both the PDGM Video and the PDGM Webinar Series – at an unbeatable price!

Registration includes giving your entire team access to these materials. Each individual can access them separately or you can use them for a group education.  It’s  up to you!

Click on the links below to get started!

For one low price, you and your entire team will have access to these materials, access them separately or as a group, it’s up to you!

Click on the links below to get started!

PDGM Video

We’ve developed an intensive, in-depth, online training that will prepare you and your entire Medicare home health agency to transition smoothly and successfully to PDGM in 2020 and beyond. If you weren’t able to attend one of the 12 National Summits across the country, don’t worry. PDGM: Strategies for Success in 2020 and Beyond features the same top PDGM experts who educated thousands at our National Summits, and you can learn their insights without leaving your home or office. Even better, for one low price all of your staff can receive the training they need. Purchase the video

Webinar Series

These webinars will be recorded for access anytime and anywhere.  For descriptions and objectives, click here

PROMO CODE FOR INDIVIDUAL WEBINARS: PDGM-Ind-MA01

Date & Time Title Presenter
May 2, 2019
2:00-3:00 PM ET		 PDGM Practical Overview Sue Payne REGISTER
May 9, 2019
2:00-3:00 PM ET		 PDGM Operations Impact: Referral Source & Intake Maria Warren REGISTER
May 21, 2019
2:00-3:00 PM ET		 PDGM Operations Impact: 30 Day Periods, LUPAs, Supplies Diane Link REGISTER
June 6, 2019
2:00-3:00 PM ET		 PDGM: Coding / Documentation Review / Revenue Cycle Melinda Gaboury REGISTER
July 11, 2019
2:00-3:00 PM ET		 PDGM: Interdisciplinary Considerations Karen Vance REGISTER
August 15, 2019
2:00-3:00 PM ET		 PDGM: Electronic Medical Record Readiness Matt Garcia REGISTER
August 16, 2019
2:00-3:00 PM ET		 Clinical Management of PDGM Risks Karen Vance REGISTER

Registration

PRODUCT State Association Member Price w/ Code Register
Single PDGM Webinar (1 of 7) $99 use links above
PDGM Webinar Series (all 7) $199 PURCHASE
PDGM Video (5.5 hrs) $199 PURCHASE
PDGM Video (5.5 hrs) and PDGM Webinar Series
 $349 PURCHASE

PROMO CODES ARE AS FOLLOWS:

Individual Webinar Code – PDGM-Ind-MA01

PDGM Webinar Series (all 7 webinars) Code – PDGM-MA01

PDGM Video Code  –  PDGM-MA01

Combo – PDGM Video and Webinar Series (all 7 webinars) Code – PDGM-Combo-MA01

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) System Resource Page Now Available for HCA Members!

The Home Care Alliance of MA is happy to announce a resource page completely dedicated to keeping Home Health Care Providers informed for the upcoming Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) Mandate. You can access this page by going to www.thinkhomecare.org/EVV

Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs is moving forward with “deliberate speed” to implement the federal EVV mandate.  Massachusetts is developing a hybrid model for EVV, allowing agencies to use their current EVV vendor or choose any vendor that can collect and transmit the required data elements.  For those agencies without an EVV vendor, Massachusetts has contracted with Optum to design a free EVV system.  The current schedule would require personal care agencies that participate in the MA Home Care program that currently have an EVV system in place to begin testing in late 2018. Personal care agencies that don’t currently have an EVV system in place will have additional time to either go live with the Optum system or select and implement an EVV system from another vendor.

According to data collected by EOEA, well over half of the EOEA home care provider agencies in MA do not currently have an EVV vendor.  These agencies will have to make important purchasing decisions within the next year. This page is created to provide the must up to date information on EVV including important resources, vendor information and more.

EVV Vendor Webinar Series

Along with access to to important documents, websites, and contact information – HCA of MA has developed a monthly webinar series that allows EVV Vendors a one hour webinar to demonstrate their platform to our members for FREE! The webinars are typically held the 2nd Tuesday of every month and are recorded in the case you cannot listen to the series live.

The current schedule is as follows:

March 19th – Agency Workforce Management (Recording Available)

April 9th – HHAeXchange (Recording Available)

April 23rd – CellTrak

May 14th – Homecare GPS

June 11th – HomeCareIT

July 9th – Sandata

August 13th – 4Tellus

September 10th – ClearCare

REGISTER ONLINE

*Registering online gains you access to all webinars currently scheduled and any future webinars that may be scheduled

 

EVV Implementation: One Agency’s Experience

One additional resource webinar will be a one hour program with an agency member: HebrewSenior Life. Members of the HSL Leadership Team as they share their experience with implementing an EVV platform.  They will offer product highlights and the benefit and impact experience for clients, workforce, operations, and finances. They will also share their approach to the establishment of policies, procedures, and timelines for success with onboarding for caregivers and leaders.

This webinar will be held on Wednesday, April 24 at 1:00PM. This is also FREE to members!

REGISTER HERE

Access the EVV Resource page at: http://www.thinkhomecare.org/EVV

HCA and Northeastern University Partner on Nurse Symposium in June

These days, it seems like every week a new report is published sounding the alarm of a rapidly aging population across the United States and a shortage of workers prepared to care for this barreling silver tsunami. So much of the media coverage and research is focused on the paraprofessional workforce.

See for example, these reports/publications:

However, the Home Care Alliance member surveys indicate that the problem is broader than just a shortage of home health aides. The availability of a trained nursing workforce to meet a growing home-based health care delivery system is also emerging as an issue. Compounding challenges are impacting our ability as an industry to attract nursing students into home and community-based settings after nursing school.  That is why, on June 7th the Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts and Northeastern’s School of Nursing are hosting a symposium on the very topic of building a home care nursing workforce at Northeastern University from 9AM – 3PM.

The event, titled: Nursing Call to Action: Building a Nursing Workforce to Deliver Complex Care at Home, will bring together more than 25 nursing schools and 25 home health providers for a day-long session. The program will kick-start a dialogue brainstorming new approaches for preparing and exposing Massachusetts nursing students for an increasingly intensive health delivery system in the home.

This event will look past the issue of reimbursement rates or ever-changing reforms at CMS, and instead will focus on four key areas:

  1. Identifying knowledge and skills gaps for LPN/RN new-grads and what changes can be made to address the gaps and develop competencies in executing highly complex services
  2. Elevating the visibility to nursing schools of the growing demand for home-based services and the need to expose students to possible careers in home care nursing
  3. Identifying strategies on recruitment as new-grads and experienced nurses prepare for possible careers in home care nursing
  4. Identifying barriers and strategies to get home health agencies more involved in clinical placements for nursing students

If you would like more information on this event, please reach out to Jake Krilovich. Please note: There is limited space for this event!

PDGM Fix Introduced, Advocacy Needed

Last week, a bipartisan group of senators, led by Sen Susan Collins (R-ME)  introduced what will be a most important legislative priority for HCA of MA this year.  Senate bill (S.433) will curtail the so-called $1 billion “behavioral adjustment” cut under the Patient Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) to which all of home health is transitioning in 2020.  Among, many other changes, PDGM will move home health from a 60 to a 30 day payment unit. This is the most significant change to home health payment since the Prospective Payment System was introduced in 2000.

The Congressional action that called for a home health payment overhaul required that the new payment model be budget neutral against current spending levels. However,  the legislation also allowed that CMS to consider “behavioral  adjustments” defined as industry actions that would be taken to increase payment under the new model, unrelated to patient case mix changes. CMS has used this authority very broadly to institute a payment adjustment in the first year of PDGM based on “assumptions” of behavioral changes, and that adjustment calls for a 6.42% base rate reduction, or a possible $1b reduction in payments.

S 433 would prohibit CMS from making any pre-rate change reductions based on assumptions and instead to phase in any adjustments (either up or down) based on observed evidence (i.e., data supported) changes in provider behavior. The objective would be to achieve budget neutrality by 2029. This later piece addresses concerns the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) expressed regarding whether a similar bill introduced last session was truly budget neutral. S.433 also would allow Medicare advantage plans and Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovations (CMMI) to waive the “confined to home”  provision when in the best interest of a Medicare beneficiary.

Regardless of the “behavioral adjustments,” the PDGM model is expected to have a tremendously varied impact state by state and agency by agency.  A significant amount of this impact is related to a Congressional  requirement that the payment model no longer use the volume of therapy as a payment level determinant.  (Something MEDPAC has been calling on CMS to do for years.)   The state of Florida, where therapy visits average 10.45 per episode of care is set to “lose” the most – projected at $141 million.  California on the other hand, where the average therapy utilization per episode was 5.76,  will be the largest gainer.  MA (need numbers from Tim)  Note: S 433 does not seek to make changes to the structure of the payment model that produces these changes.

It is important to reflect on CMS’ proposal in 2017, Home Health Groupings Model (HHGM) and how we arrived to where we are today. At the time, HHGM represented similar changes to the payment model, without soliciting industry feedback and some estimates predicting a 15% reduction in payments. As a result, the industry unified itself behind one message: that CMS withdraw its proposal and engage stakeholders to come up with an alternative. Upwards of 13,000 emails were sent to Congress from the industry, 49 members of the U.S. Senate and almost 160 members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed onto letters to CMS echoing the request to withdraw HHGM. This was a remarkable show of mobilization by the industry and we’ll need it again to make modifications to PDGM.

At present there is no bill in the House, but it is expected that one will be forthcoming.  Strong early sign on support is critical to keeping this bill moving and HCA of MA will be urging members to contact the MA delegation to support S.433 and the companion house legislation to be introduced. Stay tuned for these advocacy alerts in our weekly newsletter and advocacy messages in the coming weeks.

HCA will also be hosting a number of member events to prepare for the payment transition.  While the full day PDGM programs in March in Northampton are sold out, there will be a high concentration of sessions on PDGM at the New England Home Care Conference and Trade Show in on June 5 -7 inn Falmouth. Watch here for more details.

In the meantime, send a message here to Senators Warren and Markey about the need for their support on this issue. 

Let’s do this home care – we cannot sustain $1 billion in cuts based on assumptions, not facts!

Education Doesn’t Stop for Winter: It’s Webinar Season!

The Home Care Alliance of MA is proud to top education to our members on important and relevant topics. There are roughly 5-8 programs held a month and during the winter, they mostly belong to webinar education! Webinars are a cost effective way of educating your staff – you pay an affordable price for one line and have staff gather in a room to listen together, or access the recording for a later date training.

Below you will find some of our current webinars being offered which range in topics from Coding to CASPER reports to Aide education.

There are continuously new programs offered including on-site education, trainings, and conferences. Check out our calendar on our website to stay the most informed!

Contact Megan Fournier at mfournier@thinkhomecare.org or 617-482-8830 for any questions!

HCA Submits Comment on Medicare Changes; Submit Your Comments Now!

On July 1st, 2018, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule which includes several changes to the home health benefit for 2019 and beyond. The public comment period closes this Friday August 31, 2018, at 11:59 p.m. As of this blog posting, 760 comments have been submitted to CMS which is encouraging, but far from the more than 1,300 comments submitted last year in response to the HHGM proposal which was ultimately withdrawn.

You can view the HCA’s written comments here and can download the word document here.

You may submit your own comments to CMS here.

Here are some of the key changes proposed, and an overview of HCA’s response:

Home Health Wage Index Changes

  • The 2019 proposed payment rates increase by 2.1% which represents a $400 million increase.
  • HCA of MA has long expressed concerns to CMS over inequities in how the wage index is calculated for home health agencies compared to hospitals. HCA urges CMS to adjust the 2019 home health agency wage index to reflect a policy to limit the wage index disparity between provider types within a given CBSA.

Proposed Patient Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) for CY 2020

  • Implementation: As the proposed PDGM would mark a major change in the way home health agencies will be reimbursed, the HCA urges CMS to delay implementation by one year to ensure that there is no disruption in access to services for beneficiaries and evaluate the accuracy of the model and its effect.

  • LUPA Thresholds: CMS proposes to set the LUPA visit threshold at the 10th percentile for each payment group. HCA believes this is complex and will complicate the care planning process for home health agencies. HCA urges CMS to retain the current LUPA thresholds and revisit them in future years.

  • Behavioral Assumptions: CMS proposed three ‘behavioral assumptions’ in the PDGM totaling -6.42%. However, these assumptions are not based in data or evidence. HCA believes that two of the three assumptions already exist in the current PPS methodology including; that agencies are already incentivized to both report the highest playing diagnosis codes and to develop and deliver plans of care that exceed the LUPA threshold. This could result in an over estimated impact of behavioral assumptions and the HCA urges CMS to eliminate the Clinical Group Coding and LUPA threshold assumptions.

  • Split percentage payment approach: HCA believes that changing from a 60 to 30 day billing period will be very disruptive to agencies’ operations and increase back-office costs. Therefore, HCA urges CMS to continue the split payment approach at the current 60/40 and 50/50 splits for early and late periods, respectively, to give agencies cash flow breathing room.

  • Certification and Re-certification of Patient Eligibility: HCA has long advocated for regulatory language to align with sub-regulatory guidance as it relates to documentation of the patient’s eligibility. HCA is encouraged by CMS’ proposal to eliminate the requirement that the physician provide an estimate of how much longer skilled services are required and we request that CMS consider revisions to the physician’s burden of the F2F encounter as a condition of payment. 
  • Remote Patient Monitoring: HCA strongly supports the proposal to recognize remote patient monitoring costs as an administrative cost on the HHA cost report. HCA does recommend however that CMS remove the regulation that does not allow remote patient monitoring to be used as a substitute for in-person home health services. 
  • Home Health Value Based Purchasing Model: HCA has long supported the HHVBP model aiming to improve quality by giving HHAs incentives to provide better quality care. However, HCA urges CMS to modify the HHVBP to recognize stabilization in the scoring because in many cases, stabilization (instead of improvement) is an appropriate goal for some patients.

Talking Home Care: Ryan McEniff on Running a Private Care Agency

Minute Women Home Care’s Ryan McEniff joins us to talk about the challenges of running a private home care agency in today’s economy and how families can ensure they get the best care.

Ryan McEniff of Minute Women
Ryan McEniff

How did a “big, six-foot-six, burly guy” become the owner of Minute Women Home Care? For the seventh episode of the Talking Home Care podcast, Pat Kelleher talks with Ryan McEniff about what it takes to run a successful private home care agency. Topics include:

  • Ryan’s personal story about entering the industry;
  • The challenges (and opportunities) of transitioning from family to paid home care;
  • How home care can restore clients’ work/life balance;
  • Whether home care can remain affordable to middle-class families in a bustling economy;
  • Why finding (and keeping) the best staff is sometimes a bigger challenge than attracting clients;
  • Going the extra mile to protect clients with national background checks;
  • The single most important question all families should ask when choosing an agency for their loved ones (jump ahead to 34’35” to find out); and
  • Ryan’s own podcast, The Caregiver’s Toolbox (expect Pat on an upcoming episode).


You may listen to the podcast by clicking the play button above, downloading it directly, or subscribing through iTunes or Google Play. (Length: 37 minutes; Size: 18 MB). If you enjoyed it, please give us a five-star review so others can find it as well.

Host: Patricia Kelleher is the Executive Director of the Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts.

Guest: Ryan McEniff has been the owner of Minute Women Home Care since 2013. He became passionate about home care when his mother needed care while battling cancer. He is also a Certified Dementia Practitioner and the host of The Caregiver’s Toolbox podcast.

Talking Home Care LogoDon’t want to miss the next episode of Talking Home Care? Subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, or accessing its feed directly.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.

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