Cheryl Rumley—founder and president of Apex Homecare—offers a powerful, first-person account of her experience running an agency during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
For the 16th episode of Talking Home Care, Pat talks with Cheryl Rumley, founder and president of Apex Homecare in Springfield, Massachusetts. Cheryl offers a powerful, first-person account of her experience running an agency during the pandemic. Like many owners, Cheryl had to figure out how to care for her clients while also looking out for her employees’ safety and need to care for their own families.
They also discuss Cheryl’s connection to the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic and Governor Charlie Baker’s leadership during the last 18 months.
You may listen to the podcast by clicking any of the platform images above, clicking “play,” or downloading it directly (Length: 21 minutes; Size: 15 MB).
Veteran litigator Angelo Spinola answers questions about how agencies are rising to meet the biggest employment law challenges they face, including those posed by the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Angelo Spinola and Pat Kelleher
Even in the best of times, human resource issues pose an enormous challenge to home care agencies. But when responding to a global pandemic, many agencies found themselves scrambling to address new questions. How do you help employees with childcare challenges? How do you handle on-boarding (and firing) when everyone is working off-site? Who pays for COVID tests, and how should time spent getting the test be compensated? Can employers require vaccinations?
For the 15th episode of Talking Home Care, Pat speaks with Angelo Spinola of Littler Mendelson, a leading employment law litigator about these and other issues. They also discuss the subscription-based, on-line Home Care Toolkit Littler developed and constantly updates. The Toolkit gives agencies access to a world-class HR resource, policy manual, and document library that’s like adding an expert to your staff.
The Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts has negotiated a special agreement with Littler to give our members access to the Toolkit at a great price, with a portion of all sales supporting the Alliance! To learn more or to order your subscription, contact Melissa Mann at MMann@littler.com or (404)760-3928.
You may listen to the podcast by clicking any of the platform images above, clicking “play,” or downloading it directly (Length: 40 minutes; Size: 29 MB).
Front-line heroes share their stories about overcoming the challenges posed by the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The COVID-19 Pandemic has created huge challenges to healthcare systems across the globe, including here in Massachusetts. As part of National Home Care and Hospice Month, we collected first-hand stories from our members about the front-line challenges they faced, and how they overcame them.
For the 14th episode of Talking Home Care, we’ve collected these stories into a single podcast. They are introduced by Alliance Executive Director Pat Kelleher and are read by drama students at Winthrop Middle School.
You may listen to the podcast by clicking any of the platform images above, clicking “play,” or downloading it directly (Length: 41 minutes; Size: 29 MB).
Pat Kelleher speaks with Layla G. Taylor about what employers need to know about marijuana.
Taylor and Kelleher
With many states (including Massachusetts) decriminalizing marijuana in recent years, home care agencies and other employers find themselves having to answer questions they never thought to ask. How do I protect my clients? What are my employees’ rights? Am I still allowed to issue drug tests and, if so, under what circumstances?
For the 13th episode of the Talking Home Care podcast, Pat Kelleher explores these and other questions with Layla Taylor, a partner at Sullivan, Hayes & Quinn and an expert in employment and labor law.
You may listen to the podcast by clicking any of the platform images above, clicking “play,” or downloading it directly (Length: 25 minutes; Size: 19 MB). If you enjoy the podcast, please give us a five-star review so others can find it.
Medicare’s Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) system went into effect on January 1, 2020. How has the industry fared in the month since the “most significant regulatory and reimbursement reform” in recent memory?
For the 12th episode of the Talking Home Care podcast, we put that question to a live panel of three of the nation’s leading experts at the Northeast Home Health Leadership Summit: Chris Attaya of Strategic Healthcare Programs, Stacy Ashworth of Select Data, and Nick Seabrook of BlackTree Consulting. Slides from the discussion are available for download.
You may listen to the podcast by clicking any of the platform images above, clicking “play,” or downloading it directly (Length: 70 minutes; Size: 31 MB). If you enjoy the podcast, please give us a five-star review so others can find it.
Guests: Chris Attaya is the Vice President, Product Strategy of Strategic Healthcare Programs. Stacy Ashworth is the Executive Vice President of Clinical Innovationof Select Data. Nick Seabrook is the Managing Director & a Founding Memberof BlackTree Consulting.
Pat Kelleher is joined by CareAcademy’s Helen Adeosun and HouseWorks’s Andrea Cohen to discuss tech solutions to the workforce issues challenging the home care industry.
Helen Adeosun, Andrea Cohen, and Pat Kelleher
For the 11th episode of the Talking Home Care podcast, we are joined by two home care leaders to talk about solutions to one of the industry’s biggest challenges: recruiting, educating, and retaining care givers in a competitive market.
Helen Adeosun and Andrea Cohen both started their careers in home care as caregivers. Later, Helen would launch CareAcademy, an online learning platform, while Andrea would found HouseWorks, one of the largest private pay home care agencies in Massachusetts. In addition to their personal insights on workforce issues, the two also discuss their companies’ recent collaboration.
You may listen to the podcast by clicking either of the podcast images, clicking “play” above, or downloading it directly (Length: 39 minutes; Size: 31 MB). If you enjoy the podcast, please give us a five-star review so others can find it.
Specific topics include:
How agencies can attract and keep their best employees by offering a career path to all positions.
How a mobile education platform can serve a mobile workforce.
How online education streamlines on-boarding and makes time available for hands-on training.
How technology — whether for training or other purposes — can give agencies actionable data about their operations.
Guests: Helen Adeosun is the co-founder and CEO of CareAcademy. Based in Boston, CareAcademy is one of the most innovative online training platforms for the home care industry. Andrea Cohen is the CEO and founder of HouseWorks, one of the largest private care home care agencies in Massachusetts.
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
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
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.
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.
Exact Recruiting’s Eric Scharber joins us for a discussion about how to recruit and retain the best workforce from every age-group.
Eric Scharber
For the sixth episode of the Talking Home Care podcast, Pat Kelleher talks recruiting and retention with Eric Scharber, a principal of Exact Recruiting. Topics include:
The advantages to employers of focusing on retention as much as recruiting
How small changes in retention can make a real difference to an agency’s bottom line
Why offering staff development is sometimes more important than pay increases
The challenges (and opportunities) of hiring Millennials
How to get graduating nurses and therapists to consider careers in home care and hospice
The specific challenges of retaining non-medical caregivers such as CNAs and home health aides
You may listen to the podcast by clicking the play button above, downloading it directly, or subscribing through iTunes or Google Play. (Length: 28’30”; Size: 15 MB).
Guest: Eric Scharber is a principal at Exact Recruiting, a Simione Talent Solution, where he leads talent acquisition and employee retention for the home care and hospice industry. He oversees executive search and non-executive recruiting services, as well as recruitment process outsourcing, compensation analysis, and employee satisfaction survey services.
Pat Kelleher talks emergency and disaster preparedness with Barbara Citarella, president of RBC Limited Healthcare & Management Consultants.
Barbara Citarella
For the fifth episode of Talking Home Care, Pat Kelleher talks emergency and disaster preparedness with Barbara Citarella, president of RBC Limited Healthcare & Management Consultants. Topics include:
CMS’s 2016 preparedness operations requirements;
The unique challenges home care agencies face during emergencies (as well as their unique capabilities);
Lessons agencies can learn from recent natural disasters;
Home care’s ability to provide surge capacity for other health providers;
The biggest obstacles agencies face in implementing a disaster plan; and
Resources for agencies who wish to become better prepared.
You may listen to the podcast by clicking the play button above, downloading it directly, or subscribing through iTunes or Google Play. (Length: 32’45”; Size: 17 MB).
Guest: Barbara Citarella is the president and founder of RBC Limited Healthcare and Management Consultants, a national leader in the home health and hospice industry in addition to disaster planning. As the only recognized expert in the area of home care and hospice disaster planning, she specializes in emergency disaster planning, bioterrorism, health care development and operations. She provides education to law enforcement and government agencies, health care providers, private sector, first responders, national and state associations in all aspects of disaster preparedness.
Think Home Care Blog 