Home healthcare demand on the increase

22nd Mar 2011

Care Visions International Resourcing Consultant, Jay Sihota, comments on this trend...

For a long time Home healthcare has been the poor cousin to acute hospital based services when it comes to funding and recruiting staff. After a number of trips to the US this state of affairs is changing dramatically as there is a shift to home health services providing ever increasing acute services in peoples own homes. A trend which will be a global one as healthcare providers are being asked to do more, for more people, with less funding.

With budget squeezes and insurance companies facing a larger pay out per dollar received, home healthcare is the obvious choice for health provision. Apart from the fact that most patients prefer the familiar environment of their own home, opposed to a rather sterile impersonal room in a hospital. The fact is services that are offered in hospital will shrink in the coming years as will hospital based recovery, and will move into local clinics and homecare/ home health provision. The costs involved are considerably less than a hospital stay which means lower payouts for insurers and the possibility for lower deductibles for patients.

This also means that the scope of what treatment and care is available at home will be far more acute than has been traditionally available; therefore the nurses working in home healthcare services will need to be of a higher skill set. This makes working in the sector far more desirable than in the past.

This move to home based healthcare isn’t only happening in the US, the UK is also looking at a massive shift in how services are provided, as we move to a greater inclusion of the private sector and GP lead consortia making the purchasing decisions for care services. Also in countries like China and India that have a rapidly growing middle class and an aging population spread over a huge geographical area, home care is the obvious choice as it requires less investment in infrastructure and means funds can focus on the needs of people.

Returning from the US this week, after speaking to a number of healthcare providers it is apparent that hospitals are very cautious about growth in head count as opposed to home health companies who are frustrated that they are having to turn down clients due to a lack of experienced staff. In Texas for instance I met with a home health company who are turning away clients every day as they have a waiting list of over 200, they are looking to recruit around 50 trained nurses with home health experience (state regulation means they cant use graduates) They say that home healthcare doesn’t attract acute care nurses as they gravitate towards hospitals and retrogression prevents them from getting the experienced nursing staff they need. As the economy improves more staff will retire and/or reduce hours combined with an ever increasing demographic requiring home healthcare, the market looks like it’s shortages are set to increase in the coming years. This will push rates of pay higher and attract higher quality staff and hopefully reduce the traditionally high turn over of staff in an area that desperately requires a stable workforce to provide continuity of care and relationships that inspire confidence.

This is in contrast to Hospitals who are cautious about growth and increasing head count and capacity, as the drive to create greater efficiency within healthcare services could see them need to specialise and consolidate services as traditional hospital based healthcare provision is moved into home care and duration of hospital stay and after care is shortened and transferred to local services. This isn’t to say things look bleak for hospitals, it’s just a time of transition and shifting emphasis, and seeing how they fit into the changing model driven by demand and costs in a reformed healthcare system.

What ever the changes result in, somethings are crystal clear:

• An inability to train enough Nurses, Therapists and Doctors domestically means that overseas recruitment will always play a part in the staffing shortage solution.

• Age demographics will place increased demand on services (especially home health services)

• As the economy improves those that put of retiring will retire and those that increased their hours will go back to part time further increasing the need for trained healthcare professionals.

• Home healthcare will be a huge growth area driven buy the lower cost of provision and investment required.

• Early intervention, prevention and health education is vital to a healthcare system that is increasing access to the population.

• Rapidly growing economies of India, China and the middle east will attract the traditional source of volume healthcare professionals that western countries have relied on as well as attract western staff to work overseas.

• How your existing staff are utilised is part of your future hiring strategy and your ability to retain.

• Traditional recruitment models will not meet your companies staffing needs.

We have offered a solutions to the above issues that offers an alternative to getting caught up with retrogression issues and waiting /hoping for immigration reform and it has been well received by many healthcare providers that I have met with as a cost efficient way to get the skilled staff the industry needs right now and over the coming years to meet the demands placed upon it. For further information on how we can work with you to reduce your costs and increase your capacity and flexibility to meet demand in a changing healthcare market contact Jay Sihota, Director of international service Development on jay.sihota@carevisions.co.uk

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