Successful marketing is one of the most important segments of home health care industry (home health agencies, hospices, private duty home care companies) which includes advertising, public relations, promotions, and sales. According to National Association for Home Care and Hospice, home health service is the dynamic business with more than 12 million patients in America. There are no state laws that prohibit home health care organizations from advertising in newspapers, magazines, television, radio or internet. However, home health care products and services can be legally marketed under a variety of special complex marketing laws, rules, regulations and government agencies which include the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute, the Stark Law, the Civil Money Penalty Law, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). These laws and regulations should be strictly followed by medical professionals and drug-makers, otherwise, they will receive severe penalties. The most important law is that home health care product or service advertisement must be truthful, fair and advertised by a certified specialist (Lane, n.d.). The Federal Anti-Kickback Statute forbids to pay or receive any payments while dealing with employees or independent contractors who provide marketing services. The Stark Law forbids a physician from referring a patient to an entity providing designated health services that are covered by Medicare if the physician has a financial relationship with the entity. Civil Monetary Penalty Law fines monetary penalties against any person who provides a payment to a Medicare. Health care marketing arrangements must be made according to the HIPAA privacy and security regulations which widely regulates the use of exposure of individually identifiable health information and require healthcare providers, to implement administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to protect the security of such important information (McGinn, 2011).
There are 3 marketing principles which are the most promising for the home healthcare system. The first one is analyzing the chances of success before implementing the production of home health care goods and services into the market. The SWOT analysis is the most effective one. There have to be done overall market research and collection of information from previous ventures. The second marketing principle is choosing target market for the home health care products and services, considering people's needs, preferences and behaviors. In our case, those people are mostly people over 65 years old, disabled and mothers with children. Since the target market is defined it is possible to determine characteristics such as age, gender, location, etc. The last one is strategic marketing planning which is essential to building a successful medical business. A god strategic planning with the focus on strategy, properly executed tactics and continual monitoring is a guarantee of having increased amount of patients and achievement of sustainable competitive advantage in health care marketplace (Dickinson, 1995).
Let's consider the real-life successful home healthcare system of ABC Home Care LLC (ABC), which is a home care and geriatric services agency located in Ohio. The company serve individuals, families and health care facilities who need assistance from local home care providers. Before entering the market, the ABC made a market research and concluded that NPDA predicts that the home care industry will continue to grow since the population of older adults grows. The residents over 65 are expected to increase to 71.5 million in 2010-2030 years. The private duty home care sector also developing, since 70 percent has been active for more than five years. The primary target market of the company are hospitals and health care facilities that employ discharge planners and other health care professionals who can provide client referrals. Their target location is the east side of the Cuyahoga River. Their target clients are individuals and their families who have a household annual income of more than $75,000 since they do not accept reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid. The main competitors of ABC are Comfort Keepers, Visiting Angels, and Visiting Nurse Association. The SWOT analysis model of ABC shows that their strengths are comprehensive home care and geriatric services, experienced and well-trained staff, long operational hours, affordable cost with high standards. Weaknesses of ABC are a lack of brand identity and image, low staff numbers and small marketing budget. Company's opportunities are growing market, aging population, affordability, and comfort, expandable business model. Company's threats are local competition, professional staff, business cash flow and funding, regulatory changes. ABC adopted a client-focused and analysis-focused marketing strategies. Their pricing strategy is value-based. They adopt a pull promotional strategy using website, press releases, social media marketing, e-mail marketing, e-mail program, cold calls, brochures, flyers, press releases, business cards and exhibitions. The ABC's initial marketing investment was $10, 000. The sales strategy is to show the positive characteristics of ABC such as professionalism, trustworthiness, honesty and exceptional service sells (Doe, 2012). Now ABC is one of the most popular home care agencies who provides high quality and client-centered personal care, skilled nursing visits, short-term assistance, infant services, home care, pediatric home care services, veteran services and medication monitoring services 24 hours.
Nowadays home health care is the fastest growing industry. Let's look at some interesting facts:
The target market of home health care is population aged 65 and over and baby boomer population. According to the study by iHealthbeat.org in 2000 there were 35 million residents aged 65 and older in U.S. By 2020, this type of population increased to 50 million Americans (Wiseman, 2016).
About 12 million Americans receive home care from more than 33,000 Medicare-certified home health agencies, Medicare-certified hospices, and non-Medicare certified agencies (The National Association for Home Care & Hospice, 2010)
Home health care is one of the most profitable franchises since the median amount paid for a new franchise in 2012 was about $66,000 (Kennedy, 2012). According to Forbes 2014 3 best home, health care brands are BrightStar, Right at Home and Synergy HomeCare (Tice, 2014)
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 70 percent of patients receiving home health care are 65 and over.
According to Bureau of Labor home, health care aide employment is the fastest growing jobs in U.S. There are 1.7 billion employees in the U.S. home care industry. The employment rate for home health care is growing 6 times faster than the average employment growth rate.
The home care industry is worth $84 billion in the U.S.
One in five patients receiving home health care is over 85 years old.
64 percent of all home health care patients are female.
Home health care patients are far less likely to receive care from a family member since the elder population increasing.
In 1990 there were 11 possible caregivers for every 1 family member, but by 2050 this number is going to decrease to 4 caregivers.
The home health care industry is experiencing a high turnover rate. For example, the resident caregiving turnover rate in 2013 was 36.4 percent.
The payments of the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services decreased by $260 million for 2016, which is 1.4 percent and it is a budget challenge for home care agencies and hospices (ActiveBeat Author, 2016).
