While navigating the turbulent waters of post-acute care as a small post-acute care organization, you may find yourself in a high-stakes game where adaptation isn’t just a choice; it’s a lifeline.
The hurdles and trends we’re about to uncover aren’t just roadblocks; they’re potential game-changers for your agency – where failure to adapt may result in:
- Decreased market share
- Financial instability
- Inability to provide the high-quality care that patients expect
It’s not merely about survival – it’s about thriving in a fiercely competitive healthcare landscape.
By acknowledging and actively mitigating these challenges, you can position yourself as an agile and adaptive player in the industry.
Throughout this article, we’ll unravel the specific challenges smaller organizations face. More importantly, we’ll equip you with strategies to stand out in the market, enabling you to compete head-to-head with larger enterprises.
Let’s dive in.
Navigating Daily Challenges Smaller PAC Organizations Face
Daily challenges can feel like an uphill battle in your journey as a smaller post-acute care agency, especially when competing against larger enterprise organizations.
The multifaceted nature of this challenge encompasses issues such as:
- Limited resources
- Budget constraints
- Establishment of a sales and marketing team
In addition, several conflicts and trends are emerging in the post-acute care industry, including:
- Increased competition
- Staffing shortages
- Time constraints
- Implementing technological tools
- Growing emphasis on Medicare Advantage
Unfortunately, these trends can pose significant hurdles for your organization as you strive to remain competitive in the industry.
Let’s dive into each conflict in more detail, equipping you with insights to navigate and overcome these challenges:
Increased competition
The first and biggest conflict we are addressing is increased competition.
As a smaller post-acute care organization – you may find yourselves in the shadow of larger post-acute enterprise organizations when trying to create a meaningful referral partnership with hospitals – as these industry giants often wield greater influence.
Unfortunately, this makes it harder to establish yourself as a top referral partner, especially if your organization has a limited budget for marketing and technology used to help find top referrals in your market – hindering your visibility and outreach in an increasingly competitive industry.
However, despite these challenges, strategic positioning and innovative solutions can not only help you survive but thrive alongside industry giants.
Remember: When it comes to increased competition, it’s important to show your unique value and how your organization provides quality patient care better than your competitor. It’s not always about coffee, donuts, and cool swag.
Tip: Want to learn more about innovative technology that can help smaller post-acute organizations thrive in the market? Click here.
Staffing shortages
The second and most impactful conflict is staffing shortages.
As you’ve probably heard or experienced – the post-acute care industry as a whole is currently facing a staffing shortage crisis.
Due to this shortage, crucial roles like nurses, therapists, and home health aides are severely affected – making it harder for smaller organizations to provide quality patient care with a stretched workforce.
As a smaller organization, it’s understandable that recruitment may be harder than compared to an enterprise.
However, offering competitive salaries, creating a positive work culture, and implementing targeted recruitment and retention strategies are essential to standing out in the job market and helping to reduce staffing shortages.
Tip:
If you want to learn more about the industry-wide staffing shortage and strategies to help reduce the impact, check out our blog “Shortages in Post-Acute Care: Impact on Agencies, Caregivers, and Patients.”
Time constraints
The third conflict is time constraints.
As the saying goes, “if I only had more time.”
The constant ticking of the clock becomes a formidable challenge – presenting a balancing act in delivering timely and efficient patient care, especially with limited resources.
For example, let’s say that as the owner of a small post-acute care organization, you may find yourself wearing multiple hats – from field visits with patients to managing the regular CEO tasks. Your time is a precious commodity, and the capacity to prospect for top referrals in the market often takes a backseat when each moment is dedicated to delivering quality patient care. Even with 1-2 sales reps, ensuring all tasks are accomplished while tirelessly striving to provide timely, quality patient care becomes a daily challenge.
Finding a harmonious balance between administrative tasks and patient care is paramount in this time-strapped scenario, where every second counts.
Implementing technological tools
The fourth conflict smaller organizations face is the implementation of technological solutions such as a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform.
Having this type of tool is strategically imperative if your organization is seeking to prospect for top referral partners in your market.
However, for some smaller organizations, they face unique challenges that make it harder to implement this type of tool:
Budget Constraints
As a small post-acute organization – investing in sophisticated software for referral management and market insights may strain limited budgets, making it even harder to compete with enterprises.
Even so, if your organization does invest in a CRM or software to help with market insights and referral management – you may not be able to utilize the full functions unless you invest in the full platform (which can be expensive), hindering you even more.
Tip: Looking for a strategic platform that’s affordable and can help you find top physicians and facilities in your market? Click here.
Resistance to Change
Did you know?
According to webinarcare.com, “CRM trends indicate that 23% of employees in small companies have adopted a CRM.”
Overcoming staff reluctance to adapt to another new solution requires dedicated efforts in training and showing the ultimate potential of the tool – which unfortunately can take already limited time away from your organization’s day-to-day tasks.
Dedicated IT department
Besides budget constraints and user adoption – your organization may not have a dedicated IT department to help navigate the complexities of implementing and maintaining these sophisticated technological solutions.
This limitation can slow down the adoption process or create downtime – hindering your organization’s day–to–day tasks and prospecting.
In the pursuit of thriving in the post-acute care industry – it can be hard to grapple with these technological challenges and work relentlessly to navigate budget constraints, address staff resistance, and ensure the solutions run smoothly.
Tip: If you would like to learn more about CRM challenges organizations face, check out our blog “Top 5 Barriers to Effective CRM Utilization – Unlocking Success in Post-Acute Care.”
Growing Emphasis on Medicare Advantage
The growing emphasis on Medicare Advantage stands as the final challenge – casting a formidable shadow over the post-acute care industry.
Did you know?
According to our Post-Acute Care Industry Trend Report: “National MA enrollment grew to 29.6M in 2022 and may eclipse 50% of Medicare-eligible beneficiaries as soon as 2024.”
This rise in Medicare Advantage, coupled with the inherent budget constraints and limited resources, undoubtedly adds an extra layer of stress to an already challenging landscape for smaller post-acute care agencies.
Accepting patients under Medicare Advantage plans often becomes a significant financial challenge, forcing smaller agencies to shoulder the burden and accept lower reimbursement rates to maintain relationships at a potential loss.
Tip: If you would like to learn more about Medicare Advantage and how its’s affecting the post-acute care industry check out our blog “Value-Based Insurance Design, Hospice Benefit Component, and More: Current Headwinds Facing Post-Acute Care Agencies.”
Operate Like a Small Business – Compete like an Enterprise
As a smaller post-acute care organization aiming to contend with industry giants – one of your unique advantages is that you aren’t a big-name organization and therefore can get closer to patients and connect with them on a deeper level.
But that’s not all.
By embracing your unique advantage and pairing it with innovative and strategic solutions – it empowers you not only to function with the agility of a small business but also to rival large enterprises seamlessly.
Explore below how a strategic solution can catalyze this transformation for your organization:
In-depth Insights
A sophisticated solution tailored to your organization can help you gain deeper insights into your market and understand key metrics such as utilization rates, patient counts, risk score, and payer mix.
Actionable Strategies
With a strategic solution, you can uncover referral patterns and trends to get clear visibility into your market and understand who you are targeting on a deeper level.
Showcase Your Advantage
By utilizing the data insights mentioned above and the strategies you are planning – you and your team can discover and unveil your unique value to top referrals in your market and show how your organization is a better partner than your competitors.
Empowering Your Organization to Achieve Success
Here at Trella Health, we understand you may not have the resources or bandwidth that enterprises or some mid-market organizations do.
However, that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to be a top competitor in the market.
If your organization has 150 admits or fewer and would like to learn more about a strategic solution that can recommend physician and facility referrals hand-picked for your organization, click here.
