Home Care FAQs
We've brought together a team of educators and home care experts to answer the burning questions that you and every home care owner will ask at some point.
- Am I at risk of HIPAA fines if I use texting to communicate with caregivers?
Connor Kunz
VP @Careswitch, former head of education @ Home Care Pulse, scaled a service business 7 figures in 3 years
- Are there mistakes I'm making with my website that could be hurting my ability to get new business?
Jeremy Fuller
Managing Director of Grow Home Care Marketing; website, SEO, and digital marketing expert
- Is there a spreadsheet I can download to easily calculate how much I need to charge to break even?
Julio Briones
CEO of Briones Consulting - helping 7-figure home care agencies grow
- How should I decide which referral partners to work with and which to avoid?
Debbie Miller
Former pharma sales rep who built a $10M home care company and founded 52 Weeks Marketing
- What are the best (and worst) talking points to use with each type of referral source?
Debbie Miller
Former pharma sales rep who built a $10M home care company and founded 52 Weeks Marketing
- What should a 90-day caregiver retention plan look like?
Connor Kunz
VP @Careswitch, former head of education @ Home Care Pulse, scaled a service business 7 figures in 3 years
- What roles should I hire for in my home care agency's office staff and when should I hire them?
Connor Kunz
VP @Careswitch, former head of education @ Home Care Pulse, scaled a service business 7 figures in 3 years
- What basic financial statements should I be using for my home care agency and where can I get templates?
Mark Johnson
EA specializing in home care agencies
- All the applicants are going to work for Amazon, Walmart, and Uber. How do I compete?
Shelby Palmeri
Hiring expert at CareerPlug
- What can I do to make sure my home care agency's Google My Business Profile is top-notch?
Jason Chagnon
CEO of Home Care Marketing Pros; digital marketing consultant to senior care businesses
- What are some good professional referral sources my home care agency can partner with?
Connor Kunz
VP @Careswitch, former head of education @ Home Care Pulse, scaled a service business 7 figures in 3 years
- How should I handle service recovery if one of my caregivers makes a huge mistake?
Jonathan Chapman
Director of Customer Education at Careswitch, former head of franchisee training at SYNERGY HomeCare corporate
- How can I make sure my home care agency's training is meeting state compliance requirements?
Becki Harrington-Davis
Senior Content Marketing Manager at CareAcademy
- Is there a way for home care agency owners to get their agency management/scheduling software for free?
Connor Kunz
VP @Careswitch, former head of education @ Home Care Pulse, scaled a service business 7 figures in 3 years
- Should I pay my caregivers for time spent on training if I'm not legally required to?
Becki Harrington-Davis
Senior Content Marketing Manager at CareAcademy
- Can I pay my caregivers as 1099 contractors or do they need to be W-2 employees?
Ilya Vakhutinsky
Careswitch CEO, home health aide's son, Forbes 30 Under 30, caregiver advocate
- How can I avoid payroll-related lawsuits and make sure my home care agency is on the up-and-up?
Sabrina Sattler
Account Executive at Careswitch, home care agency advisor specializing in startup success and longevity
- Where can I get a sample template for a caregiver job ad that will help my agency stand out to applicants?
Connor Kunz
VP @Careswitch, former head of education @ Home Care Pulse, scaled a service business 7 figures in 3 years
- What should I do if I have a caregiver who is consistently late to shifts or not following care plans?
Jonathan Chapman
Director of Customer Education at Careswitch, former head of franchisee training at SYNERGY HomeCare corporate
- When is it time to hire a recruiter for my home care agency?
Rachel Gartner
Former home care recruiter who was so successful that she founded her own recruitment firm (Carework)
- I just started my agency. How should I go about getting my first five clients?
Gregg Mazza
Founded a home care agency, almost ran out of capital after two years, figured things out and scaled past $5M
- What should a good job ad look like for a home care marketer?
Connor Kunz
VP @Careswitch, former head of education @ Home Care Pulse, scaled a service business 7 figures in 3 years
- What should a good job ad for a home care coordinator/scheduler look like?
Connor Kunz
VP @Careswitch, former head of education @ Home Care Pulse, scaled a service business 7 figures in 3 years
- Are there any financial statements I might not be using that would give me a leg up in my home care agency's financial health?
Jennifer Ramos
Managed and sold three different home care agencies; CEO of JR3 Consulting
- Where can I get a good job description template for a Director of Operations at my home care agency?
Connor Kunz
VP @Careswitch, former head of education @ Home Care Pulse, scaled a service business 7 figures in 3 years
- Are there any value-adds home care owners overlook that can help maximize the value of their agency?
Jennifer Ramos
Managed and sold three different home care agencies; CEO of JR3 Consulting
- How much should I pay a home care marketer?
Erica Horner
Home care sales consultant & project manager at corecubed
- How do I know if I should fire a client?
Brett Ringold
Vice President of A Long-Term Companion
- At what point should I hire a marketer for my home care business?
Erica Horner
Home care sales consultant & project manager at corecubed
- What’s the biggest mistake home care owners make when preparing to sell an agency?
Jennifer Ramos
Managed and sold three different home care agencies; CEO of JR3 Consulting
- What's the best way to recruit caregivers for my home care agency?
Connor Kunz
VP @Careswitch, former head of education @ Home Care Pulse, scaled a service business 7 figures in 3 years
- Should I apply for Employee Retention Credits and how do I know if my home care agency qualifies?
Angelo Spinola
Home health, home care and hospice chair at Polsinelli
- How can I decide how many referral partners to work with?
Brett Ringold
Vice President of A Long-Term Companion
- What are the most important things a home care agency owner should be thinking about now if they want to sell in five years?
Jennifer Ramos
Managed and sold three different home care agencies; CEO of JR3 Consulting
- How should I organize paperwork such as client files and care plans?
Jessica Nobles
Co-founder and business coach for Home Care Ops, built a 7-figure home care business in one year
- How do I get more applicants to show up to interviews?
Madeline Cecil
Content Writer @ Hireology
- Is there a payroll system that's built into a scheduling software? Are there advantages to this?
Connor Kunz
VP @Careswitch, former head of education @ Home Care Pulse, scaled a service business 7 figures in 3 years
- What's the best way to tell our clients that we're increasing our rates?
Adam Corcoran
Director of Business Development at Golden Care, owner of Home Care Flyers, helped build a multimillion dollar agency from the ground up
- Should I focus on local SEO rankings?
Jason Chagnon
CEO of Home Care Marketing Pros; digital marketing consultant to senior care businesses
- We've just had our first state audit and we failed in a couple areas. How can I make sure we pass future state audits?
Ilya Vakhutinsky
Careswitch CEO, home health aide's son, Forbes 30 Under 30, caregiver advocate
- How do I get my home care agency to show up first in local Google searches?
Connor Kunz
VP @Careswitch, former head of education @ Home Care Pulse, scaled a service business 7 figures in 3 years
- How can I attract quality online caregiver applicants who are ready to work?
Rachel Gartner
Former home care recruiter who was so successful that she founded her own recruitment firm (Carework)
- How can I make sure my caregiver training is in compliance with state requirements?
Gina Murray
Started and sold a $5M agency in 6 years; co-founder of CINCH Community Care Management
- How many referral partners should I touch base with per week?
Tim Murray
Started and sold a $5M agency in 6 years; co-founder of CINCH Community Care Management
- How can I build referral relationships with hospitals?
Tim Murray
Started and sold a $5M agency in 6 years; co-founder of CINCH Community Care Management
- What are the biggest mistakes home care agency owners make when building their sales process?
Jonathan Chapman
Director of Customer Education at Careswitch, former head of franchisee training at SYNERGY HomeCare corporate
- What's the best home care software to run my agency with?
Connor Kunz
VP @Careswitch, former head of education @ Home Care Pulse, scaled a service business 7 figures in 3 years
- If there's an economic recession this year, how will that impact my home care agency?
Connor Kunz
VP @Careswitch, former head of education @ Home Care Pulse, scaled a service business 7 figures in 3 years
- What are the best ways home care owners can overcome revenue plateaus?
Clint Nobles
Built a multimillion dollar home care agency, founded Home Care Ops, operational methodologist for Fortune 500 companies
- What's a good profit margin for a home care agency and how big a cut should I take as the owner?
Connor Kunz
VP @Careswitch, former head of education @ Home Care Pulse, scaled a service business 7 figures in 3 years
- How much does it cost to start a home care agency?
Connor Kunz
VP @Careswitch, former head of education @ Home Care Pulse, scaled a service business 7 figures in 3 years
- One of my clients has started paying their caregiver under the table. What should I do?
Gina Murray
Started and sold a $5M agency in 6 years; co-founder of CINCH Community Care Management
- I have a question I'd like to get answered. How do I submit it?
Connor Kunz
VP @Careswitch, former head of education @ Home Care Pulse, scaled a service business 7 figures in 3 years
- I want to contribute an FAQ response to this page. What are the guidelines?
Connor Kunz
VP @Careswitch, former head of education @ Home Care Pulse, scaled a service business 7 figures in 3 years
One of my clients has started paying their caregiver under the table. What should I do?
When we were told by a client’s son that he thought his dad was giving one of our caregivers cash, I asked if I could meet them.
Our agency had a very clear policy that the staff could not accept any type of gift or ‘tips’ and this policy was explained to clients before service began. The client was used to my check in visits and I planned a time that the caregiver would not be at the house.
During our meeting, I reviewed some of our agency policies, including the one about ‘gifts’. The client felt he could give his money away if he wanted to. He said the caregiver worked hard and needed the money.
I explained that, just like staff in hospitals, nursing homes, and assisted livings, our staff was not allowed to accept anything and they could be terminated if they did. I let him know that one criteria for our caregivers to earn pay raises was client feedback. We also had various monetary bonuses caregivers could win based on client feedback.
We let the client know that we would not be able to send this caregiver back to him and he was relieved. Once he started giving her money, he felt ‘obligated’ to continue.
Then we asked the caregiver to come in for a meeting to tell us how things were going with the client. I asked if she knew the agency policy about accepting money or gifts. She said she did but the client was rich and liked to give her money. We ended her employment with our agency for this policy violation.
For situations like these, it’s important to have clear policy guidelines to follow. The senior population is a vulnerable one, having clear expectations for your staff is important. We sent an email to all caregivers with the gentle reminder of this policy and the encouragement to let us know if a client offered them anything.