Hello from Guangzhou China where I am exploring a joint venture with some physicians to open a Home Care Company here and in Singapore. The Asian culture is so rich in history, traditions and approaches to problem solving. While I was talking to some of the physicians here, I had a little epiphany. I started to see the difference in how some of the companies I work with think and the unique way that Asians approach problems or opportunities.

This post explores how we can help our Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) colleagues as they try to address their re-admission challenge and become part of a quality post-acute care continuum and ACO.

Skilled nursing facilities have spent the last few years learning a great deal about the hospitals they work with. For obvious reasons!! Unfortunately our SNF colleagues don’t know a great deal about the hospice and home care companies in their building. One of the reasons is because we haven’t done a good job of working with them.

This post talks about Home Care and Hospice companies and what the ACO (Accountable Care Organization) movement means to their business development efforts. As I sit here watching my Lions play the Packers (tied up 7-7) and write this, I am Skyping with a colleague here in Michigan who operates a Home Care and Hospice company. We are talking about how his strategies differ as he approached several ACO with his Home Care operation and Hospices, and how he is working with several ACOs.

Happy Sunday as I write…well not really as my Lions lost today :=( I am a football junkie!!

I was talking to a President of a hospital based hospice this past week as her operation is not growing and she had some other issues causing concern. I asked her to send me her Marketing and /or Strategic Plan. What she sent me was a list of 101 things she was working on. I kid you not. Here were a few questions I asked her:

Hello from 35,000 feet up in the air as I fly back from Denver. While in Denver I had a dinner conservation with some hospice and home care colleagues on what makes an excellent hospice and home care sales professional? This blog offers up what we believe to be the “Top 10” selling skills. What do you think?

This post explores how the General Inpatient Hospice (GIP) level of care is the most misunderstood and thus misused element within the wonderful Medicare Hospice benefit. Learn how to put this level of care to better use for your organizations to serve more patients, develop value based relationships with hospitals and SNFs, and enhance profitability.

Happy Saturday evening to all of you. It is not a good Saturday for me as my two favorite college football’s teams lost :=( University of Michigan and Michigan State. I just hope my Detroit Lions do better on Monday Night Football.)

This post shows how a strategic planning process can be an excellent tool to building a strong team and help develop a culture of excellence and growth. I’m sitting in the Delta lounge at the Atlanta airport talking with several colleagues about the value of strategic planning. Whether your planning process is an afternoon event, a meeting on market planning or a more rigorous process with your board, it is all good. We all agreed to that.

Learn in this post how to break into the C-Suite at your local hospital!!! It is much easier than you think!!

I was taking to a colleague in Youngstown, Ohio who owns a hospice and who was having trouble getting an audience with the C-Suite Executives in his local hospital. He tried many times with no success. I did work with Mark (my friend) to take the GIP Contract he had with the hospital and build it into a quality well run GIP Cluster Bed Program. There is a BIG difference between a GIP Contact and a GIP Cluster Bed Program. With the GIP Cluster Bed Program in place, we crafted out a very clear and strong value proposition statement around 5 key points on our GIP Program would bring value to the hospital. We wrote a letter to the CEO and within two weeks we had a meeting with the CEO, CFO, CMO and CNO.

The BIGGEST mistake most people make when working a hospital for referrals is that they neglect developing relationships with key influencers.
There are some 25 other customers besides the obvious ones who can help develop your hospital referrals! Everyone works “the middle”, those Case Managers, Discharge Planners and Social Workers. Yes, these professionals are important and every hospice, home care and other health care salesperson call upon them!! Expand your circle on influence
The secret to building lasting relationships and a stream of referrals is to understand what the value proposition is for the hospital professionals listed below. A hospital is a mini city and knowing how these people can influence your hospice or home care business is key!!

Good evening to all.

As I sit at my cigar club, going through my emails, the questions I am receiving revolve around whether to make or buy the elements to a post-acute care continuum.

The emails ask “Do I want to totally own and operate my post-acute care continuum or can I buy/lease some or all of it??”

There truly isn’t one correct answer.

I am responding to these emails by asking “what is your true objective for your Post-Acute Care Continuum??”