If You’re Not Acting Now, You Might be Left Behind

 In Preparing for the Future

Our new national study reveals what’s at stake and how to thrive

We’ve reached an inflection point in senior care. It’s arrived sooner because of the pandemic, but it’s been a long time coming. How you choose to respond now will have implications both immediate and well into the future.

To help guide you on the formidable path ahead, Transcend Strategy Group has invested into new research on the attitudes of family care decision makers. The insights we have uncovered can help you adapt your organization to meet future demand, pointing the way for opportunities to grow census, improve retention, strengthen culture and deepen relationships with referral sources.

In our national survey of 1,000 family healthcare decision makers, 65% said COVID-19 has completely changed their opinions about the best way to care for aging seniors. The pandemic has dramatically shifted their attitudes toward in-home and in-facility senior care, and it’s become clear this impact extends well into their long-term plans for how to utilize their care services after the current crisis passes.

A strong preference emerged for expanded in-home care, fueled by the ongoing fear of infection, with many respondents not only indicating greater confidence in home care but also a desire to move their loved one into it even after the pandemic. However, there also remains a clear path forward for how facility-based providers can build on the trust they’ve established with those in their care. In fact, those with a loved one already living in a facility were far more likely to favorably rank their confidence in facilities, based on the credibility that’s already been established.

Overall, decision makers have many new expectations related to safety, quality, services and communication, many of which will become part of the fabric of tomorrow’s normal. This spells accelerated opportunities for services that were already rife with potential, such as telehealth, which 62% of respondents now agreed they were more likely to use in the future than they were pre-pandemic.

An essential area all providers must explore is how they can expand and refine their communications. What came through loud and clear from the research was just how critically linked the quality of your communication is with decision makers’ perception of the overall quality of care. In many cases, respondents were two or three times more likely to rank providers more favorably in metrics of care quality when they felt satisfied with the level of communication, clarity and honesty they are receiving from the provider.

These are logical extensions of the broader trends emerging in healthcare, with preference moving to more of a consumer or experience-centric model. A shift further spurred along financially by changes in reimbursement models, with the increasing influence of satisfaction scoring.

For more insights and guidance on how to apply these research results to your organization, reach out to Stephanie Johnston to schedule a free session.

 

Related Posts

Telehealth blog image