Why Everyone’s Talking About the Home Healthcare Boom

Why Everyone’s Talking About the Home Healthcare Boom

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Dennis Gill: Welcome to CareSmartz360 On Air, a Home Care Podcast. I’m Dennis Gill, Senior Sales Consultant at Caresmartz.

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Dennis Gill: So, today, I’m thrilled to announce none other than Ian Bongaardt, the ingenious CEO and Owner of Comfort Keepers of Delaware County, Montgomery County, and Chester County,

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Dennis Gill: and a respected member of the National Advisory Council of CK Franchising, incorporated.

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Dennis Gill: With more than 18 years of experience in senior care, Ian has built a culture of compassion, innovation, and results that truly elevates the human spirit.

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Dennis Gill: So, under his leadership, his team of over 200 professionals is redefining what it means to age at home.

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Dennis Gill: By creating joyful, personalized and tech forward care experiences, he empowers seniors to remain connected, engaged, and independent, no matter the evolving challenges they face.

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Dennis Gill: Ian’s unique blend of empathy,

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Dennis Gill: operational excellence, and forward thinking strategy makes him a trailblazer in the industry.

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Dennis Gill: So, get ready for an enlightening conversation about why everyone’s talking about the home healthcare boom!

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Dennis Gill: Welcome to the Podcast, Ian.

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Ian Bongaardt: Thanks for having me, appreciate it.

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Dennis Gill: No, thank you. It’s great that we are able to connect with you today, and I hope our listeners will benefit from our session on this podcast that we have for you today. Okay?

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Dennis Gill: So Ian, straight away, I’ll jump on with the 1st question that I have for you. How have you been? Have you been seeing shifting marketing demands and technological advancements reshape the expectations for home care services over the past few years? Your comments on that.

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Ian Bongaardt: For, you know, like

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Ian Bongaardt: expectations have gone, you know, way beyond, beyond. Just you know, the basic care. You know, the families and the clients they want, you know, transparency, responsiveness, personalized care. You know a lot more than they have in the past. And you know, technology has helped us

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Ian Bongaardt: do that, you know, from remote, remote, patient monitoring to Bluetooth sensors, mobile apps for the caregivers to Update families. You know, it helps us, you know, stay proactive.

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Ian Bongaardt: on that side, you know. And also

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Ian Bongaardt: the recruiting side is just as important, you know, with technology, you know, different technologies. You know, we’re not just hiring people. We’re kind of doing a little mini matchmaking service. So it’s to make sure they have the real values. And

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Ian Bongaardt: you know, empathy care.

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Dennis Gill: Okay, perfect, perfect, really good. To hear that.

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Dennis Gill: And what specific strategies can home care agencies implement to create personalized care, experiences that meet both client and family expectations. Really important.

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Ian Bongaardt: Sure. Yeah. And you know what we do isn’t very complicated. But you know it’s not easy either. You know. So really, starting with listening and figuring out what the goals of that client and that family are, you know and how do, and how do we achieve them together? You know, involving the families, not just the client but the son or daughter spouse in that, and, you know, total care. Plan

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Ian Bongaardt: of

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Ian Bongaardt: of the client to keep them home, you know, and getting the little, the little details right of maybe what TV shows they like to watch. You know what games they played when they were younger, and they still want to play or

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Ian Bongaardt: bad

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Ian Bongaardt: activities they use, they like to do, and that they can do to the best of their abilities. Now.

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Dennis Gill: Okay? And do you have a fixed thing for creating that? Or it obviously changes with every client or every family that you meet right.

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Ian Bongaardt: Correct. Correct. Yup, it’s a very personalized experience and a personalized care plan. It’s different for everybody, even if they’re neighbors, or something like that, absolutely.

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Dennis Gill: Okay, okay, yeah. Got that got that point. And what role does empathy as opposed to solely operational excellence play in defining successful home care in today’s evolving landscape. According to you.

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Ian Bongaardt: You know it’s empathy and operation. Operational excellence is both non-negotiable.

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Ian Bongaardt: You know, without empathy. You’re just, you know, checking boxes. You’re just checking off tasks, doing things, and you really miss the opportunity to connect with the seniors or their family members. But also, if you don’t have operational excellence. You can’t be in this

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Ian Bongaardt: industry or business for a long time. You know. So you still have to have the solid operations of scheduling compliance recruiting. All of that, you know.

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Ian Bongaardt: Neither are more important. The other you have to have both.

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Dennis Gill: Sure.

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Dennis Gill: Obviously they both go hand in hand, obviously.

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Ian Bongaardt: Correct 100%.

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Dennis Gill: I think it’s required in all the businesses now. But homecare. Specifically, I would say, empathy is there, because operational excellence obviously is required in every place, every sales.

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Ian Bongaardt: And we.

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Dennis Gill: Business that is there. But yes, empathy is a very important thing in the home. Health care side.

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Ian Bongaardt: Percent.

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Dennis Gill: Okay? And could you discuss in Diesel a little bit about how partnerships with healthcare providers and local leaders have helped to deliver continuity of care amid the ongoing transformation.

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Ian Bongaardt: Yeah,

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Ian Bongaardt: they’re truly, you know, important, you know, if you’re trying to care for the whole senior, you’ve got to have relationships with

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Ian Bongaardt: pharmacists, home health care, Hospice agencies, discharge planners, the veterans administration. If they’re a Va elder law attorneys, financial planners.

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Ian Bongaardt: You know you name it. You you’re trying to really build that

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Ian Bongaardt: theme around that senior you know, because at least, you know, one of our goals is to have that son or daughter family member to remain in that role and not have to become the care coordinator. Or, you know, the quarterback we really wanna

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Ian Bongaardt: take on that role for them.

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Dennis Gill: Okay, okay. So obviously, all these things that are required like you said, we pharmacist everything they are required at every point. And if they’re working in tandem, hand in hand. So that’s really helpful for this ongoing transformation that is taking place. Now.

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Ian Bongaardt: Yeah, absolutely. Some seniors or family don’t know what they don’t know, too. So being able to introduce them to somebody who specializes in Va. Services if they’re a veteran, that they had no idea were available to them.

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Ian Bongaardt: Really

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Ian Bongaardt: provides, and you know, some added value and support to that family that they didn’t know they needed.

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Dennis Gill: Oh, okay, okay, okay.

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Dennis Gill: That’s really good to know. And that’s really positive to know for our listeners, too. And finally, what key insights or data points should homecare agencies consider as they navigate or capitalize on the booming home. Health care market. Now.

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Ian Bongaardt: You know. I’ll go back a little bit to that operational excellence. No worries. You know. You have to know your numbers. You have to know your revenue, your hours, your average revenue per employee, your average bill rate, your gross margin.

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Ian Bongaardt: You know your number of intakes, your conversion percentages for those, your number of applicants. You know, you really have to know those cold numbers to be able to make sure you’re operating efficiently and targeting your ideal clients.

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Ian Bongaardt: You know, there’s a lot of macro trends coming around. You know. Maybe medicare advantage getting into our space, or you know some eaps, and being able to

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Ian Bongaardt: see those shifts and understand how they affect

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Ian Bongaardt: your data and your numbers. Both at a high level and an individual client level. Is important. Otherwise you’re gonna be chasing everybody else rather than

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Ian Bongaardt: leading the pack totally.

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Dennis Gill: Okay, okay? And for comfort keep is you’ve into the skilled and unskilled side both, or only the home care, health care only.

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Ian Bongaardt: Only the home care, the non skilled side.

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Dennis Gill: Outside.

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Ian Bongaardt: Non skilled, yup.

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Dennis Gill: Okay, okay, only the non skilled side. And just to sum all this conversation up the reason for this session as it was there. So why, everyone’s talking about the home healthcare boom, just your few inputs on this thing that may be of help for our listeners any inputs from your side. Finally,

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Ian Bongaardt: You know, it’s a

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Ian Bongaardt: It’s a great industry. Where you can do

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Ian Bongaardt: a lot of good and make a real impact on the lives of

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Ian Bongaardt: the seniors in your community, and also still, you know, make money as well. You know both sides are important.

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Ian Bongaardt: And to make sure you stay on top of the trends.

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Ian Bongaardt: of what’s going on, not just in your community, but also nationally or globally, as well.

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Dennis Gill: Perfect, perfect. So thank you. Thank you for your time. Today, Ian. And I hope our listeners did. Find this very informative. And basically, what I understood is like empathy

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Dennis Gill: and operational excellence. They go hand in hand, and all the other players that are out there in the market, like Va. Veteran associations that are out there, or pharmacists, and they all work in tandem to bring this industry to a level where it is totally helping the seniors, and also helping the agencies, earn some money.

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Ian Bongaardt: Yep.

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Ian Bongaardt: absolutely. I’m a firm believer that healthcare is coming back to the home, so whatever we can do to keep them in their home as long as possible.

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Dennis Gill: Great, great, great. So thanks again, Ian for your time today.

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Ian Bongaardt: Thank you.

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Dennis Gill: And to our lovely audience, thank you for tuning in. Until next time, I’m Dennis Gill, signing off. Thank you.