Home Care Strategy Lab

Nearly 100% Show Rates When AI Handles 830 Caregiver Touches a Week (Nate West)

#64 Most home care agencies are still operating the old way: phone calls, spreadsheets, reactive scheduling, and constant firefighting. Nate West, owner of Heritage Home Care in Arizona, joins me to discuss how he's transformed a well-established agency from what he jokingly calls "the Stone Age" into a modern, tech-enabled operation in just two years.  He talks about eliminating edge cases, transitioning from reactive scheduling to proactively filling shifts days and weeks in advance, and the role AI is playing in caregiver communication, shift confirmations, and open shift management. And maybe more importantly, we discuss what happens when technology frees schedulers from constant firefighting and allows them to focus on relationships, retention, and the overall client/caregiver experience. Nate explains the results Heritage has seen after six months of using Phoebe, including: • Median open shift fill time of just 9.7 minutes • No-call/no-shows reduced from 8 to just 1 year-over-year • 830 caregiver touch points per week handled by AI • 2,800+ shifts confirmed with a 97.8% confirmation rate * Nate West [https://www.linkedin.com/in/natedwest/] / nate@heritagehomecareaz.com * Heritage Home Care [https://www.heritagehomecareaz.com/] * Phoebe [https://www.phoebe.work/book?utm_source=homecarestrategylab&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=homecarestrategylab]—AI scheduling assistant for home care, mention the ‘LAB’ for a discount

The Gold Standard for Dementia Home Care (Jim Kimzey)

#63 Most home care agencies treat dementia care as a service line. Full Bloom built an entire company around it. Jim Kimzey, Co-Founder of Full Bloom Home Care, shares the systems, training, and care philosophy that allow his team to successfully serve some of the most challenging dementia clients while helping caregivers, families, and staff thrive. Jim breaks down the three levers that drive better dementia outcomes, an eight-step process for overcoming care refusal, and the gold standard for supporting complex dementia clients at home. He also explains how a dementia-first approach can reduce caregiver burnout, ease operational strain, and create better experiences for clients and families. This conversation is a practical roadmap for delivering better care to anyone serving dementia clients and families.  * Jim Kimzey [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimkimzey/] * Full Bloom Memory Care [https://fullbloommemorycare.com/] * Breakthrough: The Full Bloom Method for Overcoming Resistance to Care [https://fullbloommemorycare.com/overcome-resistance-to-care-with-full-bloom-memory-care-guide?hs_preview=WzGbjfZw-214082090628] * Best Practices Booklet—Dementia Home Care [https://drive.google.com/file/d/16oWuG6-p0zoD8uJaZrypiB2vMDs2CWVA/view?usp=sharing] (Alzheimer’s Association) * Danny Meyer's Salt Shaker Theory of Leadership [https://paulstansik.medium.com/the-salt-shaker-theory-of-leadership-5a8ad62563f] Sponsors: * Mertz Taggart [https://www.mertztaggart.com/value-accelerator-program?utm_source=homecarestrategylab&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=homecarestategylab]—Home Care M&A Experts

Top Five Sales Activities that Drive Home Care Referrals (Sean Reiley)

#62 Most home care sales reps stay busy—but very few generate high-quality referrals consistently. Sean Reiley, CTO at 52 Weeks Marketing, breaks down the specific sales activities, scorecards, benchmarks, and accountability systems that separate top-performing reps from everyone else. Sean shares the five sales activities that actually drive referrals, how many referral sources a rep should manage, what productivity should look like week-to-week, and the biggest mistakes operators and sales leaders make when managing referral accounts. * Sean Reiley / Sean@hmstechsystems.com * 52 Weeks Marketing & CRM [https://52weeksmarketing.com/] Sponsors: * GUIDE-Ready Respite Provider Program [https://debbie-miller.mykajabi.com/join-guide-ready] (Debbie Miller + Harmonic Health) * CMS GUIDE Participant List [https://242294540.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na2.net/hubfs/242294540/GUIDE%20Participants%20List.xlsx] (spreadsheet download)

The Real Barrier to Aging-in-Place Technology Isn’t Families (Paula Marks)

#61 90% of home care calls still happen in crisis mode—after the fall, hospitalization, or cognitive decline has already escalated. Paula Marks, VP of At Home Caregivers, explains why the industry must move from reactive “sick care” to preventative wellness models before the caregiver shortage reaches a breaking point. From the growing demand for in-home monitoring technology to the surprising resistance coming from referral sources themselves, Paula breaks down what’s actually preventing families from aging safely at home—and why quality, prevention, and trusted partnerships will dictate the future of home care. * Paula Marks [https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulasmarks/] * paulam@athomecaregivers.com * At Home Caregivers [https://www.athomecaregivers.com/] Sponsors: * Phoebe.work [https://www.phoebe.work/book?utm_source=homecarestrategylab&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=homecarestrategylab]

How Coastal Care Partners Built a One-of-a-kind Integrated Care Model (Amy Pierce)

#60 Amy Pierce spent more than 20 years as a nurse and saw firsthand how fragmented healthcare makes it incredibly difficult—especially for older adults—to navigate.  In 2018, she and her husband Scott set out to fix that. They started with nurse-led care management, quickly growing to ~10 clients before expanding the team—and within just six months realized they needed to bring caregiving in-house to control quality and outcomes.  About 1–2 years later, they added clinical oversight so they could handle situations like a 4pm Friday change in condition without sending clients to the ER. Fast forward 8 years, Coastal Care Partners has grown to 340+ employees and become the largest single-site home care company in Georgia, with an integrated team that includes physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, and therapists—even operating multiple primary care practices and specialty services.  Their caregivers go through a 100-hour internal training program, reinforcing their reputation as “elite” providers in their market. Amy shares how they built this model step-by-step—“building the airplane while flying it”—why hiring and communication are everything, and how integration allows them to manage rising conditions like dementia, Parkinson’s, and heart disease more effectively at home.  She also breaks down the operational lessons, leadership challenges, and why she believes integrated care is the future of aging services. Show Notes: * Amy Pierce [https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-pierce-rn-bsn-cmc-64416999/]on LinkedIn * Coastal Care Partners [https://coastalcarepartners.com/] * Book: The Aging Care Blueprint for Families [https://www.amazon.com/Aging-Care-Blueprint-Families-Navigating-ebook/dp/B0GYK6SZCW/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1R1BWY8HU5D0D&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.1c0TPWAthpfZ69uYFfvxnEqGvhiFOGsFWOymZObgqWEwqwoofJ0ZeJ2o1v4tP4_xIXE4SbhyE4mSyzegf7i7tGWeRQNhEkPG_yqN9q2-164hUFrPPkzAFP8uTi4u3L8GiEQpm4D8hmDnUZdBmcs-9waY4vyhQBAv4dZhYp-XlC2-sOmyRmoa7G-lNA1A4HlO7rp0Z9f75S7ebsJSU3pmRsLSNvtSdeuueCT04QHrFHI.bFLfJttjZypkD7nH_1pLye2hm--bBIeEzyEufUBW_L4&dib_tag=se&keywords=aging+life+care+blueprint&qid=1777859106&sprefix=aging+life+care+blueprint%2Caps%2C141&sr=8-1] by Amy Pierce * EOS [https://www.eosworldwide.com/]—Entrepreneurial Operating System for businesses Sponsors: * Mertz Taggart—Value Accelerator Program [https://www.mertztaggart.com/value-accelerator-program?utm_source=homecarestrategylab&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=homecarestategylab]