Selling Private Duty in Hospice Care (The Myth of No Money)
Posted by Mike Ferris on Friday, May 08, 2009 and posted in Hospice“But they could never afford it!” How many times do we hear this when we ask if the admissions nurse discussed private pay with the family needing additional aide or caregiver services? Without ever seeing a financial statement, we assume that just because someone lives in a modest home they could never pay for extra personal care.
There are types of people: Those who can afford private duty services and those that can’t. Within the group of people who can afford the services, there are two groups—those that will pay for private pay home care services and those who won’t.
The Usual Hospice solution? We either tell them that they need to go to a nursing home (that’s usually right after they told you that dad said he never wanted to go there!) or we add excessive aide and volunteer hours, draining resources from other patients or families that really need them. It’s not a solution, it’s a cop out.
It isn’t that people don’t have the funds. It’s that we don’t have the savvy to talk about the value private care can add. Because we’ve always been able to offer no cost care, talking about money is foreign and outside our comfort zone.
Fix #1: Have your team read The Millionaire Next Door to help them understand how the guy driving the ten-year-old car in a less than stellar neighborhood is the one with all the dough.
Fix #2: Talk about the fact that people buy things that are emotionally meaningful to them, whether it’s a new Harley, a massage, or the security of someone caring for a loved one.”
Excerpted from LEGENDARY RESULTS: Managing Referrals & Increasing Admissions Vol. 2: The Admissions Process by Michael Ferris and Polly Rehnwall.