Home care is entering a new era.
Although the profession is young, it has accumulated some years under its belt and can boast a history of expertise and service. We see growing demand for home care coming from an aging population that is living longer and trying to cope with an array of health problems. It's commonly understood that home care is the most cost-effective and consumer-preferred arrangement for care.
We are entering an era of accreditation and quality standards, which may have a very positive impact on the industry, long-term. We are likely to see more outcomes-based measures and pay-for-performance initiatives for home medical equipment and services under Medicare. And home care, like other sectors of health care, will continue to be scrutinized as the federal government struggles to contain costs.
How will this new era play out? As Yogi Berra supposedly said, “It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” But the future is largely up to us.
The home care lobby has struggled under very difficult circumstances in recent years. To continue to hold our own and strengthen home care, we'll need to continue to build our capacity to advocate and better leverage the passion and caring that defines home care.
Building capacity depends on individuals who are committed to strengthening home care. Individual home care owners, managers and employees need to understand that their ability to provide service depends to a large degree on policies set in Washington. They'll need to be informed and willing to exercise their right to petition the government, or lobby, even if it's just a letter or phone call.
Capacity also depends on our ability to work toward our goals together across organizations and coalitions, creating partnerships with competitors, patient organizations, senior advocacy groups, universities and government agencies. Our capacity has grown in recent years in terms of lobbying sophistication and network-building. The home care industry has also worked to expand Washington's understanding of our role in health care through highly credible research and advocacy.
Leveraging passion also helps us since everyone can relate to the importance of the services our industry provides. We're fortunate to have a lot of passionate advocates in our business.
Sometimes passion and teamwork can help overcome overwhelming odds against us.
Even if you're not a basketball fan, there are lessons we can draw from last year's college NCAA tournament. On the outskirts of Washington, D.C., in Virginia is a school that was relatively obscure at this point last year — George Mason University. When they were included in the initial 64 colleges that would compete in the tournament, some observers said the school had no business competing in that elite group.
Basketball fans know the end of this story. The scrappy George Mason unit was the Cinderella team that played hard and beat a list of teams with impressive pedigrees and deep pockets. They made it to the fabled Final Four. While they didn't win the tournament, they achieved the unthinkable and proved skeptics and critics dead wrong.
How did they do it? After one particularly bad loss the previous year, they had drilled into them the idea that their defense must be relentless. They played with heart — they had something to prove. And they played as a team. Unlike some of the teams they faced, George Mason didn't have to worry about losing players to the NBA. They had more years of experience playing together — as a cohesive unit, as a team. Finally, their coach insisted that they not forget to have some fun when they got out on the court.
These are lessons for home care, which does not have the deep pockets or pedigree of some of the other sectors we're up against in Washington:
- Never let up on defense.
- Play with heart.
- Work as a team.
- And try to have some fun along the way.
These elements are a formula for success. Let's use them.
Tyler J. Wilson is president and CEO of the American Association for Homecare, Alexandria, Va. He may be reached by e-mail at tylerw@aahomecare.org. For more information about the association, visit www.aahomecare.org.
