TheKey Home Care is unique in the world of home care. It delivers personal care to 30 states and Canada through a private-pay, premium, nonfranchise model. While typical personal care clients receive 27 hours of care a week in the home, TheKey’s clients, who are typically higher-utilization and longer-stay, receive 47 hours of care a week. Advice to firms considering this model? Know that you will not appeal to every client. And location is important to be successful, CEO Chris Gerard told McKnight’s Home Care in a Newsmakers podcast.
One of the biggest pain points for TheKey, which serves private-pay clients primarily, is affordability, CEO Chris Gerard told McKnight’s Home Care. Also, the population that can pay for the firm’s services is even smaller given that the company specializes in longer-term, higher-utilization clients. One of the secrets of the firm’s success is matching the caregiver’s capabilities and personality with the client's needs and being available early in the episode of care, he said. This means putting lot of energy and effort into the first seven to 14 days the client is on service. The company recently left the Australian market, which was a franchise business. TheKey is a bit immune from the caregiver shortage in the United States because clients receive more intensive care and for a longer time than those at most agencies. This allows the company to give caregivers more stable clients and more hours. As a result, turnover is less of a problem at TheKey compared to other agencies, Gerard said. One of TheKey’s most successful service lines is geriatric care management, a lesser-known service that provides a “household quarterback” to manage all aspects of a loved one’s care — from trips to the physician’s office to durable medical equipment maintenance.
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Show contributors:
McKnight’s Home Care Editor Liza Berger; Chris Gerard, CEO, TheKey Home Care