#4 "I had to learn the language of healthcare from the outside looking in." Kelly Adams, Owner of Beyond Home Care pulls back the curtain on what it really took to build trust with hospitals, discharge planners, and other professionals without a clinical background. From overcoming early knowledge gaps to creating her own seat at the table, she shares the practical strategies and mindset shifts that helped her position Beyond as a respected resource in her community.

• Beyond Home Care Website
• Kelly Adams on LinkedIn
• kellyadamsonline.com
• The Aging Parent Blueprint

This episode is brought to you by Acrisure.
90% of home care businesses are not properly insured for their operational needs—yet insurance is often overlooked or underappreciated until disaster strikes. Acrisure’s Home Care Practice Group specializes in insurance solutions designed to protect home care businesses from lawsuits, data breaches, employee injuries, and more. With expert home care guidance and comprehensive coverage, Acrisure helps you safeguard your business so you can focus on what you do best—providing great care.

#3 Rather than treating caregiving as a job with a dead-end, Trinity In Home Care has built a structured, three-level career path that nurtures skills, offers leadership opportunities, and ensures long-term growth for caregivers. In this episode, we unpack the role, training, and responsibilities of each of the three levels and Aaron shares a compelling case for why investing in caregivers is the future of home care. 

• Trinity In Home Care Website
• Aaron Stapleton on LinkedIn
• Caregiver Career Path Download

This episode is brought to you by AxisCare.
Running a home care business is challenging enough—your software shouldn’t be part of the struggle. That’s why top-performing home care leaders and enterprise agencies choose AxisCare, rated the #1 home care operating system for the past two years. With powerful, scalable tools, best-in-class customer support, and a team that truly understands home care, AxisCare helps agencies streamline operations and scale with confidence.

#2 Are you struggling to retain office staff members for longer than 2 years? You’re not alone. Long-term employee retention isn’t just about perks or paychecks—it’s about creating a workplace where people want to stay. In this episode, we dive into CareFor’s proven approach to building a culture that keeps office staff engaged for the long haul. From onboarding strategies that foster respect to unconventional ways to rebuild trust and communication practices that actually work, this conversation breaks down the formula for retention success.

• CareFor Website
• Catherine Vergara on LinkedIn
• The Leadership Challenge by Kousez & Posner
• The 5 Levels of Leadership by John MaxWell
• Dare to Lead by Brene Brown
• The Trust Edge by David Horsager
• Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
• Simon Sinek on LinkedIn
• Adam Grant on LinkedIn 

This episode is brought to you by 52 Weeks Marketing.
80% of home care revenue is driven by referral marketing. Yet, less than 50% of home care businesses have a dedicated sales person focused on building relationships with referral partners. That’s where 52 Weeks Marketing comes in, providing a complete referral marketing system designed by Debbie Miller, who built a $10 million home care business in just 10 years. With done-for-you marketing tools, a healthcare referrer database, and a CRM to track results, 52 Weeks helps you build a scalable marketing engine that drives real, long-term growth.

#1 Welcome to the Home Care Strategy Lab! Listen to this quick trailer to hear why I left my day-job, why I love podcasting, and what you can expect from this new show. Learn more, subscribe, and follow along at homecarestrategylab.com.

With six years of experience in the home care tech industry across sales, marketing, and partnerships, and as the creator of the highly-rated podcasts "Vision, the Home Care Leaders Podcast" and "Home Care U", Miriam brings her deep understanding of the home care landscape to this new venture.

Home Care Strategy Lab goes under the microscope to dissect high-growth home care agencies, uncovering what works, what doesn't, and why. Join Miriam each week as we break down the science of home care, building a textbook of formulas to help you, a home care leader, craft your own success. 

Expect insightful analysis, real-world examples, and guidance from industry-leading sponsors to help your agency grow smarter and faster. Tune in every week to become the scientist of your own home care strategy.

#5 Kevin Smith, CEO of Best of Care, unpacks the significant growth and diversification of his home care agency over the last 7 years. Kevin explains his entry into the family business and highlights the evolution from a primarily Medicaid-funded agency to one that now encompasses care management, move management, a home care acquisition, and private pay nursing. We discuss the strategic rationale behind these expansions, building key relationships, the challenges of integration, and Kevin's role as CEO amidst the growth. He also shares what he’s got his eye and pressing concerns for his business going into its next era.

• Best of Care Website
• Kevin Smith on LinkedIn
• HHCN Article - From Family Roots to Industry Leader

This episode is brought to you by Caribou.
Do you want to build a high-performing team through the power of recognition? Caribou helps home care agencies boost recruitment, retention, and performance by tapping into simple to use technology and powerful data to engage your care team in the behaviors that matter most to your business. With Caribou, you can build a culture of appreciation that keeps caregivers engaged, connected, and committed for years, not months.

#6 Alex Chamberlain, Owner of Easy Living, closes the distance between leadership and his Care Partners by drawing on his own experience in various roles, including as a CNA. He shares his strategies for "speaking caregiver" by creating detailed care plans that function as job descriptions and implementing a thorough "show and tell" orientation process. Alex dives into Easy Living's core values— consistency, setting yourself up for success, setting and meeting clear expectations, providing feedback early and often, and over-communicating—and explains how these principles are not just words but are actively lived by him, his office team, and his Care Partners to ensure everyone wins. 

• Easy Living Website
• Alex Chamberlain on LinkedIn
• A Job Description for the Care Partner - More Than Just a Care Plan

This episode is brought to you by The Home Care CPAs.
Are you managing your bank account, or is it managing you? The Home Care CPAs specialize in helping home care agencies—from startups to $40 million businesses—optimize cash flow, streamline billing and payroll, and build scalable financial strategies. Whether you need full-service bookkeeping or expert coaching, their team ensures your finances are working for you, not against you.

#10 Christian Alaimo, Co-Founder of Caribou unpacks the caregiver shortage and what it will really take to fix it. We explore practical ideas—from performance scorecards and milestone tracking to tech and culture shifts—that will help make caregiving a respected, rewarding career. We highlight the opportunity and optimism about the future of caregiving, emphasizing the role of technology in transforming the caregiver experience and improving outcomes for clients and caregivers. 

• Christian Alaimo on LinkedIn
• Caribou.care website
• Mini FAQ Podcast with Caribou 

This episode is brought to you by AxisCare.
Running a home care business is challenging enough—your software shouldn’t be part of the struggle. That’s why top-performing home care leaders and enterprise agencies choose AxisCare, rated the #1 home care operating system for the past two years. With powerful, scalable tools, best-in-class customer support, and a team that truly understands home care, AxisCare helps agencies streamline operations and scale with confidence.

#9 Pansy Home Care was founded by Jonah's Francis’ mother, Pansy, a CNA who immigrated from Jamaica. Initially, the agency provided general home care services before specializing in dementia care. In recent years, they’ve gone all in on being the Dementia home care agency in CT. They’ve refined marketing strategies, built strong relationships with GCMs and memory care communities, shifted their payer mix away from Medicaid Waivers, identified their right fit client and caregiver, and built every aspect of their operations around their Dementia-first identity. Jonah shares the strategic decisions they’ve made the past three years and their future goals of expansion while maintaining operational excellence. 

• Jonah Francis on LinkedIn
• Pansy Home Care website 
• Purpose-Filled Care Guide for Dementia PDF resource
• Purposeful Pairing Assessment - Pansy’s quiz for prospective clients
• A Better Way - mental health services & dementia consulting
• $100M Leads - book 
• Let’s talk about it - Pansy’s social media segment 
• Second Wind dementia training
• Myers Briggs personality type testing
• Home Care CEO forum - home care mastermind groups

This episode is brought to you by Caribou.
Do you want to build a high-performing team through the power of recognition? Caribou helps home care agencies boost recruitment, retention, and performance by tapping into simple to use technology and powerful data to engage your care team in the behaviors that matter most to your business. With Caribou, you can build a culture of appreciation that keeps caregivers engaged, connected, and committed for years, not months.

#8 Deanna Keppel, Vice President of Assisting Hands Corporate Office joins the Lab to unload lessons learned from 16 years in home care operations—from office manager at a franchise to VP at the corporate office. We talk about leadership styles, time management, underutilized KPIs, job descriptions for owners, time in the business vs on the business and so much more! 

She also shares how Assisting Hands focuses on the importance of adaptability, leadership, and leveraging peer networking with their approach of being "guard rails, not train tracks" for their franchisees.

• Deanna Keppel on LinkedIn
• Assisting Hands website
• AC INC - Training & Education for Franchise Operations Teams

This episode is brought to you by 52 Weeks Marketing.
80% of home care revenue is driven by referral marketing. Yet, less than 50% of home care businesses have a dedicated sales person focused on building relationships with referral partners. That’s where 52 Weeks Marketing comes in, providing a complete referral marketing system designed by Debbie Miller, who built a $10 million home care business in just 10 years. With done-for-you marketing tools, a healthcare referrer database, and a CRM to track results, 52 Weeks helps you build a scalable marketing engine that drives real, long-term growth.

#7 Laura Coyle, the CEO of HomeWell Care Services of New Jersey, shares her unique journey from a nurse to home care CEO. She shares how she applies the 'Nursing Process' to operational strategies and decision-making. We break down the five stages: Assessment, Diagnosis, Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation and Laura explains how she applies these principles from small operational problems to large scale strategic planning. 

• Laura Coyle on LinkedIn
• HomeWell Care Services of New Jersey on LinkedIn
• HomeWell Care Services of New Jersey website
• Nursing Process Applied to Leadership PDF Download

This episode is brought to you by Acrisure.
90% of home care businesses are not properly insured for their operational needs—yet insurance is often overlooked or underappreciated until disaster strikes. Acrisure’s Home Care Practice Group specializes in insurance solutions designed to protect home care businesses from lawsuits, data breaches, employee injuries, and more. With expert home care guidance and comprehensive coverage, Acrisure helps you safeguard your business so you can focus on what you do best—providing great care.

#14 Not many home care companies have been operating for 50+ years or scale organically to $60M+. Neal Kursban, CEO of Family & Nursing Care shares the three areas that have supported their growth and helped them stand out in the crowded Maryland/DC market. We unpack delivering a white-glove client experience, paying and retaining caregivers at scale, and maintaining ownership of a family-owned agency while staying laser focused on the original mission.

Neal Kursban on LinkedIn

Family & Nursing Care

Their Foundation

NBRI - customer, employee, and market research surveys

This episode is brought to you by AxisCare.
Running a home care business is challenging enough—your software shouldn’t be part of the struggle. That’s why top-performing home care leaders and enterprise agencies choose AxisCare, rated the #1 home care operating system for the past two years. With powerful, scalable tools, best-in-class customer support, and a team that truly understands home care, AxisCare helps agencies streamline operations and scale with confidence.

#13 Everyone talks about revenue, but rates, wages, margins, taxes, travel time, mileage, shift durations, overhead… these are the real numbers behind your top line. Dana Charumbira, Managing Director of The Home Care CPAs, breaks down gross margins across common shift types—1, 4, 8, and 12 hours—and shows how each impacts your bottom line. Then we dig into overhead: how to calculate it, how to allocate office salaries, and how return on sales plays into smarter financial planning.

• Dana Charumbira on LinkedIn
• The Home Care CPAs website
• Key Metrics Calculators—gross profit per hour, gross margin, breakeven rate, overhead per hour, and target rate calculator

This episode is brought to you by Acrisure.
90% of home care businesses are not properly insured for their operational needs—yet insurance is often overlooked or underappreciated until disaster strikes. Acrisure’s Home Care Practice Group specializes in insurance solutions designed to protect home care businesses from lawsuits, data breaches, employee injuries, and more. With expert home care guidance and comprehensive coverage, Acrisure helps you safeguard your business so you can focus on what you do best—providing great care.

#12 Jeff Stevens, Co-Founder and CEO of Village Caregiving, shares how they grew from a single office in Barboursville, West Virginia to become the largest privately held home care company in the U.S. He breaks down two unique formulas: one for growing from 1 to 8 offices, and another for scaling from 8 to 60. Jeff dives into the strategies, decisions, and defining moments that shaped their growth—and offers a candid look into his leadership style and what’s driven the company’s success.

• Jeff Stevens on LinkedIn
• Village Caregiving website‍
• Corporate Lifecycles by Ichak Adzes

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Village Caregiving
05:15 Scaling the Business: From One to Many
20:36 The Four Pillars of Early Success
26:17 Indicators for Scaling Across States
36:09 Navigating Expansion: Factors for Growth
41:44 The Formula for Scaling: Agility, Velocity, and Integration
51:06 The Importance of Culture and Integration in Leadership
59:05 Future Vision: Where to Next for Village Caregiving?

This episode is brought to you by 52 Weeks Marketing.
80% of home care revenue is driven by referral marketing. Yet, less than 50% of home care businesses have a dedicated sales person focused on building relationships with referral partners. That’s where 52 Weeks Marketing comes in, providing a complete referral marketing system designed by Debbie Miller, who built a $10 million home care business in just 10 years. With done-for-you marketing tools, a healthcare referrer database, and a CRM to track results, 52 Weeks helps you build a scalable marketing engine that drives real, long-term growth.

#11 Mike Hoskin shares why he started a home care franchise as a third career—and what surprised him most along the way. He talks about managing a business from afar, hiring with heart, and the systems that keep things running. Mike opens up about the emotional side of caring for older adults, the pressure of account receivables, and why good caregivers make or break the business. He also touches on KPIs, marketing, and his vision for scaling to 4-6 locations. 

• Mike Hoskin on LinkedIn
• A Better Solution website

Chapters:
(0:00) Introduction and Background 
(5:00) Transition to Home Care
(10:00) Exploring Senior Care Options
(15:00) Franchise vs. Independent Route
(20:00) Business Growth and Challenges
(25:00) Hiring and Team Building
(30:00) Operational Strategies and KPIs
(35:00) Future Plans and Expansion

This episode is brought to you by The Home Care CPAs.
Are you managing your bank account, or is it managing you? The Home Care CPAs specialize in helping home care agencies—from startups to $40 million businesses—optimize cash flow, streamline billing and payroll, and build scalable financial strategies. Whether you need full-service bookkeeping or expert coaching, their team ensures your finances are working for you, not against you.

#18 Debbie Miller, CEO of Senior Helpers in Franklin, TN, shares how her team strategically integrated seven virtual assistants across recruiting, scheduling, billing, and after-hours support. She walks through their step-by-step approach—from starting with just two VAs to scaling to a fully embedded offshore team. Debbie breaks down key results like a 40% reduction in time-to-hire, 25% fewer cancelled shifts, and stronger after-hours coverage. She also explains why they launched their own VA company, Helper Heroes, to solve the biggest flaw in the traditional VA model: turnover.

• Debbie Miller on LinkedIn
• 52 Weeks Marketing
• Helper Heroes Flyer
• Book a Discovery Call about Helper Heroes VAs

This episode is brought to you by Acrisure.
90% of home care businesses are not properly insured for their operational needs—yet insurance is often overlooked or underappreciated until disaster strikes. Acrisure’s Home Care Practice Group specializes in insurance solutions designed to protect home care businesses from lawsuits, data breaches, employee injuries, and more. With expert home care guidance and comprehensive coverage, Acrisure helps you safeguard your business so you can focus on what you do best—providing great care.

#17 Gabrielle Pumpian, a former 7-figure home care business development rep, shares how she got started, what kept her motivated, and what most home care owners misunderstand about sales. She breaks down her top-performing health care referral sources—and exactly how she stood out—then dives into the non-health care partners and offers tactics for selling to trusted advisors. She adds insights into the evolving private-pay landscape and introduces her new venture: Trail Angel Partners.

• Gabrielle Pumpian on LinkedIn
• Contact: Gabriellepumpian@gmail.com 
• Trail Angel Partners coming soon

Chapters:
00:59 Gabrielle Pumpian's Journey in Home Care
02:59 Early Days in Sales and Learning the Ropes
06:04 Transitioning to Home Care Sales
08:58 Defining the Role of Sales in Home Care
12:07 Motivations Behind Sales Success
14:01 Misconceptions About Sales Reps
17:09 The Importance of Integration in Sales
20:00 Building Relationships with Referral Sources
25:00 Exploring Healthcare-Related Referral Sources
29:47 Strategies for Engaging with Skilled Nursing Facilities
34:51 Concierge Medicine and Unique Referral Opportunities
39:26 Breaking Down Barriers in Sales
44:36 Leveraging Geriatric Care Managers
52:43 Connecting with Wealth Advisors
58:16 Collaborating with Attorneys
01:01:04 Understanding Your Ideal Customer Profile
01:06:33 Navigating the Evolving Home Care Landscape
01:12:46 Launching Trail Angel Partners

This episode is brought to you by 52 Weeks Marketing.
80% of home care revenue is driven by referral marketing. Yet, less than 50% of home care businesses have a dedicated sales person focused on building relationships with referral partners. That’s where 52 Weeks Marketing comes in, providing a complete referral marketing system designed by Debbie Miller, who built a $10 million home care business in just 10 years. With done-for-you marketing tools, a healthcare referrer database, and a CRM to track results, 52 Weeks helps you build a scalable marketing engine that drives real, long-term growth.

#16 JM & Michele Simmonds share how they built a successful home care business in rural Texas through trust, community ties, and a strong team culture. From recruiting and marketing to handling challenges and keeping a stellar reputation, they break down what worked and what didn't. We also dive into their expansion across Texas and what it took to sell the business. Now, they’re gearing up for a fresh start in rural Colorado—with lessons learned, new ideas, and big goals. 

• JM Simmonds on LinkedIn
• Michele Simmonds on LinkedIn
• Clear Path Home Care
• Sarah Barker - Senior Care Sales Solutions
• Jensen Jones - Home Care CEO Forum

This episode is brought to you by The Home Care CPAs.
Are you managing your bank account, or is it managing you? The Home Care CPAs specialize in helping home care agencies—from startups to $40 million businesses—optimize cash flow, streamline billing and payroll, and build scalable financial strategies. Whether you need full-service bookkeeping or expert coaching, their team ensures your finances are working for you, not against you.

#15 VA billing expert, Greg Bean spells out how agencies can streamline and increase VA billable hours. He talks about the importance of educating veterans on their benefits and using thorough assessments and care plans to support billing and authorizations. Greg shares strategies for community outreach, veteran advocacy, and leveraging technology to improve service delivery. The episode also features success stories showing how agencies have grown their VA clientele.

• Greg Bean on LinkedIn
• AxisCare website
• VA rates & billing with AxisCare

This episode is brought to you by Caribou.
Do you want to build a high-performing team through the power of recognition? Caribou helps home care agencies boost recruitment, retention, and performance by tapping into simple to use technology and powerful data to engage your care team in the behaviors that matter most to your business. With Caribou, you can build a culture of appreciation that keeps caregivers engaged, connected, and committed for years, not months.

#31 Running a home care agency can feel like running a marathon—at a 7-minute mile pace, on a treadmill, underwater. Most owners are stuck because they fall into one of two traps: the “set it and forget it” manager who assumes vision is enough, or the “I’ll just do it myself” manager who can’t let go of control. Emily Isbell, CEO of 24/7 Solutions breaks down why both fail and what it takes to build a management culture that actually sustains growth. She explains how to apply the TTOE framework—Teach, Train, Observe, Evaluate—and implement real training, grounded processes, and meaningful KPIs. If you’re half leading and half managing, this conversation is especially for you. 

• Emily Isbell on LinkedIn
• 24/7 Solutions (www.247solutions.co) - Learn more and inquire about their services
• 24/7 Solutions Summit (www.247solutions.co/247-solution-summit) - Hands-on intensive to learn and apply proven solutions for your business / Feb 5-6 in Nashville, TN
• 24/7 Solution Book on Amazon (available everywhere)
• 24/7 Solution Audible on Audible (available everywhere)

This episode is brought to you by 24/7 Solutions (www.247solutions.co)
What do they do:

• Consulting—1:1 tailored consulting from an expert team who's been in your shoes
• Training—monthly training for your team on leadership, ownership and operations
• Powerhouse Peers—accountability for staff with weekly KPI check-ins, expert coaching, peer collaboration, and a monthly audit

#30 Being an entrepreneur is full of unknowns and leadership can be lonely, challenging, and push you to your limits. The CEOs of AxisCare, Nevvon, and Caribou—three leading home care tech companies—share how they started their businesses, the frameworks they use to make tough decisions, the skills they’ve had to master, and how they’ve built moats around themselves in a competitive market. They also offer candid advice for home care leaders navigating their own entrepreneurial journey.

• Todd Allen
• James Cohen
• Alex Oosterveen
• AxisCare—operational software
• Nevvon—caregiver training platform
• Caribou—caregiver rewards and recognition tool
• Book: Give and Take by Adam Grant

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Home Care Entrepreneurs
02:08 Motivations Behind Starting a Business
08:51 Embracing Pain and Discomfort in Entrepreneurship
17:08 Navigating Change: Push Through vs. Pivot
24:44 People Management: The Heart of Business
34:35 Hiring for Culture vs. Skill
39:39 Developing Hard Skills for Success
40:33 Curiosity and Pattern Recognition in Business
41:32 The Importance of Forecasting and Growth
44:12 Navigating Financials and Corporate Governance
48:31 Understanding the Moat Framework for Business Success
55:26 Operational Excellence and Customer Retention
01:00:16 Balancing Current Needs with Future Opportunities
01:09:58 Entrepreneurial Advice for Home Care Leaders

This episode is brought to you by 24/7 Solutions (www.247solutions.co)
What do they do:

• Consulting—1:1 tailored consulting from an expert team who's been in your shoes
• Training—monthly training for your team on leadership, ownership and operations
• Powerhouse Peers—accountability for staff with weekly KPI check-ins, expert coaching, peer collaboration, and a monthly audit

#21 Smart home technology is reshaping how aging adults live—and how home care agencies serve them. In this episode with Jim Conti, Shea Gregg, and David Eby, we explore the most adopted tools, emerging trends, and what’s becoming standard in aging-in-place environments. We dive into the ethical and practical challenges agencies face as technology changes communication, care responsibilities, and client autonomy. We also talk about the future where tech isn’t just a tool, but a foundational part of the care plan.

• Jim Conti on LinkedIn
• HomeSight by Vantiva
• Shea Gregg on LinkedIn
• FallCall
• David Eby on LinkedIn
• CookTop Safety (CTS)

This episode is brought to you by The Home Care CPAs.
Are you managing your bank account, or is it managing you? The Home Care CPAs specialize in helping home care agencies—from startups to $40 million businesses—optimize cash flow, streamline billing and payroll, and build scalable financial strategies. Whether you need full-service bookkeeping or expert coaching, their team ensures your finances are working for you, not against you.

#20 Not enough home care leaders are thinking about or talking about insurance. Why? They think it’s a commodity, they haven’t had a claim filed against them, or they don’t know what questions to be asking. Gavin Studner, Client Advisor at Acrisure dives into changes in workers compensation, increased rates for general and professional liability, and why carriers are limiting their appetite for home care risks. It’s not good enough to think about insurance at renewal—talk with your broker, build a risk management plan, and be proactive. 

• Gavin Studner on LinkedIn
• Reach out directly: gstudner@acrisure.com 
• Acrisure for Home Care

This episode is brought to you by AxisCare.
Running a home care business is challenging enough—your software shouldn’t be part of the struggle. That’s why top-performing home care leaders and enterprise agencies choose AxisCare, rated the #1 home care operating system for the past two years. With powerful, scalable tools, best-in-class customer support, and a team that truly understands home care, AxisCare helps agencies streamline operations and scale with confidence.

#19 Jessica Schultz, Director of Franchise People Strategy at Right at Home, and Paul Blom, a 24-year franchise owner, share what they’ve learned about caregiver recruitment and retention. Jessica unpacks the “Top 10 Project,” a system-wide deep dive into what the best-performing offices are doing differently. Paul shares the specific tactics that have helped his agency maintain exceptional retention and caregiver satisfaction—including weekly personal emails, birthday phone calls and annual events.  

• Jessica Schultz on LinkedIn
• Paul Blom on LinkedIn
• Right at Home website
• Caribou.care—caregiver rewards and recognition tool 

This episode is brought to you by Caribou.
Do you want to build a high-performing team through the power of recognition? Caribou helps home care agencies boost recruitment, retention, and performance by tapping into simple to use technology and powerful data to engage your care team in the behaviors that matter most to your business. With Caribou, you can build a culture of appreciation that keeps caregivers engaged, connected, and committed for years, not months.

#29 Jen Kulig, Director of Market Operations at Tribute Home Care, shares how a $32M agency hires and retains only the top 1% of caregiver applicants. She walks through their 7–10 day hiring process, driven by situational interviews that surface grit, empathy, and motivation, and explains why referrals make up 40% of new hires. Jen also highlights the Caregiver Excellence Department’s 90-day support program, quarterly awards, annual happiness surveys and the Everyone Out program. She also breaks down their Salary Program, Tribute Secure, that guarantees caregivers 30 or 40 hours per week. 

• Jen Kulig on LinkedIn
• Tribute Home Care

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Tribute Home Care
00:55 Jen Kulig's Journey in Home Care
07:12 Overview of Tribute Home Care's Operations
09:36 Caregiver-First Mentality at Scale
10:05 Hiring Process and Recruitment Strategies
18:17 Retention Strategies and Caregiver Excellence
44:32 Innovative Retention Programs
01:11:06 Future of Home Care and Workforce Challenges

This episode is brought to you by The Home Care CPAs.
Are you managing your bank account, or is it managing you? The Home Care CPAs specialize in helping home care agencies—from startups to $40 million businesses—optimize cash flow, streamline billing and payroll, and build scalable financial strategies. Whether you need full-service bookkeeping or expert coaching, their team ensures your finances are working for you, not against you.

#28 After two decades in the home care industry, Bob Roth found himself at a crossroads. Bob shares why he had to completely reimagine Cypress Home Care, from rebuilding operations post-Honor Care Network to transforming caregiver recruitment using machine learning and automation. He shares his candid take on today’s workforce challenges, the generational shifts shaping senior care, and why “home care is hard” but worth doing right. He opens up about the power of community partnerships, rewriting the narrative on aging, and the importance of self-care from his own lived experiences. 

• Bob Roth on LinkedIn
• Cypress Home Care Solutions website
• Book: The Potentialist by Ben Lytle
• Book: Ambiguous Loss by Pauline Boss 
• Book: Negotiate This by Caring, But Not that Much by Herb Cohen

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Home Care Strategy Lab
00:55 Bob Roth's Journey into Home Care
06:17 Reimagining Cypress: The Last 18 Months
11:36 Challenges in Home Care Workforce
17:13 Innovations in Home Care Services
24:06 Changing Perceptions of Aging
29:40 Rewriting the Narrative on Aging
36:39 Community Engagement and Partnerships
44:23 Building Awareness in Home Care
48:44 Self-Care for Home Care Owners
56:01 Advice to Younger Bob, Starting Out

This episode is brought to you by AxisCare.
Running a home care business is challenging enough—your software shouldn’t be part of the struggle. That’s why top-performing home care leaders and enterprise agencies choose AxisCare, rated the #1 home care operating system for the past two years. With powerful, scalable tools, best-in-class customer support, and a team that truly understands home care, AxisCare helps agencies streamline operations and scale with confidence.

#27 If you’re waiting hours (or worse, days) to follow up with caregiver applicants, you’re already losing the best talent. Louie Frank of Activated Insights breaks down why “24 minutes is the new 24 hours” when it comes to caregiver recruiting—and how agencies can fix mid-funnel drop-off before it costs them hires. You’ll learn how to audit your own application process, speed up first contact, and use culture as a conversion tool, not just a retention play. You’ll take away practical, data-backed steps to improve applicant-to-hire ratios and keep your pipeline moving.

• Louie Frank on LinkedIn
• louie.frank@activatedinsights.com
• Activated Insights Recruit Tool
• 2025 Benchmarking Report

Chapters:
02:32 Understanding Workforce Analytics in Home Care
08:21 Analyzing Turnover Rates and Their Implications
12:33 The Importance of Culture and Mission Alignment
16:42 Mid Funnel Challenges in Recruitment
22:43 Effective Communication Strategies for Applicants
23:29 Engaging Applicants Through Text Messaging
30:27 Scheduling and Conducting Interviews
36:30 Automating Background Checks and Metrics
42:04 Qualitative vs Quantitative Hiring Metrics
50:28 The Future of Recruitment in Home Care

This episode is brought to you by 52 Weeks Marketing.
80% of home care revenue is driven by referral marketing. Yet, less than 50% of home care businesses have a dedicated sales person focused on building relationships with referral partners. That’s where 52 Weeks Marketing comes in, providing a complete referral marketing system designed by Debbie Miller, who built a $10 million home care business in just 10 years. With done-for-you marketing tools, a healthcare referrer database, and a CRM to track results, 52 Weeks helps you build a scalable marketing engine that drives real, long-term growth.

#26 AI is transforming how home care agencies operate. Matt Ericksen, VP of Sales and Operations at Griswold, breaks down the exact AI tools, workflows, and formulas he’s using to reclaim hours, improve recruiting, and scale franchise operations. You’ll hear how he built a job ad grader that boosts hiring results, layered Microsoft Copilot across internal systems to save 17 hours a week, and created a compliance companion tool in under 30 minutes. Matt also shares the “Overall Productivity Index” formula for calculating AI ROI and the six-step anatomy of a winning prompt. If you’ve been tinkering with AI but aren’t sure how to make it stick, this episode is your blueprint for adoption and measurable results in home care.

• Matt Ericksen on LinkedIn
• Griswold website
• Practical AI podcast

Matt’s AI preferred tools:

• Microsoft co-pilot - works best for those using the Microsoft business suite
• chatGPT - writing text, summarizing text, data analysis, simple tasks, and more
• Claude - write, edit, finesse written copy, emails, etc. 
• Decktopus - create presentations
• Replit - easy to use AI app builder

The Anatomy of a Prompt:

1. Role
2. Task
3. Context
4. Reasoning
5. Output / format
6. Stop conditions

AI Overall Productivity Index (OPI):

Overall Productivity Index = (Hours Reclaimed × Avg. Hourly Cost) − Weekly AI Tool Cost

Chapters:
02:46 Matt's Journey in Home Care
05:46 The Impact of AI on Career Development
08:58 First Aha Moment with AI
12:04 AI Adoption in Home Care
14:51 Essential AI Tools for Home Care
17:52 Anatomy of Prompting in AI
23:53 Overall Productivity Index (OPI) for AI Tools
34:36 Understanding OPI and Its Importance
37:12 The Role of Natural Language in AI
37:52 Introducing the Job Ad Grader Tool
44:20 Leveraging Microsoft Copilot for Internal Operations
49:18 Creating Effective Meeting Summaries with AI
51:48 Developing a Companion Tool for Compliance
59:15 Future of AI in Home Care
01:04:32 AI Experiment Challenge for Business Owners

This episode is brought to you by The Home Care CPAs.
Are you managing your bank account, or is it managing you? The Home Care CPAs specialize in helping home care agencies—from startups to $40 million businesses—optimize cash flow, streamline billing and payroll, and build scalable financial strategies. Whether you need full-service bookkeeping or expert coaching, their team ensures your finances are working for you, not against you.

#25 What if you could replace dozens of scattered hourly shifts with one scalable model inside an independent living community? In this episode, Rob Rister of HomeWell Care Services shares how he built his “Support On Site” program—turning caregiver shortages into retention wins, driving 45% margins, and embedding his agency in 10 communities across three states. He breaks down the numbers, the operations, and the technology (hello CINCH) that made it possible. Whether you’re frustrated with the limits of hourly care or curious about expanding into new markets, this is a blueprint for cracking the community care model.

• Rob Rister on LinkedIn
• Email: rrister@homewellcares.com 
• HomeWell Care Services of Lexington, KY

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Home Well Care Services
01:06 The Aha Moment: Transitioning Business Models
10:31 Scaling the Community Care Model
18:35 Understanding the Financials and Billing
20:13 Building Relationships with Communities
31:50 The Role of Caregivers in Community Care
32:21 Finding the Right Caregivers
37:09 Building a Career Path for Caregivers
41:12 Innovative Scheduling and Technology in Care
45:56 Client Retention and Referral Dynamics
51:06 Navigating Community Relationships and Management Changes
55:51 Current Operations and Future Growth Plans
59:55 Identifying the Right Fit for Community Care

This episode is brought to you by Caribou.
Do you want to build a high-performing team through the power of recognition? Caribou helps home care agencies boost recruitment, retention, and performance by tapping into simple to use technology and powerful data to engage your care team in the behaviors that matter most to your business. With Caribou, you can build a culture of appreciation that keeps caregivers engaged, connected, and committed for years, not months.

#24 Wayne Morgan opens up about the persistence, mistakes, and lessons that finally got him in the door at Spaulding, the nation’s #2 rehab hospital. Alongside Breanne Muchemore, who led Spaulding’s care management team, they share what actually matters to hospital partners and why most agencies never make the cut. This is an inside look at the conversations, questions, and trust-building that turn ignored emails into a first-class referral relationship.

• Wayne Morgan on LinkedIn
• Amada of Central NJ website
• Breanne Muchemore on LinkedIn‍
• Spaulding Rehabilitation Earns #2 Rank in U.S. News & World Report “Best Hospitals"

Chapters:
02:10 Wayne Morgan's Career Journey
06:42 Breanne Muchemore's Background and Expertise
10:00 Building Long-Term Relationships in Home Care
11:18 Initial Approaches to Spalding Rehabilitation
18:15 The Importance of Passion and Understanding
21:39 Understanding Spalding's Patient Population
23:18 Follow-Up Strategies After Initial Meetings
29:19 Discovery Phase Insights from Breanne
35:43 Key Questions for Building Relationships
37:26 Understanding Managed Care Admissions
42:46 Building Relationships with Referral Sources
46:07 Addressing Social Determinants of Health
50:31 Identifying Key Community Partners
54:47 Maintaining Relationships for Continued Success
01:06:18 Learning from Mistakes and Growth

This episode is brought to you by AxisCare.
Running a home care business is challenging enough—your software shouldn’t be part of the struggle. That’s why top-performing home care leaders and enterprise agencies choose AxisCare, rated the #1 home care operating system for the past two years. With powerful, scalable tools, best-in-class customer support, and a team that truly understands home care, AxisCare helps agencies streamline operations and scale with confidence.

#23 An unheard of home care success story—Reggie Mackey and his team have built Live Well Home Care to a projected $25M in annual revenue in just two and a half years. The company is 98% VA funded, works mostly in rural markets across 30 states, and credits its growth to one thing: customer service—taking care of people who take care of people. Reggie shares how they approach recruiting in hard-to-staff areas, why their branch managers are measured on more than just dollars, and their “old-school” methods that still work today. He also talks about their next chapter—helping other agencies with staffing and recruiting with Staff Well.

• Reggie Mackey on LinkedIn
• Live Well Home Care website
• Staff Well—contact Reggie directly for more information 

Chapters:
01:23 Reggie's Personal Journey and Background
05:25 The Decision to Start LiveWell Home Care
06:34 Building a Founding Team for Success
09:25 Initial Vision and Early Challenges
10:19 Early Growth and Client Acquisition
13:15 Focus on VA Clients and Unique Approach
16:39 Expanding into New Markets and States
23:56 Surprises in New Markets and Business Model
25:39 Business Structure and Branch Management
28:33 Branch Manager Roles and Responsibilities
32:34 Compensation Structure for Branch Managers
34:44 Credentialing and Financial Management
36:01 The Journey to Success: Overcoming Initial Hurdles
37:35 Navigating Credentialing and Contracting Challenges
38:38 Understanding Market Dynamics: Rural vs. Urban
40:36 Organic Growth: Building a Profitable Business
42:39 Simplicity in Home Care: Focusing on Core Functions
46:26 Recruitment Strategies: Finding Talent in Rural Areas
52:33 Staffing Challenges: The Never-Ending Rubik's Cube
59:19 Customer Service: Taking Care of the Team
01:03:35 Old School Methods in a New Age
01:05:59 Doing Life Together: Building a Strong Team Culture
01:08:09 Future Aspirations: Expanding and Supporting Others

This episode is brought to you by Acrisure.
90% of home care businesses are not properly insured for their operational needs—yet insurance is often overlooked or underappreciated until disaster strikes. Acrisure’s Home Care Practice Group specializes in insurance solutions designed to protect home care businesses from lawsuits, data breaches, employee injuries, and more. With expert home care guidance and comprehensive coverage, Acrisure helps you safeguard your business so you can focus on what you do best—providing great care.

#22 Clint Nobles has worked closely with upwards of thousands of home care leaders and in this episode we talk about leadership behaviors—particularly the bad ones. He shares things that he’s seen and experienced firsthand that he advises home care leaders to actually stop doing. We tackle triage, trust, productivity, delegation, and other unique-to-home-care leadership lessons. He also shares his formula for the speed of success and a handful of other simple but effective frameworks to implement in your business now. 

• Clint Nobles on LinkedIn
• scalemyhomecare.com

Chapters:
02:45 Building a Business by Design
05:48 The Importance of Trust and Faith in Leadership
08:38 Transforming Leadership Behaviors
11:41 Overcoming Barriers to Change
14:27 The Role of Trust in Business
17:08 Empowering Teams to Make Decisions
20:31 Avoiding the Savior Mentality
23:19 Managing Beyond Triage Mode
26:23 Understanding Production vs. Productivity
38:56 Understanding Size and Structure in Business
40:50 The Shift from Production to Productivity
45:53 Emotions in Leadership: The CFO Dilemma
49:31 Mastering Emotion for Effective Leadership
56:08 Decisions vs. Choices: A Leadership Framework
59:33 Delegation: From Tasks to Decisions
01:02:24 Redefining Success: A Continuous Journey

This episode is brought to you by 52 Weeks Marketing.
80% of home care revenue is driven by referral marketing. Yet, less than 50% of home care businesses have a dedicated sales person focused on building relationships with referral partners. That’s where 52 Weeks Marketing comes in, providing a complete referral marketing system designed by Debbie Miller, who built a $10 million home care business in just 10 years. With done-for-you marketing tools, a healthcare referrer database, and a CRM to track results, 52 Weeks helps you build a scalable marketing engine that drives real, long-term growth.

#32 Eric Reinarman, VP of Government Relations at HCAOA, covers the most pressing policies being talked about on Capitol Hill. From immigration reform and workforce shortages to affordability of care and the controversial 80/20 Medicaid rule, he breaks down what’s happening in Washington and how it could reshape the industry. We also talk about the power of advocacy, why storytelling moves policy forward, and how every provider—big or small—can make their voice heard. Plus, he covers a major win with the Elizabeth Dole Home Care Act and shares practical ways to stay informed and involved at the state and federal level.

• Eric Reinarman on LinkedIn
• eric@hcaoa.org
• HCAOA Issues and Policies
• HCAOA State Chapters
• State & Federal Legislative and Regulatory Tracker

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Home Care Advocacy
03:04 The Immigration Challenge in Home Care
06:10 Advocacy and Legislative Efforts
08:58 The Importance of Storytelling in Immigration
11:58 The Affordability of Home Care
17:03 Innovative Solutions for Affordability
23:43 Current Legislative Landscape on Non-Competes
29:41 Understanding Non-Compete Agreements in Home Care
34:11 The Controversy of the 80-20 Rule
39:39 Preparing for Potential Changes in Medicaid Regulations
50:53 The Impact of the Elizabeth Dole Home Care Act
01:00:07 The Value of Advocacy and Association Membership

This episode is brought to you by 24/7 Solutions (www.247solutions.co)
What do they do:

• Consulting—1:1 tailored consulting from an expert team who's been in your shoes
• Training—monthly training for your team on leadership, ownership and operations
• Powerhouse Peers—accountability for staff with weekly KPI check-ins, expert coaching, peer collaboration, and a monthly audit

#34 People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Jane Francis, EVP of Business Development at Senior1Care in Indiana, is newer to home care, but she brings deep experience in nursing, sales, leadership development, and scaling businesses. She took over a newly acquired, underperforming Medicaid office and transformed it into a 75% private pay operation, achieving 100% year-over-year growth. Along the way, she rebuilt the culture, redesigned processes with people at the center, and is now applying these strategies across six offices. Jane shares her process, the people who inspired her, and the decisions behind Senior1Care’s cultural turnaround, despite being an established successful company.

• Jane Francis on LinkedIn
• Senior1Care 
• Books: 
  • Leadership: Rocketfuel by Gino Wickman  
  • Leadership: Mindset by Carol Dweck 
  • Sales: Sales Simplified by Mark Weinberg 
  • Marketing: Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim
  • Culture: Culture Code by Daniel Coyle
  • Aging: Forever Young by Mark Hyman

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Jane Francis and Senior One Care
01:51 Lessons Learned from a Diverse Career
12:53 Joining Senior One Care: A New Chapter
13:47 First 90 Days: Building Relationships and Trust
18:32 Shifting the Business Model: From Medicaid to Private Pay
22:49 Leadership and Culture: The Secret Sauce
29:44 Operational Improvements: Structuring the Intake Call
35:18 Re-structuring Office Roles and Responsibilities 
40:57 Re-building a Strong Leadership Structure
45:34 Focusing on People for Profits
52:25 Creating a Growth Mindset Culture
56:43 Navigating Change in Established Companies
01:00:59 Innovating Home Care for Longevity
01:03:20 Future Trends: Holistic Aging 

Episode brought to you by:
SmartAutomations.Care smartautomations.care
Helper Heroes helperheroes.com

#33 Becky Reel is the former CEO of North America’s #1 home care agency and in this episode we unpack six of the most common growth challenges home care owners face—and how to overcome them. We talk through the pushing through revenue plateaus, the caregiver exodus, the burned-out founder, the corporate competition crisis, the success trap of growing too fast, and the work-life collision that happens when your agency becomes your identity. Becky shares real stories from her first hand-experience and  practical systems she’s used to help owners regain time, rebuild culture, and grow sustainably. 

• Becky Reel on LinkedIn
• reelhomecareconsulting.com 

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:37 Becky's Journey in Home Care
04:04 The Startup Phase of Home Care Agencies
08:03 Addressing the Caregiver Exodus
29:38 Overcoming Revenue Plateaus
37:28 Balancing Quantitative and Qualitative KPIs
40:36 Navigating Corporate Competition in Home Care
52:36 The Success Trap: Growing Too Fast
01:02:18 Work-Life Collision: Finding Your Identity Beyond the Agency

Episode brought to you by Helper Heroes (https://helperheroes.com)
A Virtual Assistants company giving home care owners the freedom to focus on growth while the essential, but time-consuming operational work, gets done reliably in the background. 

#39 Melissa Morante didn’t come from home care—she came from New York PR—but since joining her family’s agency in 2016, she’s become one of South Florida’s go-to experts on Parkinson’s and chronic illness care. In this episode, she shares how that deep dive into Parkinson’s led to her building a network of support groups that now serve hundreds of families looking for education, community, and relief from caregiver burnout. We talk about what it really takes to run effective support groups, why consistency matters more than structure, where she hosts these groups, and how these gatherings have become one of the agency’s most meaningful differentiators. Melissa also opens up about the challenges and the opportunities ahead as they expand into other chronic illnesses and community partnerships. 

• Melissa Morante on LinkedIn
• ComForCare Palm Beach
• American Parkinson’s Disease Association (APDA)
• Parkinson’s Foundation
• Michael J Fox Foundation
• PMD Alliance

Episode brought to you by:
SmartAutomations.Care smartautomations.care
Helper Heroes helperheroes.com

Live @ HCAOA—20-minute conversation with Clayton Foutch, CEO of Home Matters Caregiving

• Clayton Foutch on LinkedIn
• Home Matters Caregiving
• Home Matters started as a family business in 2007, franchised in 2020, and now has 39 locations nationwide.
• Built on a nurse-guided, innovation-focused model shaped by Clayton’s engineering background.
• Traditional care mainly serves the top 5% who can afford $10–30K/month, leaving a huge access and labor gap.
• The team has reviewed ~40 emerging technologies and formally tested several to close these gaps.
• Passive tech matters most—anything clients must wear, charge, or interact with quickly fails.
• Sensi leads in audio-based passive monitoring, but roughly 25% of clients still resist it.
• Operators must shift from reactive to proactive care models using tech to prevent incidents.
• Agencies can partner with discharge planners by offering tech-forward solutions for families who can’t afford full-time care, proving value through metrics like readmissions.

Sponsors:

• Baba (callbaba.com): AI phone-based co-pilot for seniors to prevent loneliness, create support, and connect them with professionals 
• Paradigm (paradigmseniors.com): Credentialing, billing automation, and revenue cycle management for VA and Medicaid payments
• HomeSight (vantiva.com/homesight): TV-based wellness hub for blended care—video visits, health monitoring, and daily reminders for the family and care team

Live from HCAOA—15 minute conversation with Jennifer Axelrod, with A Place at Home

Highlights:

• Jennifer brings 3 years in home care and 15 years in franchising.
• She began as a franchise business coach at A Place at Home and now leads partnerships and national accounts.
• Home care is personal—her grandmother’s difficult Alzheimer’s journey shaped her “why.”
• Build a culture of recognition from day one, every day.
• Caregivers enter the field with purpose; they stay when they feel valued and supported.
• Tailor the interview and onboarding process to meet caregivers where they are.
• Learn their goals and create personalized career paths.
• Know caregivers personally and professionally; support whole-person wellbeing.
• As you scale, leverage tech to standardize training, recognition, check-ins, and feedback.
• Daily operations often push recognition aside—don't let it slip.
• Many agencies lack feedback loops to truly understand caregiver needs.
• Treat retention and recognition as a core operational pillar and document your process.
• Contact: jenniferaxelrod@aplaceathome.com.

Sponsors:

• Baba (callbaba.com): AI phone-based co-pilot for seniors to prevent loneliness, create support, and connect them with professionals 
• Paradigm (paradigmseniors.com): Credentialing, billing automation, and revenue cycle management for VA and Medicaid payments
• HomeSight (vantiva.com/homesight): TV-based wellness hub for blended care—video visits, health monitoring, and daily reminders for the family and care team

#36 Too many home care leaders struggle to offer wages and benefits that truly support and retain their care staff. In this episode, Gabby Hoing, CEO of Kore Cares in South Dakota, breaks down her detailed wage, bonus, and benefits programs and explains why they work. She also shares how her office team conducts quarterly check-ins with every caregiver to gather feedback, understand their needs, and ensure meaningful support. It’s a highly informative and also inspiring conversation with a leader who started as a CNA and is now committed to elevating and supporting the people who care for our aging population.

• Gabby Hoing on LinkedIn
• Kore Cares
• Wage & Bonus PDF Download

Sponsors:

• Helper Heroes / helperheroes.com 
• 24/7 Solutions / 247solutions.co

Live from HCAOA—20 minute conversation with Matt Ericksen, VP of Sales at Griswold Home Care Corporate Office in Blue Bell, PA. 

Highlights:

• He’s been in home care for 13, at Griswold for 5 years
• Griswold is 40 years in, founded by Jean Griswold, 230 locations in 32 states
• He got a history degree, but his wife urged him into health care scheduling, the rest is history
• Home care has been his intersection for purpose, creativity, and coaching 
• We have to do away with transactional caregiving, transactional scheduling
• We have to pivot to solutions-based services and position it as such to families
• The transition includes hourly care + remote monitoring to familiarize families with alternative, solutions-based services
• 13:40 - Example: Parkinson’s Care
  • A Parkinson's patient who avoids a serious fall or aspiration event might prevent 2-3 additional hospitalizations over the next 18 months.
  • The ROI: One prevented hospitalization often cascades into preventing 2-4 more. That's $40,000-$140,000 in cumulative savings. That's when affordability flips from cost-center to investment.
• We have to communicate the story the numbers tell in a human-centered way that clients and families understand
• Agencies that are succeeding are nimble, adaptable, and solutions-focused

Sponsors:

• Baba (callbaba.com): AI phone-based co-pilot for seniors to prevent loneliness, create support, and connect them with professionals 
• Paradigm (paradigmseniors.com): Credentialing, billing automation, and revenue cycle management for VA and Medicaid payments
• HomeSight (vantiva.com/homesight): TV-based wellness hub for blended care—video visits, health monitoring, and daily reminders for the family and care team

LIVE from HCAOA—45 minute conversation with Janice Rehkopf, Director of Client Services at Comfort Keepers in Traverse City, MI.
Highlights:

• People are talking about aging sooner
• Every family, every client, every caregiver has a unique set of needs
• People want solutions-based care, not just more hours
• Many seniors don’t need a caregiver right away, some times technology or a supplemental solution can come first
• 99% of homes have TVs in them 
• 7/10 homes already have cameras in them
• The HomeSight Wellness Hub connects to the TV, has 2-way communication, a privacy shutter, and loads of applications and tools to manage medication reminders, family video calls, caregiver training, office communication, personalized calendars and  more
• 23:14 - Primary Use Case: Wellness Calls
• 34:12 - HomeSight is saving client's lives
• They created a blended care model which includes multiple solutions to meet the clients needs: i.e. nutritional support, meals, emergency response pendents, hourly care, the wellness hub, etc. 
• Learn more about HomeSight or get in touch with Janice directly: janicerehkopf@comfortkeepersnwmi.com 

Sponsors:

• Baba (callbaba.com): AI phone-based co-pilot for seniors to prevent loneliness, create support, and connect them with professionals 
• Paradigm (paradigmseniors.com): Credentialing, billing automation, and revenue cycle management for VA and Medicaid payments
• HomeSight (vantiva.com/homesight): TV-based wellness hub for blended care—video visits, health monitoring, and daily reminders for the family and care team

LIVE from HCAOA—15 minute conversation with Carl Bossung, Co-Founder of Senior1Care in Indiana.

Highlights:

• 20 year family owned business, 6 offices, 600 employees
• Former leader in a CPA firm, grew it from 20 people to 6,000
• Got into home care for care for his mom and anticipating the demand of the baby boomer generation
• The bought a CNA school, because whoever gets the best employees in a service business wins
• The CNA school was winding down, they were already hiring out of the school, so they decided to buy it, 11 years ago
• To date, since they took it over, they’ve trained 5,000 CNAs and hire about 15% of them
• They’ve never made money on the school, but the small loss, is worth sourcing the talent 
• The other 85% are going out and getting jobs, and it’s a great way to give back to the community
• The school has a 99% pass rate
• Senior1 sources many high school and college students out of the school, only challenge is many want fixed hour work weeks
• There are 72 procedures for CNAs to learn, in the school they learn it in one week
• The investment hasn’t paid off, but it’s their recruiting engine
• They’ll offer caregivers the option to get their CNA paid for if they work consistently, with no call-offs, for 3-6 months

Sponsors:

• Baba (callbaba.com): AI phone-based co-pilot for seniors to prevent loneliness, create support, and connect them with professionals 
• Paradigm (paradigmseniors.com): Credentialing, billing automation, and revenue cycle management for VA and Medicaid payments
• HomeSight (vantiva.com/homesight): TV-based wellness hub for blended care—video visits, health monitoring, and daily reminders for the family and care team

#35 Technology is ending the era of dual-entry between phone calls and scheduling platforms in home care. Spencer joined the family-owned home care business three years ago and identified a handful of manual processes that needed attention immediately. Fast forward, he’s built a tool called SmartAutomations.Care that connects the phone system to your scheduling software and automates the documentation and communication of every single call that comes into the office so that nothing gets missed. He explains the workflows, the data that’s captured, success stories, and the results. This is the future of home care—removing dual entry, increasing efficiency, making office members 2-4x more efficient, and elevating the quality of care. 

• Spencer Roth on LinkedIn
• Spencer@smartautomations.care
• SmartAutomations.Care
• Cypress Home Care Solutions
• AirCall.io

Sponsors:

• Acrisure midwest.acrisure.com/home-care
• 24/7 Solutions 247solutions.co

Live @ HCAOA—20-minute conversation with Michelle Cone, SVP of Industry Engagement at HomeWell Franchising, Inc.

• Michelle Cone on LinkedIn
• HomeWell Franchising 
• The investment that’s paid off in home care: 1) learning to lead with patience and 2) learning to play the long game
• Leading with patience:
  • Don’t scrap ideas or initiatives after a matter of weeks, give important things more time
    • Measure everything and make decisions off of quantity and quality 
  • Find mentors who embody patience and shadow them
  • Home care is reactive and we want to solve problems quickly, but give yourself time and space to think, reflect, and process issues accordingly 
  • Systematize ‘how you process’ as a leader, so you can improve over time
• Playing the long game:
  • In sales: building relationships, processes, and trust that lasts
  • In operations: short term goals, long term initiatives, and both require clear expectations and a plan of execution
  • Put in place: monthly, quarterly, annual, and 5-year goals
• Michelle’s personal mission: educating anyone and everyone on the impact and benefit of home care
• The time is now for home care—we’ve put in the work, time to double down on what’s working.
• Keeping an eye on CMS Guide Program in 2026. Partnered with PocketRN with a focus on reducing hospital readmissions.
• The 3-legged stool: non-medical, skilled, hospice > personal care pulling apart from companionship, palliative care taking on a bigger role > the nature and structure of home care is shifting 

Sponsors:

• Baba (callbaba.com): AI phone-based co-pilot for seniors to prevent loneliness, create support, and connect them with professionals 
• Paradigm (paradigmseniors.com): Credentialing, billing automation, and revenue cycle management for VA and Medicaid payments
• HomeSight (vantiva.com/homesight): TV-based wellness hub for blended care—video visits, health monitoring, and daily reminders for the family and care team

Live at HCAOA—30-minute conversation with Stephen Tweed, Founder/CEO of Leading Home Care

Highlights

• Stephen Tweed on LinkedIn
• leadinghomecare.com
• Home Care CEO Forum
• The big metric: Hours per week = the currency of home care
• Lesson common but more important: Hours per client per week = the health of the business
  • It indicates:
    • Where clients are coming from
    • Which referrals give the longest hour clients 
  • Which referrals and clients have the longest length of stay and LTV
• Hours per client per week + length of stay = $ value of the client
• Next comes: Hours per caregiver per week
• 3 types of caregivers: professional caregivers (40-60/hrs a week), half-time professional caregivers (20-30 hours a week), part-time intermittent caregivers (come and go) 
• 4 levels of your ‘data stream’
  • Level 1: raw data
  • Level 2: information 
  • Level 3: knowledge 
  • Level 4: wisdom 
• Clients and families want 2 things: reliability and continuity
• Clients go through ‘5 phases of flow’: 
  • Phase 1: attraction
  • Phase 2: conversion
  • Phase 3: staffing
  • Phase 4: caregiving 
  • Phase 5: collections 
• 2026 Future of Home Care Study
• System = process + people
• If you do a task weekly in your business, you need to systematize it. 
• Applying AI: the task, the internal systems, and the competitive ecosystem (differentiation) 

#38 Most home care agencies talk about “differentiation,” but the Supported Living Group in Connecticut is actually doing it. In this episode, Executive Director Jamie Arber breaks down how his team built a high-acuity, high-retention brain-injury program anchored by Medicaid waivers (ABI), brick-and-mortar program sites, creative arts and vocational services, and an in-house clinical team. He explains the financial model (including $60K–$350K waiver budgets), how programs extend client lifetime value, and why specialization protects margins. Jamie also shares what Medicaid waiver work really requires—operational sophistication, rapid responsiveness, the ability to bolt on profitable private-pay and workers’ comp layers and more. 

• Jamie Arber on LinkedIn
• jarber@slg-ct.com
• The Supported Living Group 
• ABI Waiver Program in CT

Sponsors:

• Acrisure / midwest.acrisure.com/home-care
• SmartAutomations.Care 

Live at HCAOA—15 minute conversation with Jenny Cambra, CEO of Senior Helpers Honolulu

Highlights:

• Jenny’s hospitality background and personal family experience with dementia care led her into home care.
• She sees strong overlap between hospitality and home care—both people-centered service industries.
• She went to nursing school to better understand and support her caregivers.
• Early growth came quickly: a referral on day two and she hired 12 caregivers ahead of demand.
• Her philosophy: don’t overthink it—listen to what families say they need.
• Hawaii’s high cost of care requires transparency; she openly explains why they aren’t the cheapest.
• Their pricing reflects strong caregiver investment: fair wages, 401(k), recognition, training, and a real career path.
• They emphasize that the agency carries the liability—something families often don’t see.
• Goal: keep clients safe at home with the right tools, hours, and support.
• They now recommend an 8-hour/week minimum and do 90-day reassessments to track changes in condition.
• Close collaboration with DME companies helps maintain safety in the home.
• Aiming for CHAP certification in 2026 to validate their patient-centered standards.
• jcambra@seniorhelpers.com 

Sponsors:

• Baba (callbaba.com): AI phone-based co-pilot for seniors to prevent loneliness, create support, and connect them with professionals 
• Paradigm (paradigmseniors.com): Credentialing, billing automation, and revenue cycle management for VA and Medicaid payments
• HomeSight (vantiva.com/homesight): TV-based wellness hub for blended care—video visits, health monitoring, and daily reminders for the family and care team

Live at HCAOA—45 minute conversation with Carmen Perry, the VP of Provider Engagement @ Paradigm

Highlights:

• Carmen started in skilled nursing, where she saw how many seniors wanted to stay home but couldn’t afford care—driving her to learn funding options like Aid & Attendance.
• Veterans often distrust the VA due to past inconsistencies; bringing in TriWest and Optum improved operations and triggered an influx of providers.
• Many markets are now oversaturated, but veterans still have choice—agencies can find and enroll veterans directly, even in “closed” states like CA and TX where rural gaps still exist.
• Biggest myth: getting credentialed brings instant referrals. Reality: you earn growth through excellent care and strong relationships with case managers.
• Success depends on communication, advocacy, and becoming the local expert—engage with VFW posts, American Legion, and Wounded Warrior groups.
• Credentialing varies widely by state and timeline; you need proper licensing, NPI, compliance, and patience.
• First referrals are high-stakes: follow VA rules (no OT, no holiday pay, correct billing cycles) to avoid risking credentialing.
• Nationwide, VA hours and authorizations are tightening; incomplete caregiver notes can result in lost hours because case managers lack context.
• Providers must tell the full story in documentation and prepare for stricter screening and re-credentialing processes that are popping up at more and more VA offices. 
• Paradigmseniors.com / vault.paradigmseniors.com 
• National Aging in Place Council: https://ageinplace.org/ 

Sponsors:

• Baba (callbaba.com): AI phone-based co-pilot for seniors to prevent loneliness, create support, and connect them with professionals 
• Paradigm (paradigmseniors.com): Credentialing, billing automation, and revenue cycle management for VA and Medicaid payments
• HomeSight (vantiva.com/homesight): TV-based wellness hub for blended care—video visits, health monitoring, and daily reminders for the family and care team

#37 42% of Direct Care Workers rely on public health coverage and on average only 32% of agencies doing $1.6-4.9M in annual revenue are offering major medical. Joseph Kitonga, CEO of Vitable, breaks down what small, medium, and large agencies need to know about ACA compliance, nuances for part-time and FTEs, major medical plan options, and other advice and warnings when it comes to offer major medical. (See the chapter highlights below to skip to the content relevant to your size.) 

• Joseph Kitonga on LinkedIn
• Joseph@vitablehealth.com 
• Vitablehealth.com
• PHI: Direct Care Workers in the US
• Activated Insights Benchmarking—pg. 83

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Home Care and Health Insurance
06:09 Joseph's Journey and Founding Vitable Health
15:23 Common Misunderstandings in Health Insurance for Home Care
20:50 Exploring Health Insurance Options for Home Care Agencies
27:41 Understanding ACA Compliance and Employee Classification
30:40 Strategies for Small Home Care Agencies
38:51 Navigating Compliance for Mid-Sized Agencies
44:58 Benefits and Challenges for Large Home Care Companies
50:36 Preparing for Future Changes in Medicaid and Employee Needs

Sponsors:

• SmartAutomations.Care 
• 24/7 Solutions 247solutions.co

Live at HCAOA—20 minute conversation with Chaim Gewirtzman, CEO @ NCE Home Care

Highlights: 

• 00:00 Introduction to His Home Care Journey
• 03:42 Relating to Caregivers: His Nursing Perspective
• 06:42 Innovative Recruitment Strategies
• 09:35 The Importance of Online Presence
• 12:35 Social Media Investment and Strategy
• 15:38 Employee Referral Programs with Personal Touch
• 18:49 Valuing Caregivers Goes Beyond Monetary Incentives

Sponsors:

• Baba (callbaba.com): AI phone-based co-pilot for seniors to prevent loneliness, create support, and connect them with professionals 
• Paradigm (paradigmseniors.com): Credentialing, billing automation, and revenue cycle management for VA and Medicaid payments
• HomeSight (vantiva.com/homesight): TV-based wellness hub for blended care—video visits, health monitoring, and daily reminders for the family and care team

Live from HCAOA—45 minute conversation with Connor Sweeney, Co-Founder at CallBaba.Com

Highlights: 

• His grandma’s stroke pulled him into caregiving with his mom and grandfather.
• He cloned her voice to create AI speech-therapy agents tailored to her needs.
• Fascinating stat: dementia rates are higher among people who are deaf.
• Baba is an AI companion for questions, prayer, conversation, emotional support, and care advocacy.
• Seniors and families can connect through Baba to a network of doctors, nurses, and doulas.
• Works on any phone—even landlines.
• A personalized “friend” that listens, remembers, and adapts.
• Common use cases: prayer, conversational role-play, Q&A, nudges, reminders.
• Care teams can get alerts when health concerns show up in conversations.
• Try it: text hi to 833-355-2676.
• Advocacy services are Medicare-covered for many conditions.
• Key partners include MIT economist Jonathan Gruber and Johns Hopkins physician Peter Abadir.
• Ongoing study tracking loneliness, anxiety, cortisol levels, and emergency call trends.
• Home care agencies are a key distribution path to get Baba into clients’ homes.
• 35:38 Personal stories of reduced loneliness and meaningful emotional support.
• Organizational outcomes: lower loneliness, better retention, fewer readmissions.
• For Medicare-eligible seniors: access to a full-time advocate and 24/7 customizable support—lightening caregiver load.
• Contact: connor@callbaba.com or callbaba.com.

Sponsors:

• Baba (callbaba.com): AI phone-based co-pilot for seniors to prevent loneliness, create support, and connect them with professionals 
• Paradigm (paradigmseniors.com): Credentialing, billing automation, and revenue cycle management for VA and Medicaid payments
• HomeSight (vantiva.com/homesight): TV-based wellness hub for blended care—video visits, health monitoring, and daily reminders for the family and care team