Home Health and Hospice Intake: What You Need to Know

A client, patient, or referral source’s first interaction with your employees is critical to the reputation of your company. This is especially true for home health, private duty, and hospice agencies.

Our intake staff play a vital role in providing a positive experience for our referral sources and our patients and their families.

We are committed to providing excellent customer service and making sure everyone who contacts us feels welcome and valued. We take pride in our reputation and work hard to ensure that we exceed our client’s expectations.

When hiring for an intake position, think of them as your inside sales position. They should be able to build great relationships with potential new patients and guide them through the process of becoming a patient. It is important that they are friendly and welcoming and ready to serve.

The intake position is an important role in any practice, so make sure you take the time to find the right person for the job.

The success of your new intake person depends on how well you can set them up for success. One way to do that is by creating an intake checklist. This should include all the necessary information to get your new person started off on the right foot. Demographics are key, as well as insurance and emergency contact information.

Be sure to include the facility referring information, as well as the order for services. And don’t forget to list the patient’s PCP and face-to-face encounter information for home health and hospice referrals.

In addition, always ask for the most recent history and physical and any labs, or test results that provide diagnosis supporting evidence. Having this information in one handy document will help your new intake person hit the ground running!

Referrals are the perfect opportunity to improve your account relationships with the patient’s physicians. If the patient’s referral did not come from their PCP, you should contact their PCP to let them know you will be providing care. This is important because the PCP can bill for Transitional Care Management (TCM), which is a service that helps ensure that patients smoothly transition from one level of care to another.

You can fax or email the referral to the patient’s PCP with a letter introducing your agency. This is also a great time to introduce your company and make sure they are the PCP.

If you ever have a hard time locating a patient’s PCP you can always check a pill bottle for the last ordered medication. That will at least provide you with who ordered the most recent medications. It will also identify the pharmacy that the patient got meds from and they might be able to help you identify the physicians involved with the patient’s care.

When a patient is referred to your facility, it is best practice for your intake staff to call and confirm demographics with the patient or the patient’s family. This way, you can be sure that the primary care physician (PCP) has the correct information and that follow-up appointments are scheduled correctly. By taking this extra step, you can avoid any confusion or delays in care.

It is also critical to work with your sales representatives. Intake is part of the inside sales team.

Follow these three tips:

1. When referrals are received, it is critical to communicate with the Sales Representatives. This allows reps to follow up with the referral, update the status, and provide any additional information that may be needed.
2. By keeping the lines of communication open, both parties can ensure that referrals are dealt with in a timely and efficient manner.
3. Referrals are an important part of the sales process, and by working together, representatives and management can ensure that they are properly handled.

Remember, every referral is a chance for a sales rep to go out and qualify a new account. (This is taught in the High-Performance Sales Academy).

In conclusion, it is important that your intake staff be eager and ready to serve in order to make a great first impression.

Furthermore, communication lines must be open in order to ensure that potential referral sources are identified and given to the sales reps. By following these simple steps, you can increase your chances of making a producing account.

As mentioned above, the methodology of qualifying accounts is covered in depth in our High Performance Sales Academy. If you’d like to gain immediate access for yourself or a team member, you can sign up here: http://homecaresales.com/high-performance-sales-academy

It’s also easy to find out more with a free consultation with Mike by going here and choosing a time that works: https://calendly.com/mike-home-care-sales