Leslie Newlife

Nursing Home Marketing Tips

marketing10

The CDC has reported that, as of 2012, there were about 1,383,700 senior citizens living in 15,700 nursing homes across the nation. The number of senior citizens in the country is expected to double from 2010 to 2050, and the number of citizens over the age of 85 will be nearly triple in the years from 2015 to 2050. This means that the need for nursing homes is going to increase. It also means that competition among nursing homes is likely to increase. According to an article published in the Houston Chronicle, there are a number of marketing tools that nursing homes should be aware of differentiation.

 

Nursing homes should examine and communicate to the public their target market and what sets them apart from other nursing homes in the region. What is your unique selling point?
Provide facts and figures
How is your facility better than others? With technology, families have access to the information about more options than ever before. They don’t want to just take your word for it that your nursing home is better, they want to see numbers. One size fits all doesn’t necessarily integrate with the provision of quality care. If your facility excels at something — whether it’s memory care, care of mentally disabled seniors, or another niche — market that.
Involvement
Potential clients and their families want to know more about you than simply the care you provide. They also want to know about your involvement in the community and your commitment to working with legislators to improve the quality of care and rights of seniors.
Don’t make promises you can’t keep
Only market the services that you know you’re able to provide, regardless of any unforeseen circumstances.
Are you using any of these tips to grow your nursing community and services? Tell us about some of your experiences and ways you stand out from other homes in your area. Check back here weekly for more information about marketing your senior services and other industry news.

Nursing home(s) for short term stays possibly avoidable if a ‘Swing Bed’ is available at your hospital

You’ve just logged three, consecutive days of acute care in your hometown, rural hospital. Fortunately, ‘Medicare Part A’, will be picking up a good portion of that huge medical bill

Still, you’re thinking about the next step: perhaps a short recoup time in a Skilled Nursing Facility(SNF). The difficulty for you is that the only nursing home(s) is over a hundred miles from your home.

But, then, you hear the hospital’s discharge planner say the ‘swing bed’ word, and you liked the part about not having to travel up river to the nursing home.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Some of the requirements your rural hospital must meet are outlined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and include:

—(location) in a rural area, which includes all areas that are not delineated as urbanized by the U.S. Census Bureau based on the most recent census for which data is published (an urbanized area does not include an urban cluster);

—Have fewer than 100 beds (excluding beds for newborns and intensive care-type units);

By law, certain rural hospitals have ‘swing bed’ arrangements through Medicare Part A and the CMS.

After the hospital assesses your healthcare needs, you’ll be told if you can use one of the hospital’s swing beds. In effect, you’d be moving from an acute level of care to skilled rehabilitation. All this without leaving your current hometown hospital.

I’M IN A CITY HOSPITAL. CAN I GET A SWING BED AT MY RURAL HOSPITAL?

An SNF patient doesn’t really have to be from the same hospital—or Critical Access Hospital— for a swing bed assignment in your hometown, rural hospital. The hospital is required to make that available. Your hospital’s discharge planner can help you plan that next step.