One of the first things I learned in the nursing home industry is that when you receive a referral, you’ve got to act quickly to capture it.  A typical scenario is that a discharge planner at a hospital either faxes out a referral to multiple facilities or uses an email referral distribution service such as e-Discharge to distribute the referral to multiple facilities. From the time you get this referral, you are competing...

In the past week, I have had a unique opportunity to observe a facility with another company fall to the pressures of survey.  The facility had a rough history – staying out of compliance more than in.  A few IJ’s later, CMS has pulled the plug on their Medicare/Medicaid provider agreement.  They lost their certification.  What this means is that they have to discharge all their Medicare and Medicaid residents.  They have...

I recently discussed different sales and marketing strategies for nursing homes with a friend of mine.  One strategy that I always see is the practice of dropping off cookies, candy, doughnuts, and other goodies at potential referral source locations.  Many “experts” advise against this practice as the referral sources may come just to see you as the candy-lady or the cookie-man and forget the whole reason you’re...

This is a problem that comes up in nursing homes at times.  You have a nursing home resident that goes home in the middle of their 100-day Medicare benefit period.  They get home, have a decline, and need to come back to you.  If they need skilled services within 30 days of the discharge from your facility, you can accept them back under Part A without a new 3-midnight hospital stay. If they’ve stayed out of the skilled nursing...

One little slick trick that helps market your facility while bringing your target market group straight into your facility – Senior Sundays!  The concept is this:  Pick the first Sunday of the month (or second Sunday, etc.) and open up Sunday lunches FREE to the public for any seniors age 55 and over. Many facilities would immediately be concerned over the cost.  Don’t be.  Most lunches run $3 – $4 food cost.  Even if...

One of the tricks I came across in marketing nursing homes is to partner with other vendors and providers in the industry.  “Well, that’s not a big secret, Mark.  Everyone knows this,” you might think.  But, do you know how to utilize these relationships? For example, one of the areas my facilities specialize in (because I make sure they specialize in it.  I make sure we get tons of the education, the right supplies,...