Wheatland Health Services
Opportunity
Problem & Solution
Problem Worth Solving
There is a significant need for quality home health care and social services within this region and we believe that by employing competent and well-educated staff and providing them with organized and responsive management, we can become the home health care/social service agency of choice in Southeastern Kansas.
Our Solution
Wheatland Health Services strives to offer excellent and affordable home health care and community-based social services to individuals and families of Southeastern Kansas.
It is our goal to employ competent, caring, and well-trained individuals who are responsive to the needs of our patients, their families, and the communities we serve. Each staff member will meet the State of Kansas educational and training requirements for the services they provide. We encourage and support continued education of each service provider. In turn, our agency will provide staff with competitive compensation, an inviting work environment, and knowledgeable, trustworthy management and direction.
Target Market
Market Size & Segments
Market Segments
The population base in Southeastern Kansas is aging, and more individuals are opting to stay in their own homes longer and return home following hospitalization, rather than proceeding to a nursing home. Our primary market segment includes those patients — typically in an older age bracket — who require health care services by home health nursing staff. These patients may also require other home health services, such as social work, in order to access needed community resources.
Our secondary market will be those individuals who have suffered a personal injury and require case management services to assist them in addressing medical, financial, and employment issues.
Target Market
Because our agency specializes in home health care and community-based social services, we will focus on those market segments where we know our services are most needed. Focusing on those market segments that require only home-based services will greatly decrease overhead, since additional office space will not be required.
Competition
Current Alternatives
The key factor considered by both consumers and referring professionals when purchasing home health care is trust in the professional reputation, reliability and quality of services provided by the home health Agency.
Pricing of home health services does not usually influence consumers’ choices, as most home health services are reimbursed by Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance companies, and reimbursement rates are set by those entities. Pricing of personal injury case management services is a more important factor, as these services are paid for as negotiated on a case-by-case basis at an hourly rate. When pricing personal injury case management services, we will explain to the client that we estimate the total number of hours needed to complete services liberally, rather than bidding low and then exceeding the anticipated total bid price for services.
Consumers of both home health care services and personal injury case management services rarely compare service providers directly. Usually they follow word-of-mouth recommendations, especially when those recommendations come from their physicians.
Perhaps the most important element for assessing competition in the Home Health and Social Service fields is how to persuade other professionals to repeatedly refer their clients to our agency for services. As our agency demonstrates outstanding patient care, current and pertinent qualification of service providers, and professional organization and business management, we believe that we will be able to capture the majority of the home health care and personal injury case management market in our designated region.
Our Advantages
We start with a competitive edge: There are currently only three home health care agencies serving southeastern Kansas; Kellene Walker, our Clinical Director, has been employed with one of them for three years and has learned many of the day-to-day administrative functions that make a home health care agency successful. Ms. Walker has built a reputation for outstanding customer service, and it is our belief that her reputation will help to build a strong client base even before our start-up date.
Wheatland Health Services will also stand out in integrating community-based social services, such as Personal Injury Case Management, with our more traditional home health care. This broader base will allow us to access additional clientele and payor bases, adding to our financial stability. This integration also leaves room in the long-term for the addition of other social services, such as Family Counseling, Psycho-Educational Services, and Mental Health Case Management.
Keys to Success
Keys to Success
Our keys to success:
- Professional quality of services offered
- Reliability — being available through on-call, and adequate staffing
- Effective collaboration with other community professionals (physicians, hospitals, and other organizations)
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