Scope of the Problem
Owners, administrators and their marketing teams are losing sleep at night due to the devastating post-pandemic effects on their census. On top of that, there are historic staffing shortages, retention issues, regulatory requirements, reimbursement complexities and the need to deliver the best care to residents.
Too Many Alternatives
Maintaining a strong census in today’s market is tougher than ever due to the wide variety of alternatives to skilled nursing care. While the pandemic left many family members anxious about considering skilled care for their loved one, assisted living, memory care, home healthcare, in-home companions or keeping them home as long as possible are interfering with census development.
So, how can today’s skilled nursing facility build and maintain a healthy census that supports a full workforce to provide the highest quality of care to their residents?
8 Steps to Drive and Keep Census High
1. Take a Family-Focused Approach
Most times, the resident isn’t the actual buyer of your services – the family is. Taking a genuine family-focused approach will help you build your census. What are families going through when they are shopping for skilled care? Some feel guilt, some are overwhelmed by the choices in front of them, and others are simply exhausted from caregiving. Give them your full attention, make them feel special and above all, help them through this tough time.
2. Measure and Communicate Current Census
Knowing where you stand currently in your census and regularly monitoring it can assist you with finding gaps and failures in marketing. Your census drives your staffing, so it requires constant attention. When your staffing is low, quality of care may suffer, creating a downward spiral.
It’s therefore important to capture as much data as possible including total admissions, total discharges, average daily census, total census days, length of stay and percentage of occupancy. After getting an accurate picture of your current census, share it with your leadership team, managers and supervisors. They should all know where you stand regarding census.
3. Create Strong First and Last Impressions
It is well known that first and last impressions make a big difference in choosing a skilled nursing facility. It is equally important to remember that families who are shopping for a facility won’t remember most of what is told to them, but they will remember how you made them feel during their visit.
First impressions should focus on the staff and environment. Are your employees happy and do they smile? Do they say “hello” to family members they don’t yet know? In terms of the environment, start with the outside of your building. Landscaping is important. When they enter the building, they should be greeted by the receptionist who has fresh flowers on his or her desk.
Last impressions are as if not more important, because most families will remember the last few minutes of their visit. Make them as comfortable as possible, smile and be reassuring, hold their hand and let them know everything is going to be alright. Win their heart and gain the admission.
4. Train Your Staff to Become Census-Aware and Able
Your entire team should understand that census is the lifeblood of the facility and their jobs. No census, no staffing. Train them to meet and greet family members who are shopping around for their loved one. Never ignore a family member who is touring the building. Your staff’s behaviors and interactions with family members can either make or break their experience in choosing your facility.
5. Know the Difference Between Marketing and Public Relations
Make sure you and your team are aware of the difference between marketing and public relations. Marketing specifically means to promote your services and facility in an effective way that leads to families moving their loved ones in. Marketing is meant to drive revenue.
Public relations on the other hand, involves creating a positive image of your facility and developing favorable opinions from families, vendors and referral sources. The difference between marketing and PR comes down to this: the community may love your image, but your beds can remain empty.
6. Network with All Potential Referral Sources in Your Community
Try to get the word “competitor” out of your vocabulary. In today’s hyper-competitive senior care market, it’s wise to view them as referral sources and census-developing partners. People refer to who they know, trust and like, regardless of the company they may work for.
Seniors living in assisted living communities or receiving home health may not need skilled care today, but chances are they may in a few short years. It’s smart to work towards both referrals you can move in today and those who will need you down the line. So be sure to develop good relationships with local hospitals, assisted living communities, retirement villages, home healthcare providers, physician’s offices and other referral sources.
7. Forget the Fads
Fads and gimmicks come and go, but most won’t stick and make a difference concerning your bottom line. Most skilled nursing facilities don’t have big budgets allowing the marketing team to throw money at the wall and watch what sticks.
Families are looking for great nursing care, a sound reputation, and caring and friendly staff. They want to know that your team can deliver high quality medical care and nursing expertise. Put your marketing dollars into the services and products you provide the best.
8. Enhance, Promote and Position Your Services
Enhance your facility inside and out to make sure it is at its most marketable. Make sure your nursing team, social worker, activity director and others are ready to meet and greet prospective family members.
Promote your products like superior memory care, person-centered care, cardio and neuro-rehab. You can formally promote through advertisement of these services, informally through networking and word-of-mouth.
Position your brand by getting ready for the close, and remember – if you don’t ask for it, you may not get it. Marketing brings potential business in but selling adds to your census.
Final Thoughts on Building and Maintaining a Strong Census
Today’s senior care market isn’t just competitive – it’s hyper-competitive! Census development should take place every day and in carefully thought-out ways. While marketing dollars are scarce, you can use what you have to successfully market your skilled nursing facility.
Being family-focused, understanding and communicating census, creating lasting impressions, getting your staff on board, blending marketing with public relations, working with all referral sources, and sticking to what you do best can all drive census both today and in the near future.