Amid Rising Costs, High-End Home Care Providers Still Seeing A Market For Their Services

Despite the rising cost of home care services, some high-end and concierge home care agencies have been able to maintain their market footholds.

After years of increasing costs, the services costs across many senior care sectors have begun to stabilize. Home care, however, is a notable exception.

Last year, home care aide services saw a cost increase of 10%, checking in at an annual median cost of more than $75,000, according to Genworth’s (NYSE: GNW) annual cost of care report.

Plus, homemaker services went up by 7.1%, landing at an annual median cost of over $68,600.

These price spikes outweighed the increases seen in sectors like assisted living and skilled nursing, according to the Genworth report.

At a time when the price of services of even the average home care company is rising, it raises the question: Are high-end or concierge home care agencies still seeing much demand?

For companies like Broad Street Home Care and LifeWorx, the answer has mostly been yes.

While there’s no one definition of high-end or concierge home care, because each company has its own ideas and strategies, the agencies that operate in this space typically offer unique services and specialized care options to clients.

Companies operating in the space have offered everything from food delivery to access to elder law services, and much more.

At LifeWorx, domestic services are available for clients that need it. Some of the company’s offerings are nanny and housekeeper placement services.

In addition to the typical home care services, LifeWorx also offers what it considers to be luxury services, such as access to chefs, personal assistants and estate managers. The company operates in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Florida.

Like most companies, LifeWorx saw demand for services slow down a bit during the height of the pandemic. Since then, the company has begun to see that demand pick up and stay consistent, according to Bal Agrawal, CEO of LifeWorx.

That said, it’s not always easy to reach potential clients that would likely take to high-end services.

“If you go to get ice cream for the first time — you don’t know what good ice cream is,” Agrawal told Home Health Care News. “Virtually all people that are looking for help for their parents are not pros at this. They really have no idea what to expect. The majority of people take what comes to them as normal. I wish we could give a taste test to the entire population — showing what a good caregiver and good services look like — but it’s hard to give a taste test in this industry. You can’t just send samples to somebody.”

Word of mouth has been the main way LifeWorx has been able to spread the word about the breadth of services it provides.

In terms of challenges, LifeWorx isn’t immune from the recruitment pain points that other companies face.

“We consider [finding a great caregiver] the highest priority, so we aren’t trying to fit a square peg into a round hole,” Agrawal said.

This is especially critical because one of the company’s greatest assets is its efforts around making sure that the right client is matched with the right caregiver, according to Agrawal.

“We spend a lot of time listening to the customer,” he said. “A typical call is half an hour to an hour. We listen to every aspect of the customer. We try to understand what their needs are, what their home is like, what the family is like, what their personality is like. And all of these are important, so that we can have the right person go into that home. After listening, we try to make a good match.”

The company also makes sure potential clients have the same point of contact to ensure a seamless experience.

“Customers already are dealing with stress, anxiety or ailments, and we don’t want to make it difficult for them, so it’s important to have a single point of contact,” Agrawal said.

Similar to LifeWorx, Broad Street Home Care believes in the importance of rejecting a one-size-fits-all mindset regarding clients.

The company’s founder and administrator, Sam Cross, views concierge or high-end home care providers as companies that tailor care to each individual client’s needs rather than offering a uniform set of services for all clients.

Instead of matching clients and caregivers based on hours, the company starts by examining the clients’ health condition.

“Let’s understand the underlying health conditions and even communicate with clients, physicians, neurologists, therapists, to really understand what’s going on with their health and how that is starting to be supported, and then we use that to structure a daily routine,” Cross told HHCN. “We integrate care management, so we have nurses that are actively involved with the client, and caregivers, or even private nurses to figure out what a client needs, and then structure that collective service around it.”

Illinois-based Broad Street provides personal care, but it also offers specialized services for clients with certain medical conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

Overall, Cross has seen demand continue to increase at his company. The company has seen this in the form of increased inquiries from those seeking care services.

“The need is there,” he said. While there are economic factors, this is a necessary service. This isn’t something that’s nice to have, in many cases, it’s a [must] have, so given its utility, people are going to prioritize it relative to other spending,” Cross said. “It’s either that or going into a facility.”