April 2, 2025 • 27 mins
What happens when a doctor of physical therapy who swore he'd never work with older adults discovers his true calling in senior care? Matt Hansen, Executive Director of the Home Care and Hospice Association of Utah, takes us on his remarkable journey from pediatric specialist to passionate advocate for quality home-based care.
Matt reveals how his perspective dramatically shifted when he recognized the profound similarities between life's bookends—young children and seniors often share the clearest understanding of what truly matters in life. Through candid storytelling, he challenges some of our most deeply held assumptions about caring for aging loved ones, particularly the belief that families should handle everything themselves.
The conversation tackles head-on the uncomfortable reality that well-intentioned family caregiving often fundamentally changes relationships. When adult children become caregivers, they frequently stop being daughters or sons in the same way. Professional support can preserve these precious family dynamics while ensuring comprehensive care.
Perhaps most provocatively, Matt questions the inheritance mindset that prevents seniors from utilizing their life savings for quality care. "The money my parents saved is there to take care of them," he emphasizes. "The greatest inheritance they've given me isn't financial—it's values, work ethic, and love."
Looking toward the future, Matt shares his optimism about emerging technologies that promise to transform home care. From non-wearable sensors that monitor vital signs through mattresses to AI systems that streamline documentation, these innovations may help address the serious staffing and reimbursement challenges facing the industry.
For anyone considering home care for a loved one—or as a career path—this episode offers invaluable perspective. As Matt beautifully states, entering someone's home to provide care isn't just a job; it's stepping onto "sacred ground" where you might be their only advocate for maintaining independence and dignity.
• Moving from pediatrics to geriatrics after initially being reluctant to work with older adults
• The misconception that families can handle senior care alone without professional support
• How family relationships change when relatives become caregivers instead of maintaining their primary roles
• Challenging the mindset that saved money should be preserved as inheritance rather than used for quality care
• The funding challenges facing home care with Medicare Advantage plans paying significantly less than traditional Medicare
• Technology innovations making aging in place safer, including non-invasive monitoring systems and AI-assisted documentation
• Utah's surprising statistic of over 450,000 family caregivers, many who don't identify as caregivers
• The sacred responsibility of working in someone's home and serving as their advocate
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining us today is Matt Hanson, the Executive
Director of the Home Care andHospice Association of Utah.
Matt is a passionate advocatefor senior care and he works
tirelessly to support home careand hospice providers while
navigating the ever-changinglandscape of health care
policies and funding.
With years of experience in theindustry, he has firsthand
knowledge of the challenges thatcaregivers face, the evolving
(00:20):
needs of seniors and the impactthat legislation has, like
potential Medicaid cuts on careservices.
So we're really excited to haveMatt on today to kind of pick
your brain and get some insightsfrom you.
So thanks for coming.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
You're welcome.
Thank you, Caleb.
I'm excited to be here today.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Thanks.
So first, kind of jumping intoit, can you share maybe a story
that shaped your passion or whatgot you into senior care?
I think that it's few and farbetween the eight-year-old kids
that are like when I get older,I want to be an executive
director of the Home.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Health and Hospice Quite different.
Honestly, my clinicalbackground is as a DPT or a
doctor of physical therapy and,somewhat ironically, my career
actually started in pediatrics.
So my father was agerontologist and a professor in
the University of Utah, and healso did consulting for a number
of early skilled nursingfacilities in Utah and
surrounding states, and so I hadthe opportunity to accompany
(01:16):
him on a few of his visits, andfor a child, the experience was
actually somewhat traumatic, tobe honest the noises, the smells
, seeing older adults confinedto wheelchairs or beds, you know
, with remnants of the morning'smeal on their t-shirt and I
thought it was a symptom of thedemographic and not necessarily
of the setting, which still hada lot to learn back in the 1980s
(01:37):
.
So, you know, based on myinitial impressions, I actually
swore that I would never workwith older adults, and so I went
the opposite extreme.
I went into pediatrics, whichalso certainly has a lot of
noises and smells of their ownright, but I didn't realize at
the time.
It wasn't that that bothered meabout those experiences, and so
later in life, as a physicaltherapist, I had a staffing
(02:01):
agency in Washington State thatI ran.
It was my company and I wasdoing a lot of home health.
As part of that Some of ourcontracts I'd realized that the
bookends of life were verysimilar, so I fell in love with
working with older adults.
Many people understand the truemeaning of life, I think, early
in life and later in life rightwhat's most important to them.
It's in the in-between yearsthat we seem to get lost in the
(02:23):
rat race.
So that's where I've justreally gained a new respect and
love for working with thispopulation as well.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Yeah, I think that's a good point.
Like I have a toddler and thenI work at the senior care space,
so like what's important to himand what's important to people
at the end of life, like yousaid, is it's there's a lot of
commonalities, except just moreunderstanding at the end of life
versus just doing what feelsnatural when you're a
three-year-old.
So what led you then toultimately take on the role of
(02:53):
the executive director of HHAUand what?
I guess what's that journeybeen like from pediatrics to
like initially getting intosenior care and to being one of
the I mean in Utah the biggestlegislative advocate for home
care?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
services?
Yeah, absolutely so.
My mother is a breast cancersurvivor and at the time of her
diagnosis we had two youngchildren and decided that we
wanted to raise them aroundgrandparents as long as we could
.
So we moved back to Utah.
I quickly realized, however,that it wasn't the right
environment for my staffingagency.
The market was too saturated,Reimbursement rates were
depressed, so I came back intocorporate America.
(03:30):
I worked eight years inhealthcare management, but being
on call 24-7, you know, forexample, I was running and
helping with hospice within ourmountain, and if there was what
we refer to as a death call orsomeone was passing, you know
having to go out any time ofnight filling aid shifts.
That type of work was eating meup and I felt that I was losing
(03:52):
kind of my passion for healthcare.
So I'm a get-it-done person.
I'll do what it takes so that aclient isn't inconvenienced,
but my family was paying theprice.
At the same time, I was veryinvolved in our state home care
association really thepredecessor of the Home Care and
Hospice Association of Utah.
(04:13):
It was the Utah Home CareAssociation and I served as
board president.
And then in 2019, right in themiddle of a merger with our
state hospice association, ourshared executive director
unexpectedly resigned due totheir spouse being reallocated.
We kind of had anout-of-country assignment and
the steering committee went intoa panic and asked if I could
(04:35):
help, and so my last projectwith Intermountain Healthcare
had just come to an end and Iwas very intrigued by the
challenge.
So I gave them a year, knowingthat it was a labor of love and
couldn't compensate me what Iwas used to.
But I fell in love with thework and have been here since.
So I also have a businessbackground with an MBA, and our
board has been very supportiveof the consulting work that I do
, as long as there isn't anyconflict of interest.
(04:59):
Yeah, it's a different world.
Yeah, so just the advocacy.
I mean I really miss um.
Yeah, well, I'd say, first ofall, the mission of the
(05:20):
association itself is really toprotect people's rights and
access to care by supporting andpromoting home-based home
health, hospice and personalcare industries.
Right, so we do a lot ofeducation, we do a lot of
advocacy, partnership, publicoutreach, and it's really, you
know, I fell in love with it.
I miss the one-on-one I do as aphysical therapist.
(05:42):
I'm not doing a lot ofone-on-one other than all your
family and friends and everybodyelse who's saying, hey, I got
this pain in my back, can youtake a look?
Right, so, and I have a littlepatient that I still see on
Friday evenings that's my datenight.
My wife says you got to keepseeing her, but she has cerebral
palsy and I've been seeing herfor over a decade now.
I've been seeing her for over adecade now.
(06:03):
But really being on a stagewhere you make more of a
difference in health care, Imean we need a lot of change in
health care, right, and I justsaw it as an opportunity to
(06:26):
really have a bigger impact andto really advocate not only for
those that receive the care, butalso for all those workers who
are out there and are frustrated, you know, because they see the
same thing and they see thethings that need improvement but
may just not be in a positionwhere they're able to do that.
So I fell in love with thatkind of advocacy and the
education aspects of associationlife.
Yeah, wow, it's interesting.
And we have what the world kindof presents as competing
entities for the caregivers, inthat we have a lot of advocacy
groups.
Right, we have some groups thatare trying to push for
(06:47):
unionization, they're pushingfor caregiver rights et cetera.
And then we have owners andoperators who, you know the way
that it's presented is thatthey're in opposition to each
other.
But I really don't feel thatthat's the case.
I mean, I think owners,operators, would love to see a
lot of professional caregiversget paid much more than they are
, if they are able to afford it.
Yeah, and people just don'trealize how thin the margins
(07:11):
really are and as we get morecuts to Medicaid or are not
funded properly or in skilledcare and the cuts to home care
et cetera, it just reallypinches and it makes it very
difficult.
It just really pinches and itmakes it very difficult, and so
I think, unfortunately, as thecaregiver, a lot of the times it
ends up paying the price rightwhere the conditions may not be
(07:34):
as great as they'd love them tobe, or in some states where they
do have, you know, labor isorganized and they have these
great, you know minimum wage youhear $25 minimum wage and
things like that but thenthere's home care organizations
going out of business or they'rehaving to pass that expense on
the private duty side onto theclient, so they're charging $50,
$60 an hour instead of $30 to$40 an hour, which is still a
huge increase in Utah, fromwhere we were five years ago.
(07:58):
So it's becoming increasinglyless accessible.
I'm a 48-year-old and I nolonger have the hops that I used
to on the basketball court.
I can't dunk the ball anylonger like I used to and I miss
that.
However, my game's adapted tobecome a better outside shooter.
I'm not as quick as my feet,but I can post up.
(08:18):
I have greater upper bodystrength, so someday my body
won't even be able to run up anddown the court and I may have
to play half court or just playa game of horse with the
grandkids.
Um, but I'll keep doing what Ilove and even if I have to look,
even if they have to lower thebasket for me, where I find a
new physical activity that I canenjoy, uh, and is more
appropriate for my abilities andfor me.
That's quality of life ispeople doing what they want to
(08:40):
do, being where they want to be,being with who they want to be
with, even if it looks different, right, and even if we have to
adapt and I see it as our rolein home care.
That's part of what we're thereto help people do is help them
feel fulfilled and find ways toadapt to still find joy in life.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Yeah, that's a really great comparison.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Hey home for me, because I'm not that.
I mean I'm 26, but I wascompared to when I was like 16.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
I am an older adult, you kill hours, but even still
I'm like man compared to workingout four hours a day in high
school, like I even have somelimited stuff.
So I like that, I like that.
(09:46):
And then there is I have aquestion on what misconceptions
you feel like there might beabout home care and hospice,
because I think that it is asmany agencies that there are
providing the service.
I feel like it's still socommon to hear like mom just
fell or something.
What should we do?
Like it's crazy to me thatthere's so many people that
still don't know that home careis really a viable option and
maybe there's somemisconceptions.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Yeah, I mean home care specifically.
I think there aremisconceptions about each of the
industries for differentreasons, right, home health,
hospice, home care, home carespecifically.
I think one of the greatestmisconceptions is that we can do
it on our own right.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, have mom move into the basement, exactly.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Whether it's because of frugality or whether it's
because of, hey, it's ourresponsibility, which is
understood, but a lot of thetimes, I think people don't tap
into additional support that'sthere, whether it's paid
caregivers, whether it'sneighbors, whether it's your
church congregation, and bydoing that we might be making it
work, but we also might beleaving a lot of different
(10:34):
aspects of that loved one's lifethat are unfulfilled.
Right, and we can do better forthem, but we can do better for
them together.
We can do better for them, butwe can do better for them
together.
Additionally, a lot of peopledo have not everybody has those
resources, but a lot of peoplehave saved their entire lives,
right, and they've worked hard,et cetera.
I think that money should beused to help them to be happy,
(10:56):
to be safe, to be well, to bewhere they want to be, where I
think some families get into.
Oh, we can't spend that.
That's our inheritance, right,we can't spend that.
We need to hold on to that.
And again, I'm not sayingthat's the case with everybody,
but I certainly have seen it.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
You know the money that my parents have saved
that's there to take care ofthem.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
right, I may not get a penny, but the greatest
inheritance that they've givenme is not the financial one,
because I don't anticipate Withsix kids in the family.
I don't anticipate.
With six kids in the family.
I don't anticipate I'm going toinherit much of anything.
Anyway, I want them to be hereand be comfortable as long as
possible.
Grace inheritance They've givenme as a work ethic intelligence
, love for family, love for GodRight.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Yeah, I love that, yeah, I think that, yeah, that a
lot of people take theinheritance, even if it is like
sizable, with their grandkids,you know, like in our kids, like
(12:08):
I think people don't take thatinto consideration enough, um,
when looking into gettingsupport.
Um, yeah, and the other thingthat I've said a lot is when
people try to take it all onthemselves the daughter, you
know, mom, can move in thebasement or whatever it's like
they stop.
The saddest thing and ithappens without people noticing
it or calling it out is theystop being daughter and start
(12:29):
being caregiver or aid life'smemories and take her shopping
and have fun and leave all thestuff.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
That changes that relationship dynamic to a
profession yeah, the dynamicchanges, and sometimes the
person who's receiving the carestarts to feel like they're a
burden and they live with a lotof guilt.
And that's a sad thing too.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
It is super sad.
So, on that note, what wouldyou say?
So obviously there's a lot ofapprehension that we face in
home care, home health andhospice, but what are some other
challenges that we face apartfrom funding in this space?
Yeah, apart from funding.
Man, I could go on and on aboutthe funding, right?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
I'd say probably education.
I mean helping people andhelping the public to really
know what's available to themand what resources are available
to make it work and to make ithappen.
That's definitely a challenge.
I'd say competing, and it doestap into some part into
reimbursement.
(13:41):
It's not just reimbursement.
There are competing interests,right, and so the lobbying power
and all of that.
You have headwinds.
Sometimes we get a lot ofrhetoric out of Washington DC
and I think that a lot of peopleunderstand.
They voice support Republicansand Democrats for care at home.
However, the rules andregulations that are passed
often tell a different story.
Right, we need champions, notrhetoric, and that's a challenge
(14:06):
for us, right, because peoplein theory are like oh yeah, it's
awesome, everybody's had anexperience, everybody knows
somebody who's been on hospiceor on healthcare.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
There's some loved ones somewhere Exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
So they see the value .
It's just that, you know, Ithink advocacy follows the
dollar or the dollar followsadvocacy right, you can flip
that as well, and that's part ofthe problem.
We're not as big as some of theother industries, we don't have
as loud a voice, and and so alot of the rules and regulations
that get passed aren't, youknow, in in line with with what
(14:38):
we're hearing from our electedofficials.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Yeah, I think you nailed it with education where,
if people knew it's funny.
So we run a personal careagency and it's funny how many
times people want stuff wayoutside of the scope of what
we're able to do.
It's more falls into homehealth, hospice or like physical
therapy and we're like we arenot licensed to do that.
But yeah, people just don'tknow what there is and it's
(15:04):
crazy because the vast majorityof West Americans want to age in
place.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Aging in place longer with the right support can
literally add years to life andlike it's so important but it's
not yeah, or understanding thatif they meet a certain criteria,
those things that they wouldlike you to do as a personal
care agency could be covered100% right by their Medicare.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Exactly yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
But not knowing what the criteria is and how to tap
into that.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yeah, so what you mentioned funding and some
Washington DC.
There's a lot of news articlesand stuff that come out and it's
like rah rah, and especially wesaw it a lot last year with the
presidential campaign.
It was a topic that was talkedabout a lot.
(15:53):
But what good do?
Speaker 2 (16:03):
you see in the windshield coming our way and
what bad potential do you seecoming our way in the industry?
Yeah, I think bad really istied to reimbursement.
Right, I mean we have againmedpac is is recommended more uh
cuts for home health andpausing any adjustment for for
hospice and next year again aseven percent cut for home
health is what they'rerecommending again, despite all
the big cuts that they've had inthe past years.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
And they just don't get it because yeah sorry, just
eating up everything.
That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Yeah, it is, and part of the problem is that they're
still saying that.
You know, I've heard numbersanywhere the home health margin
is anywhere between 18 and 24%,right.
However, you have to take intoconsideration that they're just
looking at traditional Medicareand more than 50% of
reimbursement is now tied toMedAdvantage, and MedAdvantage
reimburses way less.
So really, when you look at it,I mean, you know most agencies
(16:49):
are probably dealing with amargin somewhere between five
and 7%, you know, not 17, 20%.
So, yeah, reimbursement, I mean, is the bad as far as the good.
I think there's a lot of thingsthat can be done to reverse
some of the bad that's been donein the past.
For hospice, we're looking atan extension of the telehealth
flexibilities that wereintroduced during the COVID-19
(17:10):
pandemic, and so we're hopingthat those will get extended at
least through the end of 2027and eventually become permanent.
For home care, eliminating the80-20 provision from the access
rule, which would mandate that80% of Medicaid reimbursement
funds to providers actually beused for caregiver wages, which
(17:31):
seems like a good thing.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
But again, when you're looking, at how tight the
margins are, it could sink theindustry.
So yeah, Like you said, on theoffset it looks really good, but
then it's hard because then onthe admin support that
caregivers require and thesoftwares that are needed for
paying them and, like all ofthese things, the additional
cost to a state as well.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Right, I mean it's kind of crazy there are a lot of
good things in the access rule,but the 80-20 provision is the
bad thing, right, so?
And also just technology.
I mean I, I see a bright future.
I really do.
I'm I'm more optimistic aboutthe future of care in the home
than I ever have been, honestly.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Wow, yeah, what, what things, um, what's your vision
of the future for home care andhospice?
What's what's exciting to you?
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Um, you know I am, as I mentioned, I'm really excited
about, I'd say, despite all theheadwinds, I'm excited about
the technology, so we're goingto have a lot more tools to be
able to help us right?
I'm very bullish on new andemerging technology that
supports remote patientmonitoring, for example, and AI
(18:40):
is going to continue to makeassessments and documentation a
lot more efficient and accuratein the near future.
I think it's going to be easierto keep people at home safely
because of the technologies thatare emerging.
As we adopt them and workhand-in-hand with some of these
things, we're actually going tobuild a true continuum of care,
which is really what we need tohelp people stay out of the
(19:00):
hospital.
We're already seeing people athome with an average acuity
level that's a lot higher thanit used to be, because they're
being discharged from thehospital earlier.
They're often bypassing skillednursing and rehab altogether,
so I see that trend continuing.
I also think we'll continue tosee more hospital at home or, if
the program goes away, anexpansion of home health
services to cover many of thesimpler procedures that would
(19:23):
have fallen under hospital athome.
So, yeah, I think we're goingto see a lot more just kind of
services provided at home, andwe're going to have the
technology to support us.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Yeah, when you think of the technology that is coming
out.
I don't know if you thoughtabout this.
I really enjoy toying aroundwith AI.
Do you see any AI disruptionsor anything that whether it's an
idea that you have or a productthat you've seen that's
exciting to you?
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Yeah, absolutely.
As far as AI goes, I mean rightnow most of what we're seeing
is documentation, right.
I mean we're seeing it in theback office end with scheduling,
we're seeing it with just kindof efficiencies.
We're seeing it on the financeside of things and I think it's
good there With documentationand assessments.
It still has room.
I've seen some awesome demos,but then when you hear from
people that are actually usingit, you're like yeah you know,
(20:12):
we see some of the same types ofissues that we see with ChatGPT
, when we're just usingsomething, you know, with these
hallucinations, and we're justtrying to like wait, that's whoa
, that's wrong, right.
Or how it's scoring on the homehealth side of things, the
OASIS assessment right, and so Ithink people need to be
cautious still, but it's gettingbetter.
That's the whole point of AI,right.
(20:32):
It's learning itself.
It's teaching itself.
So as time goes on and thetechnology gets better, it's
going to help people to be somuch more efficient.
From other technology, Imentioned remote patient
monitoring, and there are somegroups out there that are being
a lot more proactive in remotepatient monitoring.
So they're not waiting forsomeone to fall right or they're
(20:55):
not.
You know, it's a lot lessdependent on somebody having to,
you know, actually use thetechnology themselves, like go
in and weigh themselves, etc.
Where a lot of this can be done.
It's non-evasive, non-wearable,and a lot of stuff's being done
automatically from sensors thatare underneath a bed mattress
(21:15):
that can actually take youroxygen saturation, your heart
rate throughout the night atrest right through the mattress,
right With incredible accuracyand all kinds of things like
that I've seen.
You know there's fall detectiontechnology that's out there that
they don't have to put on thelife alert where they're wearing
it.
It's just a small littlemonitor that can be very
inexpensive, that's put up.
(21:36):
I've seen it as low as $5 perunit per month.
It's put up in the home and ituses radar technology.
Another technology I've seenwas infrared.
So it's privacy, right.
It doesn't show the person Ifthey're walking around, they're
skibbies, you're not going tosee it, right.
It just shows the outline ofthe person and if that person
goes down, it gives you all thisinformation.
(21:58):
That then alerts the monitoringsystem and says we may just
have a fall and they can respondinstantly.
So smart homes, right.
Smart home technology.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
So yeah, I'm really excited about that type of stuff
.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Me too, I'm excited to see the adoption over the
next decade, I think, especiallyas more and more baby boomers
get into the age of needing homecare and home health and
hospice, I think that we'll seemore and more technology that's
supporting it.
So that way, the caregivers Idon't know.
(22:31):
I hope that the reimbursementswill go up, but at bare minimum.
Hopefully the strain physicallyand emotionally on caregivers
might go down with all thesetechnologies supporting, like I
said, on back end, back officestuff, admin stuff that just
drains people.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Yeah, and supporting family caregivers right.
I mean, we have over 450,000family caregivers in Utah alone
and there's a lot.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
I didn't know that that's a lot.
Yeah, it's a lot.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
It's a lot nationwide as well.
I mean, it's incredible, andoftentimes they don't even
identify themselves as familycaregivers, right, they don't
know that they're a part of,potentially, of a community and
that there are resourcesavailable to them, and I think
we need to work with families alot more closely.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah, I would.
I would love um something outthere.
Like I like to joke how there'snot really a guide on how to be
a parent.
Um, you just have a kid and allof a sudden you're figuring it
out, and then there's not reallya guide on the opposite end of
life, of how do you take care ofyour aging parents, and so
there should be a better guideand community there, because
(23:31):
we're learning so much We'velearned so much over the last 20
years of how it all works andwhat to expect, and so
everybody's going.
Most people are going toexperience having an aging loved
one, and so giving them thesupport that they need would
just be huge.
So what?
This is kind of the finalquestion.
(23:52):
That 25 minutes went super fast.
It was fun talking abouttalking to somebody like
yourself.
That's like leading the chargetrying to help home care and
hospice and, and like I said, onthe legislative side, where you
said there's a lot of, there'sa lot of us out here.
(24:12):
There's a lot of caregivers andnurses and CNAs and people
trying to do this that justdon't have a voice.
So cumulatively, through HHAU,we're able to try to have a
voice.
But what legacy or long-termimpact.
Do you hope to leave personallyon Utah home care and hospice?
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Well, I probably wouldn't use the word legacy to
describe the impact that I hopeto make on home care and hospice
, but I think we've already donesome great work, some really
great work that a lot of peoplearen't even aware of, and I want
to be a part of doing a lotmore.
Once my work in the industry isdone, if I can walk away
knowing that I've helped toinspire others so that the work
can go on and that the care Iwill receive right or will be
(24:56):
receiving as an older adult isbetter than the existing quality
of care when I started mycareer, I'll consider that a win
.
We need to make big changes inhealthcare, as I mentioned, and
I want to be a part of thatsolution.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
People- who know me and worked with me know that I'm
a problem solver and ideas guyand I have a lot of ideas.
Yeah Well, that's awesome.
You're well on your way toleaving that impact we won't
call it legacy, that impact onthis space.
You had a big impact on me andjust in this 30 minute
conversation.
So, um, yeah, I'm excited tosee what keeps on unfolding for
the industry and and especiallyin Utah.
(25:33):
So appreciate you coming on.
Is there any other closingthoughts?
I guess the last piece is whatadvice do you have for somebody
breaking into or just startingin the um home, care home,
health and hospice space?
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Yeah, I, mean that's a great question too.
So I'll be brief, but I'd makesure that you feel confident in
your skills and working in anenvironment where you aren't
surrounded by coworkers.
When people don't do well inhome care, it's usually because
of that.
They jump in.
They hear about good pay etcetera.
Right, changing workenvironment, everything like
that so many pluses aboutworking in home care.
(26:10):
It's an amazing practice settingthis sometimes gets a bad
reputation as being the wildwest, so I prefer to describe it
as kind of the front linesright of health care, a lot like
emergency medicine.
You can see people are justabout any diagnosis, and so,
lastly, I'd say you're likelyyou'll likely work in mansions,
immaculate homes, but you'llalso work in homes where you're
afraid to sit down because ofhoarding bug infestations, pet
(26:32):
feces, all kinds of stuff.
I have all kinds of stories.
You have to remember that evenin those situations, though,
you're likely that person's bestadvocate and possibly their
only hope to being able toremain in their home and out of
the hospital.
It's a blessing to be inpeople's homes.
You know it's sacred ground tome.
It's a blessing to be there,and I'd say remember, you know,
if you're starting your journeyalong, you know, in home care.
(26:55):
Remember that, and rememberthat you're that person's best
advocate and maybe the onlyperson that is advocating for
them.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Yeah, I could not agree more.
Like, I love that we're.
You might be the only personthat's trying to help them
maintain independence, the onlyperson they see that week.
Like we're, we're have we havea huge impact.
And so, you know, giving therespect to yourself, knowing
(27:24):
that that's your impact, thatyou're having, I think is an
important thing.
Getting into the space of like,yeah, it's a, it's a grind some
days, but it's totally worth itand invaluable.
So great answer.
Yeah, Matt, I appreciate youcoming on and sharing 30 minutes
of your time today and yourinsights, and we might have a
(27:46):
future one.
There's just there's a lot tounpack in the home care and
hospice space.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Happy to be a resource.
Thanks, Caleb.
Thanks for what you do.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Thanks, yeah, thanks.
Joining us today is Matt Hanson, the Executive
Director of the Home Care andHospice Association of Utah.
Matt is a passionate advocatefor senior care and he works
tirelessly to support home careand hospice providers while
navigating the ever-changinglandscape of health care
policies and funding.
With years of experience in theindustry, he has firsthand
knowledge of the challenges thatcaregivers face, the evolving
(00:20):
needs of seniors and the impactthat legislation has, like
potential Medicaid cuts on careservices.
So we're really excited to haveMatt on today to kind of pick
your brain and get some insightsfrom you.
So thanks for coming.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
You're welcome.
Thank you, Caleb.
I'm excited to be here today.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Thanks.
So first, kind of jumping intoit, can you share maybe a story
that shaped your passion or whatgot you into senior care?
I think that it's few and farbetween the eight-year-old kids
that are like when I get older,I want to be an executive
director of the Home.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Health and Hospice Quite different.
Honestly, my clinicalbackground is as a DPT or a
doctor of physical therapy and,somewhat ironically, my career
actually started in pediatrics.
So my father was agerontologist and a professor in
the University of Utah, and healso did consulting for a number
of early skilled nursingfacilities in Utah and
surrounding states, and so I hadthe opportunity to accompany
(01:16):
him on a few of his visits, andfor a child, the experience was
actually somewhat traumatic, tobe honest the noises, the smells
, seeing older adults confinedto wheelchairs or beds, you know
, with remnants of the morning'smeal on their t-shirt and I
thought it was a symptom of thedemographic and not necessarily
of the setting, which still hada lot to learn back in the 1980s
(01:37):
.
So, you know, based on myinitial impressions, I actually
swore that I would never workwith older adults, and so I went
the opposite extreme.
I went into pediatrics, whichalso certainly has a lot of
noises and smells of their ownright, but I didn't realize at
the time.
It wasn't that that bothered meabout those experiences, and so
later in life, as a physicaltherapist, I had a staffing
(02:01):
agency in Washington State thatI ran.
It was my company and I wasdoing a lot of home health.
As part of that Some of ourcontracts I'd realized that the
bookends of life were verysimilar, so I fell in love with
working with older adults.
Many people understand the truemeaning of life, I think, early
in life and later in life rightwhat's most important to them.
It's in the in-between yearsthat we seem to get lost in the
(02:23):
rat race.
So that's where I've justreally gained a new respect and
love for working with thispopulation as well.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Yeah, I think that's a good point.
Like I have a toddler and thenI work at the senior care space,
so like what's important to himand what's important to people
at the end of life, like yousaid, is it's there's a lot of
commonalities, except just moreunderstanding at the end of life
versus just doing what feelsnatural when you're a
three-year-old.
So what led you then toultimately take on the role of
(02:53):
the executive director of HHAUand what?
I guess what's that journeybeen like from pediatrics to
like initially getting intosenior care and to being one of
the I mean in Utah the biggestlegislative advocate for home
care?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
services?
Yeah, absolutely so.
My mother is a breast cancersurvivor and at the time of her
diagnosis we had two youngchildren and decided that we
wanted to raise them aroundgrandparents as long as we could
.
So we moved back to Utah.
I quickly realized, however,that it wasn't the right
environment for my staffingagency.
The market was too saturated,Reimbursement rates were
depressed, so I came back intocorporate America.
(03:30):
I worked eight years inhealthcare management, but being
on call 24-7, you know, forexample, I was running and
helping with hospice within ourmountain, and if there was what
we refer to as a death call orsomeone was passing, you know
having to go out any time ofnight filling aid shifts.
That type of work was eating meup and I felt that I was losing
(03:52):
kind of my passion for healthcare.
So I'm a get-it-done person.
I'll do what it takes so that aclient isn't inconvenienced,
but my family was paying theprice.
At the same time, I was veryinvolved in our state home care
association really thepredecessor of the Home Care and
Hospice Association of Utah.
(04:13):
It was the Utah Home CareAssociation and I served as
board president.
And then in 2019, right in themiddle of a merger with our
state hospice association, ourshared executive director
unexpectedly resigned due totheir spouse being reallocated.
We kind of had anout-of-country assignment and
the steering committee went intoa panic and asked if I could
(04:35):
help, and so my last projectwith Intermountain Healthcare
had just come to an end and Iwas very intrigued by the
challenge.
So I gave them a year, knowingthat it was a labor of love and
couldn't compensate me what Iwas used to.
But I fell in love with thework and have been here since.
So I also have a businessbackground with an MBA, and our
board has been very supportiveof the consulting work that I do
, as long as there isn't anyconflict of interest.
(04:59):
Yeah, it's a different world.
Yeah, so just the advocacy.
I mean I really miss um.
Yeah, well, I'd say, first ofall, the mission of the
(05:20):
association itself is really toprotect people's rights and
access to care by supporting andpromoting home-based home
health, hospice and personalcare industries.
Right, so we do a lot ofeducation, we do a lot of
advocacy, partnership, publicoutreach, and it's really, you
know, I fell in love with it.
I miss the one-on-one I do as aphysical therapist.
(05:42):
I'm not doing a lot ofone-on-one other than all your
family and friends and everybodyelse who's saying, hey, I got
this pain in my back, can youtake a look?
Right, so, and I have a littlepatient that I still see on
Friday evenings that's my datenight.
My wife says you got to keepseeing her, but she has cerebral
palsy and I've been seeing herfor over a decade now.
I've been seeing her for over adecade now.
(06:03):
But really being on a stagewhere you make more of a
difference in health care, Imean we need a lot of change in
health care, right, and I justsaw it as an opportunity to
(06:26):
really have a bigger impact andto really advocate not only for
those that receive the care, butalso for all those workers who
are out there and are frustrated, you know, because they see the
same thing and they see thethings that need improvement but
may just not be in a positionwhere they're able to do that.
So I fell in love with thatkind of advocacy and the
education aspects of associationlife.
Yeah, wow, it's interesting.
And we have what the world kindof presents as competing
entities for the caregivers, inthat we have a lot of advocacy
groups.
Right, we have some groups thatare trying to push for
(06:47):
unionization, they're pushingfor caregiver rights et cetera.
And then we have owners andoperators who, you know the way
that it's presented is thatthey're in opposition to each
other.
But I really don't feel thatthat's the case.
I mean, I think owners,operators, would love to see a
lot of professional caregiversget paid much more than they are
, if they are able to afford it.
Yeah, and people just don'trealize how thin the margins
(07:11):
really are and as we get morecuts to Medicaid or are not
funded properly or in skilledcare and the cuts to home care
et cetera, it just reallypinches and it makes it very
difficult.
It just really pinches and itmakes it very difficult, and so
I think, unfortunately, as thecaregiver, a lot of the times it
ends up paying the price rightwhere the conditions may not be
(07:34):
as great as they'd love them tobe, or in some states where they
do have, you know, labor isorganized and they have these
great, you know minimum wage youhear $25 minimum wage and
things like that but thenthere's home care organizations
going out of business or they'rehaving to pass that expense on
the private duty side onto theclient, so they're charging $50,
$60 an hour instead of $30 to$40 an hour, which is still a
huge increase in Utah, fromwhere we were five years ago.
(07:58):
So it's becoming increasinglyless accessible.
I'm a 48-year-old and I nolonger have the hops that I used
to on the basketball court.
I can't dunk the ball anylonger like I used to and I miss
that.
However, my game's adapted tobecome a better outside shooter.
I'm not as quick as my feet,but I can post up.
(08:18):
I have greater upper bodystrength, so someday my body
won't even be able to run up anddown the court and I may have
to play half court or just playa game of horse with the
grandkids.
Um, but I'll keep doing what Ilove and even if I have to look,
even if they have to lower thebasket for me, where I find a
new physical activity that I canenjoy, uh, and is more
appropriate for my abilities andfor me.
That's quality of life ispeople doing what they want to
(08:40):
do, being where they want to be,being with who they want to be
with, even if it looks different, right, and even if we have to
adapt and I see it as our rolein home care.
That's part of what we're thereto help people do is help them
feel fulfilled and find ways toadapt to still find joy in life.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Yeah, that's a really great comparison.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Hey home for me, because I'm not that.
I mean I'm 26, but I wascompared to when I was like 16.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
I am an older adult, you kill hours, but even still
I'm like man compared to workingout four hours a day in high
school, like I even have somelimited stuff.
So I like that, I like that.
(09:46):
And then there is I have aquestion on what misconceptions
you feel like there might beabout home care and hospice,
because I think that it is asmany agencies that there are
providing the service.
I feel like it's still socommon to hear like mom just
fell or something.
What should we do?
Like it's crazy to me thatthere's so many people that
still don't know that home careis really a viable option and
maybe there's somemisconceptions.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Yeah, I mean home care specifically.
I think there aremisconceptions about each of the
industries for differentreasons, right, home health,
hospice, home care, home carespecifically.
I think one of the greatestmisconceptions is that we can do
it on our own right.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, have mom move into the basement, exactly.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Whether it's because of frugality or whether it's
because of, hey, it's ourresponsibility, which is
understood, but a lot of thetimes, I think people don't tap
into additional support that'sthere, whether it's paid
caregivers, whether it'sneighbors, whether it's your
church congregation, and bydoing that we might be making it
work, but we also might beleaving a lot of different
(10:34):
aspects of that loved one's lifethat are unfulfilled.
Right, and we can do better forthem, but we can do better for
them together.
We can do better for them, butwe can do better for them
together.
Additionally, a lot of peopledo have not everybody has those
resources, but a lot of peoplehave saved their entire lives,
right, and they've worked hard,et cetera.
I think that money should beused to help them to be happy,
(10:56):
to be safe, to be well, to bewhere they want to be, where I
think some families get into.
Oh, we can't spend that.
That's our inheritance, right,we can't spend that.
We need to hold on to that.
And again, I'm not sayingthat's the case with everybody,
but I certainly have seen it.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
You know the money that my parents have saved
that's there to take care ofthem.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
right, I may not get a penny, but the greatest
inheritance that they've givenme is not the financial one,
because I don't anticipate Withsix kids in the family.
I don't anticipate.
With six kids in the family.
I don't anticipate I'm going toinherit much of anything.
Anyway, I want them to be hereand be comfortable as long as
possible.
Grace inheritance They've givenme as a work ethic intelligence
, love for family, love for GodRight.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Yeah, I love that, yeah, I think that, yeah, that a
lot of people take theinheritance, even if it is like
sizable, with their grandkids,you know, like in our kids, like
(12:08):
I think people don't take thatinto consideration enough, um,
when looking into gettingsupport.
Um, yeah, and the other thingthat I've said a lot is when
people try to take it all onthemselves the daughter, you
know, mom, can move in thebasement or whatever it's like
they stop.
The saddest thing and ithappens without people noticing
it or calling it out is theystop being daughter and start
(12:29):
being caregiver or aid life'smemories and take her shopping
and have fun and leave all thestuff.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
That changes that relationship dynamic to a
profession yeah, the dynamicchanges, and sometimes the
person who's receiving the carestarts to feel like they're a
burden and they live with a lotof guilt.
And that's a sad thing too.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
It is super sad.
So, on that note, what wouldyou say?
So obviously there's a lot ofapprehension that we face in
home care, home health andhospice, but what are some other
challenges that we face apartfrom funding in this space?
Yeah, apart from funding.
Man, I could go on and on aboutthe funding, right?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
I'd say probably education.
I mean helping people andhelping the public to really
know what's available to themand what resources are available
to make it work and to make ithappen.
That's definitely a challenge.
I'd say competing, and it doestap into some part into
reimbursement.
(13:41):
It's not just reimbursement.
There are competing interests,right, and so the lobbying power
and all of that.
You have headwinds.
Sometimes we get a lot ofrhetoric out of Washington DC
and I think that a lot of peopleunderstand.
They voice support Republicansand Democrats for care at home.
However, the rules andregulations that are passed
often tell a different story.
Right, we need champions, notrhetoric, and that's a challenge
(14:06):
for us, right, because peoplein theory are like oh yeah, it's
awesome, everybody's had anexperience, everybody knows
somebody who's been on hospiceor on healthcare.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
There's some loved ones somewhere Exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
So they see the value .
It's just that, you know, Ithink advocacy follows the
dollar or the dollar followsadvocacy right, you can flip
that as well, and that's part ofthe problem.
We're not as big as some of theother industries, we don't have
as loud a voice, and and so alot of the rules and regulations
that get passed aren't, youknow, in in line with with what
(14:38):
we're hearing from our electedofficials.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Yeah, I think you nailed it with education where,
if people knew it's funny.
So we run a personal careagency and it's funny how many
times people want stuff wayoutside of the scope of what
we're able to do.
It's more falls into homehealth, hospice or like physical
therapy and we're like we arenot licensed to do that.
But yeah, people just don'tknow what there is and it's
(15:04):
crazy because the vast majorityof West Americans want to age in
place.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Aging in place longer with the right support can
literally add years to life andlike it's so important but it's
not yeah, or understanding thatif they meet a certain criteria,
those things that they wouldlike you to do as a personal
care agency could be covered100% right by their Medicare.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Exactly yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
But not knowing what the criteria is and how to tap
into that.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yeah, so what you mentioned funding and some
Washington DC.
There's a lot of news articlesand stuff that come out and it's
like rah rah, and especially wesaw it a lot last year with the
presidential campaign.
It was a topic that was talkedabout a lot.
(15:53):
But what good do?
Speaker 2 (16:03):
you see in the windshield coming our way and
what bad potential do you seecoming our way in the industry?
Yeah, I think bad really istied to reimbursement.
Right, I mean we have againmedpac is is recommended more uh
cuts for home health andpausing any adjustment for for
hospice and next year again aseven percent cut for home
health is what they'rerecommending again, despite all
the big cuts that they've had inthe past years.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
And they just don't get it because yeah sorry, just
eating up everything.
That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Yeah, it is, and part of the problem is that they're
still saying that.
You know, I've heard numbersanywhere the home health margin
is anywhere between 18 and 24%,right.
However, you have to take intoconsideration that they're just
looking at traditional Medicareand more than 50% of
reimbursement is now tied toMedAdvantage, and MedAdvantage
reimburses way less.
So really, when you look at it,I mean, you know most agencies
(16:49):
are probably dealing with amargin somewhere between five
and 7%, you know, not 17, 20%.
So, yeah, reimbursement, I mean, is the bad as far as the good.
I think there's a lot of thingsthat can be done to reverse
some of the bad that's been donein the past.
For hospice, we're looking atan extension of the telehealth
flexibilities that wereintroduced during the COVID-19
(17:10):
pandemic, and so we're hopingthat those will get extended at
least through the end of 2027and eventually become permanent.
For home care, eliminating the80-20 provision from the access
rule, which would mandate that80% of Medicaid reimbursement
funds to providers actually beused for caregiver wages, which
(17:31):
seems like a good thing.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
But again, when you're looking, at how tight the
margins are, it could sink theindustry.
So yeah, Like you said, on theoffset it looks really good, but
then it's hard because then onthe admin support that
caregivers require and thesoftwares that are needed for
paying them and, like all ofthese things, the additional
cost to a state as well.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Right, I mean it's kind of crazy there are a lot of
good things in the access rule,but the 80-20 provision is the
bad thing, right, so?
And also just technology.
I mean I, I see a bright future.
I really do.
I'm I'm more optimistic aboutthe future of care in the home
than I ever have been, honestly.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Wow, yeah, what, what things, um, what's your vision
of the future for home care andhospice?
What's what's exciting to you?
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Um, you know I am, as I mentioned, I'm really excited
about, I'd say, despite all theheadwinds, I'm excited about
the technology, so we're goingto have a lot more tools to be
able to help us right?
I'm very bullish on new andemerging technology that
supports remote patientmonitoring, for example, and AI
(18:40):
is going to continue to makeassessments and documentation a
lot more efficient and accuratein the near future.
I think it's going to be easierto keep people at home safely
because of the technologies thatare emerging.
As we adopt them and workhand-in-hand with some of these
things, we're actually going tobuild a true continuum of care,
which is really what we need tohelp people stay out of the
(19:00):
hospital.
We're already seeing people athome with an average acuity
level that's a lot higher thanit used to be, because they're
being discharged from thehospital earlier.
They're often bypassing skillednursing and rehab altogether,
so I see that trend continuing.
I also think we'll continue tosee more hospital at home or, if
the program goes away, anexpansion of home health
services to cover many of thesimpler procedures that would
(19:23):
have fallen under hospital athome.
So, yeah, I think we're goingto see a lot more just kind of
services provided at home, andwe're going to have the
technology to support us.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Yeah, when you think of the technology that is coming
out.
I don't know if you thoughtabout this.
I really enjoy toying aroundwith AI.
Do you see any AI disruptionsor anything that whether it's an
idea that you have or a productthat you've seen that's
exciting to you?
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Yeah, absolutely.
As far as AI goes, I mean rightnow most of what we're seeing
is documentation, right.
I mean we're seeing it in theback office end with scheduling,
we're seeing it with just kindof efficiencies.
We're seeing it on the financeside of things and I think it's
good there With documentationand assessments.
It still has room.
I've seen some awesome demos,but then when you hear from
people that are actually usingit, you're like yeah you know,
(20:12):
we see some of the same types ofissues that we see with ChatGPT
, when we're just usingsomething, you know, with these
hallucinations, and we're justtrying to like wait, that's whoa
, that's wrong, right.
Or how it's scoring on the homehealth side of things, the
OASIS assessment right, and so Ithink people need to be
cautious still, but it's gettingbetter.
That's the whole point of AI,right.
(20:32):
It's learning itself.
It's teaching itself.
So as time goes on and thetechnology gets better, it's
going to help people to be somuch more efficient.
From other technology, Imentioned remote patient
monitoring, and there are somegroups out there that are being
a lot more proactive in remotepatient monitoring.
So they're not waiting forsomeone to fall right or they're
(20:55):
not.
You know, it's a lot lessdependent on somebody having to,
you know, actually use thetechnology themselves, like go
in and weigh themselves, etc.
Where a lot of this can be done.
It's non-evasive, non-wearable,and a lot of stuff's being done
automatically from sensors thatare underneath a bed mattress
(21:15):
that can actually take youroxygen saturation, your heart
rate throughout the night atrest right through the mattress,
right With incredible accuracyand all kinds of things like
that I've seen.
You know there's fall detectiontechnology that's out there that
they don't have to put on thelife alert where they're wearing
it.
It's just a small littlemonitor that can be very
inexpensive, that's put up.
(21:36):
I've seen it as low as $5 perunit per month.
It's put up in the home and ituses radar technology.
Another technology I've seenwas infrared.
So it's privacy, right.
It doesn't show the person Ifthey're walking around, they're
skibbies, you're not going tosee it, right.
It just shows the outline ofthe person and if that person
goes down, it gives you all thisinformation.
(21:58):
That then alerts the monitoringsystem and says we may just
have a fall and they can respondinstantly.
So smart homes, right.
Smart home technology.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
So yeah, I'm really excited about that type of stuff
.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Me too, I'm excited to see the adoption over the
next decade, I think, especiallyas more and more baby boomers
get into the age of needing homecare and home health and
hospice, I think that we'll seemore and more technology that's
supporting it.
So that way, the caregivers Idon't know.
(22:31):
I hope that the reimbursementswill go up, but at bare minimum.
Hopefully the strain physicallyand emotionally on caregivers
might go down with all thesetechnologies supporting, like I
said, on back end, back officestuff, admin stuff that just
drains people.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Yeah, and supporting family caregivers right.
I mean, we have over 450,000family caregivers in Utah alone
and there's a lot.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
I didn't know that that's a lot.
Yeah, it's a lot.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
It's a lot nationwide as well.
I mean, it's incredible, andoftentimes they don't even
identify themselves as familycaregivers, right, they don't
know that they're a part of,potentially, of a community and
that there are resourcesavailable to them, and I think
we need to work with families alot more closely.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah, I would.
I would love um something outthere.
Like I like to joke how there'snot really a guide on how to be
a parent.
Um, you just have a kid and allof a sudden you're figuring it
out, and then there's not reallya guide on the opposite end of
life, of how do you take care ofyour aging parents, and so
there should be a better guideand community there, because
(23:31):
we're learning so much We'velearned so much over the last 20
years of how it all works andwhat to expect, and so
everybody's going.
Most people are going toexperience having an aging loved
one, and so giving them thesupport that they need would
just be huge.
So what?
This is kind of the finalquestion.
(23:52):
That 25 minutes went super fast.
It was fun talking abouttalking to somebody like
yourself.
That's like leading the chargetrying to help home care and
hospice and, and like I said, onthe legislative side, where you
said there's a lot of, there'sa lot of us out here.
(24:12):
There's a lot of caregivers andnurses and CNAs and people
trying to do this that justdon't have a voice.
So cumulatively, through HHAU,we're able to try to have a
voice.
But what legacy or long-termimpact.
Do you hope to leave personallyon Utah home care and hospice?
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Well, I probably wouldn't use the word legacy to
describe the impact that I hopeto make on home care and hospice
, but I think we've already donesome great work, some really
great work that a lot of peoplearen't even aware of, and I want
to be a part of doing a lotmore.
Once my work in the industry isdone, if I can walk away
knowing that I've helped toinspire others so that the work
can go on and that the care Iwill receive right or will be
(24:56):
receiving as an older adult isbetter than the existing quality
of care when I started mycareer, I'll consider that a win
.
We need to make big changes inhealthcare, as I mentioned, and
I want to be a part of thatsolution.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
People- who know me and worked with me know that I'm
a problem solver and ideas guyand I have a lot of ideas.
Yeah Well, that's awesome.
You're well on your way toleaving that impact we won't
call it legacy, that impact onthis space.
You had a big impact on me andjust in this 30 minute
conversation.
So, um, yeah, I'm excited tosee what keeps on unfolding for
the industry and and especiallyin Utah.
(25:33):
So appreciate you coming on.
Is there any other closingthoughts?
I guess the last piece is whatadvice do you have for somebody
breaking into or just startingin the um home, care home,
health and hospice space?
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Yeah, I, mean that's a great question too.
So I'll be brief, but I'd makesure that you feel confident in
your skills and working in anenvironment where you aren't
surrounded by coworkers.
When people don't do well inhome care, it's usually because
of that.
They jump in.
They hear about good pay etcetera.
Right, changing workenvironment, everything like
that so many pluses aboutworking in home care.
(26:10):
It's an amazing practice settingthis sometimes gets a bad
reputation as being the wildwest, so I prefer to describe it
as kind of the front linesright of health care, a lot like
emergency medicine.
You can see people are justabout any diagnosis, and so,
lastly, I'd say you're likelyyou'll likely work in mansions,
immaculate homes, but you'llalso work in homes where you're
afraid to sit down because ofhoarding bug infestations, pet
(26:32):
feces, all kinds of stuff.
I have all kinds of stories.
You have to remember that evenin those situations, though,
you're likely that person's bestadvocate and possibly their
only hope to being able toremain in their home and out of
the hospital.
It's a blessing to be inpeople's homes.
You know it's sacred ground tome.
It's a blessing to be there,and I'd say remember, you know,
if you're starting your journeyalong, you know, in home care.
(26:55):
Remember that, and rememberthat you're that person's best
advocate and maybe the onlyperson that is advocating for
them.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Yeah, I could not agree more.
Like, I love that we're.
You might be the only personthat's trying to help them
maintain independence, the onlyperson they see that week.
Like we're, we're have we havea huge impact.
And so, you know, giving therespect to yourself, knowing
(27:24):
that that's your impact, thatyou're having, I think is an
important thing.
Getting into the space of like,yeah, it's a, it's a grind some
days, but it's totally worth itand invaluable.
So great answer.
Yeah, Matt, I appreciate youcoming on and sharing 30 minutes
of your time today and yourinsights, and we might have a
(27:46):
future one.
There's just there's a lot tounpack in the home care and
hospice space.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Happy to be a resource.
Thanks, Caleb.
Thanks for what you do.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Thanks, yeah, thanks.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com