Newsletter,Senior Care
Home Care Post Bulletin – April 2026
From Grief to Growth: How One Family’s ALS Journey Inspired a Home Care Entrepreneur
At 15 years old, Kyana Wilkinson wasn’t thinking about entrepreneurship, health care leadership, or owning a business. She was watching her father battle Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, commonly referred to as ALS.
The experience of seeing hospice and home care professionals support him in the place he was most comfortable — the home they shared — would quietly, but permanently, redirect the course of her life.
“That was the first time I had any kind of home care experience coming into the home,” she said. “It changed the trajectory of my life indefinitely.”
Today, Wilkinson is the owner of a SYNERGY HomeCare territory serving Plainfield, Naperville, and surrounding Illinois communities. As luck would have it, her agency serves an area only about 90 minutes away from where she grew up.
After filing lots of paperwork, getting licensed and scaling up, she’s looking forward to opening her doors and start serving customers this spring.
That will simply be the next step in a journey that began more than a decade earlier as a frontline caregiver.
Read her inspiring story on the Home Care Post.
The LinkedIn Metrics That Matter for Home Care Agencies
On a quiet Tuesday morning, the owner of a mid-sized home care agency sat down with her marketing coordinator to review their LinkedIn company page analytics.
“Good news,” the coordinator said. “We had 2,300 post impressions this week.”
The owner nodded, then paused. “Is that … good?”
The room went silent.
Like many home care leaders, she wasn’t short on data — she was short on clarity. Numbers were coming in every week, including search appearances, new followers, page visitors and impressions.
But the data did not answer the only question that mattered: Is this helping us grow?
Home care is, at its core, a relationship business. Trust is the currency. Families are not making quick decisions; they are researching, comparing, and watching (often very quietly) before they ever reach out.
That makes LinkedIn a powerful platform. Referral partners, hospital discharge planners and even prospective caregivers are all there, forming impressions long before a phone call is made.
But too many agencies fall into what might be called the metric trap: tracking everything and understanding nothing.
The truth is that not all LinkedIn metrics are created equal — and some can actively mislead you if you don’t understand what they signal.
Get insights on this important topic from Welton Hong, the founder and CEO of Senior Care Marketing Max, on the Home Care Post.
Who Should Pay for Older Adults’ Care? Caregivers Answer Differently
When it comes to opinions about paying for, and getting access to, care for older adults, direct experience appears to matter a lot, a new University of Michigan study finds.
People aged 50 and over who serve as unpaid family caregivers for adults over 65 are more likely than non-caregivers to say that the government should have primary responsibility for paying for the care of older Americans, at 51% vs. 43%, according to a news release issued by the Institute for Healthcare Policy & Innovation at the University of Michigan.
Non-caregivers were more likely to say that families, or older adults themselves, should have primary responsibility for costs.
More than half of all people aged 50 and over say they are very concerned about the cost of long-term care for older adults, including home care, assisted living and nursing home care.
But there were differences by caregiver status here, too. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of caregivers said they are very concerned about long-term care costs, compared with 54% of non-caregivers.
And when it came to access to quality long-term care, 50% of caregivers said they’re very concerned, compared with 36% of non-caregivers.
Read more on the Home Care Post.
Always Best Care Franchisee Samantha Loy Expands Footprint Across North Carolina
Always Best Care Senior Services, a leading provider of non-medical in-home senior care and assisted living referral services, recently announced a significant expansion by franchisee Samantha Loy, who has broadened her operations across North Carolina through both market growth and the acquisition of additional territories.
Loy has expanded into the Charlotte and Lake Norman markets while also acquiring ownership of established Always Best Care locations in Winston-Salem and Concord, previously operated by her mother. This strategic move strengthens continuity of care for existing clients and caregivers while extending Loy’s leadership across key regions in the state.
With this expansion, Loy now oversees a growing network of locations serving Burlington, Greensboro, Chapel Hill-Durham, Winston-Salem, Concord, and Greater Charlotte, further positioning her as one of the brand’s leading multi-unit franchise owners.
This growth builds on Loy’s continued success across North Carolina, where she leads a team of more than 500 employees delivering personalized care solutions designed to help seniors age safely and comfortably at home.
Read more on the Home Care Post.
Reputation Is Revenue: Why Home Care Agencies Can’t Ignore Reviews Anymore
The caregiver had just finished her shift. It had been a long day — helping with mobility, preparing meals, offering companionship — the kind of work that requires both skill and heart. As she gathered her things, the client’s daughter walked her to the door, paused, and said, “You’ve made such a difference for my mom. I don’t know what we’d do without you. Thank you.”
That moment? That’s where most home care agencies get it wrong.
Because what typically happens next is … nothing.
No one asks for a review. Or worse, a generic email gets sent days later — long after the emotional connection has faded. The opportunity is gone.
And that’s the reality of online reviews today: Success has very little to do with the platform — and everything to do with timing and human connection.
Too many agencies treat review generation like a technical process built around automated emails, scheduled texts, and templated follow-ups. Those tools have their place.
At Senior Care Marketing Max, for example, we offer a 30 Second Feedback Tool designed to help agencies capture authentic feedback without adding operational burden. It identifies satisfied clients and families who can be encouraged to leave public reviews — while routing concerns into private channels so issues can be resolved before they escalate online.
But here’s the truth: Technology can’t replace human interaction.
Get insights on reviews from Welton Hong, the founder and CEO of Senior Care Marketing Max, on the Home Care Post.
Angels on Call Homecare Launches Free Parkinson’s and Dementia Support Group
Angels on Call Homecare, an award-winning provider recognized nationally for specialized dementia and Parkinson’s care delivered through advanced aging-in-place and live-in care models, has launched Angels Embrace, a free community support group initiative designed to provide education, connection, and emotional support for individuals and families impacted by neurodegenerative conditions.
The program offers both in-person meetings and virtual participation, expanding access for caregivers, family members, and individuals living with Parkinson’s disease or dementia.
Angels Embrace was created to address one of the most common challenges families face when navigating neurological disease: isolation.
“Conditions like Parkinson’s disease and dementia affect entire families, not just individuals,” said Eric Dalton, vice president of Angels on Call Homecare. “For too long, families navigating these diseases have been left to figure things out on their own. Angels Embrace is about changing that reality by creating a community where education, shared experience, and compassionate guidance come together. When families feel informed and supported, they are better equipped to navigate the complexities of neurodegenerative disease while preserving dignity, independence, and quality of life.”
Read more on the Home Care Post.
Executive Home Care National Conference Highlights Excellence in Home Care Franchising
Executive Home Care, a premier provider of in-home care services and member of Evive Brands, hosted its 2026 National Conference March 30 through April 1 at Talking Stick Resort Hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona. Themed Caring Without Limits: Driven by Excellence, the annual event brought together franchise owners from across the country for education, collaboration and recognition of outstanding achievements across the system.
The conference featured a keynote address by Steve “Hurricane” Weiss, founder and president of Home Care Evolution, who presented “Power Partners,” a session on building referral relationships to drive growth.
The conference also introduced the 52 Weeks Marketing program, a turnkey, territory-exclusive B2B system designed to help franchisees build referral relationships and drive local growth.
The event concluded with the Executive Home Care Awards Ceremony, recognizing franchise owners and teams for outstanding business performance and leadership.
Read more on the Home Care Post.
AARP Report: Long-Term Care Costs Surging, Pricing Middle-Income Americans Out of Care
A new report from the AARP Public Policy Institute finds that long-term services and supports are becoming increasingly unaffordable for middle-income Americans, with home care providers and senior care professionals at the center of a rapidly intensifying cost crisis.
According to the report, the cost of long-term care services — including home care, assisted living, and nursing home care — has risen dramatically in recent years, significantly outpacing income growth. From 2019 to 2024, costs for key services such as home care and assisted living increased by nearly 50%, creating a widening affordability gap for aging Americans.
For home care agencies, the findings underscore a critical paradox: demand for in-home services continues to grow, yet affordability constraints are tightening for the very clients who need care most.
The report notes that rising labor costs, inflation, and increased demand for services have driven substantial price increases in home-based care. At the same time, middle-income older adults—those without sufficient assets to self-fund care but ineligible for Medicaid—are being squeezed out of the market.
“Home care and other long-term care services have quickly become increasingly unaffordable in recent years,” an AARP spokesperson stated, emphasizing the speed and severity of the shift.
Read more on the Home Care Post.
CEO of Montgomery County Home Care Agency in Pennsylvania Sentenced to Prison
Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday announced that Naya Campbell has been sentenced to prison for her role in a multi-million dollar Medicaid fraud scheme involving a Montgomery County home care agency where she served as CEO, according to a news release.
Campbell, of Audubon, previously pleaded guilty to felony counts of corrupt organizations, theft by deception, and Medicaid Fraud for submitting false reimbursement claims regarding ComfortZone Home Health Care, LLC. The East Norriton-based Medicaid provider was owned by her mother, Stephanie Mobley, who also was charged and pleaded guilty.
On Monday, a Montgomery County Judge sentenced Campbell to 11½ to 23 months in prison (with work release eligibility), followed by five years of probation. She is also required to serve 100 hours of community service and pay $1.76 million in restitution — with $350,000 of that due within six months of sentencing.
In all, the Office of Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Section charged 20 people and the agency itself in connection with $1.76 million in false claims involving the business, between 2020 and 2023.
Read more on the Home Care Post.
The One-Minute Yelp Check Every Home Care Agency Should Be Using
If you’ve spent any time trying to build your home care agency’s online reputation, you’ve likely run into a familiar — and frustrating — scenario.
You deliver excellent care, a client or family expresses genuine gratitude, and when you ask if they’d be willing to share their experience online, they agree. Sometimes they even follow through on Yelp.
And then the review disappears.
At that point, many home care owners conclude that Yelp is unpredictable, or even unfair. But the platform is doing exactly what it was designed to do.
Yelp’s system prioritizes reviews from users who demonstrate consistent behavior on the platform. In other words, it trusts people who regularly write reviews, engage with businesses, and maintain an active presence. When someone creates an account for the sole purpose of leaving a single review, that review is often filtered out. Meanwhile, a critical review from a long-term user is far more likely to remain visible. What feels like inconsistency is actually a very specific kind of consistency.
This is where many home care agencies unintentionally work against themselves. Some ignore Yelp entirely. Others take a volume approach, asking every client or family member for a review and hoping something sticks. Still others experiment with tactics that, while well-intentioned, can undermine their credibility. None of these approaches account for how Yelp actually functions.
A more effective approach starts with a simple shift in thinking. Instead of asking, “How do I get more reviews?” the better question is, “Who is actually likely to leave a review that Yelp will trust?”
There is a practical way to answer that question — and it takes less than a minute.
Find out how to do it from Welton Hong, the founder and CEO of Senior Care Marketing Max, on the Home Care Post.