Home Care Post Bulletin – Preview

Apple Maps Ads Are Here. Home Care Agencies Need to Pay Attention

By Welton Hong, Founder & CEO, Senior Care Marketing Max

You are about to lose customers and not know it.

That may sound dramatic, but Apple has introduced a significant change to the local-search landscape that home care agencies need to understand. Apple Maps advertising has begun rolling out in the United States and Canada, giving businesses a new way to put themselves in front of consumers who are actively searching for local businesses on their iPhones.

Apple announced the program earlier this year, saying it would launch during the summer, and the rollout began in August. Apple says it is continuing to expand the availability of the advertising program.

For years, home care agencies have understandably focused much of their local-search strategy on Google. They claim and optimize their Google Business Profiles, work to accumulate reviews, improve their websites and try to appear prominently when families search for home care, in-home care, senior care and related services.

That remains important. But the growth of Apple Maps advertising means there is now another local-search environment where agencies can compete for visibility — and the mechanics are different enough that simply having a strong organic listing may no longer be enough.

Consider the consumer journey. An adult daughter picks up her iPhone and searches Apple Maps for “home care near me.” Maybe her mother recently fell and the family realizes she needs additional help at home. Maybe her father is coming home from the hospital and cannot safely manage by himself. Maybe an aging parent is beginning to struggle with bathing, dressing, meal preparation or medication reminders. Or perhaps the family has been trying to manage everything themselves and has finally reached the point where they need help.

Whatever the circumstances, this person is actively looking for a local provider and trying to determine what to do next.

That is what makes Maps advertising so interesting from a marketing perspective: The intent is already there.

Read the full article on the Home Care Post.

Zingage Wants to Take the Chaos Out of Home Care Operations

For most home care agency owners, the hardest part of the business isn’t necessarily finding clients.

It is making sure the right caregiver is in the right home at the right time — and dealing with everything that happens when that plan inevitably changes.

For instance, on any given day, the following may sound familiar to you:

• A caregiver calls out at midnight.
• A client is being discharged from the hospital late on a Friday afternoon.
• Someone forgets to clock in.
• A family member calls with a question.
• A caregiver is running 30 minutes late.
• A new client inquiry comes in while the office is already dealing with three other problems.

If you’ve been in this business long enough, you probably already know that there will be times when the phone doesn’t ring.

And then there will be other times when it keeps ringing. The schedule keeps changing. And somebody must deal with it.

“Scheduling is the heart of home care business,” said David Knack, head of sales at Zingage. “Can you get them to clients reliably?”

That question is at the center of what Zingage, an AI platform founded in 2023, is trying to address.

The company describes itself as an AI platform that handles scheduling, engagement and operations, so home care agencies can grow without having to grow their back office at the same rate. Its platform includes Riley, an AI receptionist; Casey, an AI scheduling and operations coordinator; and Zingage Perform, an engagement and retention system for caregivers. Zingage says it is now used by more than 500 home care agencies.

But Knack’s explanation of the company’s purpose goes beyond simply automating administrative tasks.

The bigger idea, he said, is to make it possible for a home care agency to operate 24/7 without requiring its people to be available 24/7.

“Even if it is 24/7 business, it shouldn’t be a 24/7 job,” Knack said.

Learn how Zingage is transforming home care operations in the full article on the Home Care Post.

Always Best Care Names Jason Shontz as CFO

Always Best Care Senior Services, a leading provider of non-medical in-home care and senior living referral services with 295 independently owned and operated locations across the U.S. and Canada, has appointed Jason Shontz, CPA, as chief financial officer. Shontz brings nearly 20 years of financial leadership experience across public companies, private equity-backed businesses, venture-backed organizations and high-growth companies.

Shontz joins Always Best Care from The Joint Corp., a publicly traded chiropractic franchisor with nearly 1,000 locations nationwide, where he served as Vice President of Finance. He led financial planning and analysis, supported investor relations and guided capital allocation decisions. Working closely with company leadership, he also helped shape unit economics, long-range planning and the refranchising of corporate-owned clinics.

For Shontz, the move to Always Best Care also carries a personal connection. His father, who turns 90 this year, relies on non-medical in-home care for both practical support and companionship.

“I have seen firsthand what in-home care means to a family,” said Shontz. “For my father, it is not a discretionary service. It is essential to his care, his independence and his quality of life. That personal experience is a major part of what drew me to Always Best Care.”

Read more on the Home Care Post.

A Place for Mom Names Jason Conley Chief Technology Officer

A Place for Mom, the nation’s leading senior care advisory platform that has guided more than 2.3 million families through the aging journey, recently announced the appointment of Jason Conley as chief technology officer.

Conley will lead A Place for Mom’s technology strategy, engineering and data organization. He will partner closely with Chief Product Officer Nidhin George and leaders across the company to translate the company’s product vision and roadmap into scalable, reliable solutions; advance its technology and data foundations; and accelerate the thoughtful application of AI across customer experiences and internal operations.

Conley brings over 25 years of experience building and modernizing technology platforms in healthcare. Most recently, he served as chief technology officer at VIP Medical Group. Previously, he was chief technology officer and vice president of product, engineering and technology at Envera Health, where he led the development of AI-enabled software supporting patient access, engagement and operational workflows. He also held senior technology leadership roles at BrightSpring Health Services, driving growth in enterprise product, engineering and architecture across a portfolio spanning senior living, home care, hospice, pharmacy and other healthcare services.

Read more on the Home Care Post.

Google Isn’t Dead. But the Way Families Find Home Care Agencies Is Changing

By Welton Hong, founder and CEO, Senior Care Marketing Max

For years, the playbook for getting a home care agency found online was fairly straightforward: Show up in Google, build a strong Google Business Profile, collect reviews, optimize the website and try to rank as highly as possible for the searches families are making.

That playbook still works.

But something important has changed.

Increasingly, families are asking artificial intelligence platforms the questions they once typed directly into Google.

Instead of searching for “home care agencies near me” and scrolling through a page of results, someone might ask ChatGPT, Gemini or another AI platform questions such as:

• What are the best home care agencies in Phoenix?
• Who provides affordable in-home care for seniors in Springfield?
• What does 24-hour home care typically cost?
• Which home care agencies specialize in dementia care?
• How do I find a reliable caregiver for my elderly mother?

The answers may include several agencies. If yours isn’t among them, a prospective client may never know you exist.

That doesn’t mean Google is going away. Far from it. Google remains enormously important, and people who use AI to narrow their choices may still turn to Google to examine maps, ratings, reviews and websites before deciding which agency to contact.

What’s changing is the role of AI, which I recently addressed in detail on this webinar.

AI increasingly acts as a filter between consumers and the businesses they ultimately consider. That means home care agencies need to think not only about how they rank in search engines, but also about whether they provide the information and credibility signals that AI systems can understand and trust.

The good news is that much of what works for traditional search engine optimization — SEO — also works for what is sometimes called generative engine optimization, or GEO.

You don’t necessarily need an entirely new marketing strategy.

You need to execute the fundamentals better.

Read the full article on the Home Care Post.

Always Best Care Franchisees Expand Services in Central Indiana

Always Best Care Senior Services franchise owners Ryan and Ashley Mitchell are expanding their Central Indiana operations to serve more seniors and families across the South Side of Indianapolis including Southport, Greenwood, Whiteland, Franklin and Bargersville.

Through Always Best Care, the Mitchells provide personalized in-home care services that help older adults remain safe and independent at home, while also helping families navigate changing care needs and senior living options. Their local team works closely with families, caregivers and healthcare professionals to connect seniors with the right level of support based on their individual needs.

“We’ve seen firsthand how much families value having trusted support that allows their loved ones to remain at home,” said Ryan Mitchell. “Expanding our service area gives us the opportunity to help even more seniors and families while building relationships with the caregivers, healthcare providers and community organizations already serving Johnson County.”

Read more on the Home Care Post.