FAQ

IHCA participating agencies will be provided with a digital seal of membership to display on their website, online accounts, email signatures, and printed material. A physical certificate will be sent to the agency to display, along with collateral material which can be included in information packets to assist the agency in explaining the added value their agency can provide because of both their independent status and IHCA membership. Our alliance will help independent agencies to stand out and compete in the home care marketplace.

No, we are an Alliance. We have no intention to create an Association, but the general use of the words “association” and “alliance” can be confusing at first because the words seem similar. At its basic level, our intent is to focus on joining hands with as many of the ~14k independent home care agencies nationally as we can, to give ourselves a competitive edge by standardizing operations, and to create cooperative operations to run more effective and profitable organizations wherever possible. IHCA seeks to partner with many of these associations and has already partnered with the Home Care Association of America (HCAOA), in an effort to increase national participation and industry knowledge amongst independent home care owners. Associations like HCAOA serve many functions, but one specific example is their work in advocacy through lobbying and policy focused around laws and rules. IHCA will encourage our members to join these organizations to continue those critical tasks, but will not overlap or duplicate.

Yes. To clarify, being an independent non-skilled agency is one of the requirements. IHCA has a vetting process to ensure our participants are meeting minimum standards. Our goal is to identify and represent the highest quality agencies and develop an elite network.

Yes! IHCA cannot state strongly enough how important it is to continue or start memberships in state and national associations. In fact, we will push strongly for our members not participating in their state or national organizations to do so, with discounts and other potential benefits for anyone who shows their association membership to us. See “How We Partner With State Associations” and “How We Partner With National Associations” for more information.

We often hear from members of IHCA that they do not feel totally represented by a home health-centric state association. When partnered with IHCA, state associations will benefit because we offer content-specific workshops and other guidance to assist associations in building stronger relationships with their home care members.

No. We find that most states have a representation of home care in some capacity. Collaboration is our first and primary goal with existing organizations. Many existing associations have deep rooted advocacy, lobbying, and education programs that cater to specific regional needs. IHCA will encourage our participants to join and actively participate in those state associations to further strengthen all of home care (skilled and non-skilled alike).

No. We want to work with any organizations who are willing to collaborate with us, add value to the IHCA member experience, and advance the future of high quality home care. We are excited to say that we have already developed a partnership with the Home Care Association of America (HCAOA), but we look forward to any opportunity to partner with other national associations.

Not at this time. Our focus is on non-skilled home care agencies around the nation. Although some of our members may offer other service lines, we find that the majority of our prospective members are providing non-skilled care only. Language in the industry using the term “Home Care” makes this confusing, but it is becoming increasingly common to identify skilled care as “Home Health” and non-skilled care as “Home Care”.

No. Franchisors spend a lot of time and energy to develop and launch their franchisees with a knowledge of standardized operations and branding, as well as ongoing support at varying levels. Quality is a completely relative measurement where the business model, branding, or any other factor do not solely determine the quality of care in any single client’s experience. IHCA feels that delivering high quality care should be the goal of all agencies universally, regardless of franchise or independent status.

Yes! We participate in state and national associations with both independent and franchise organizations, where all common members work toward a common goal of strengthening home care.

We have no relationship and reject their model of business. IHCA is focused on the preservation of Independent Home Care Agencies and feels these models of business are not beneficial to the future of home care.