Most families don't pick a home care agency at random from an online search. They pick one because someone they trust gave them a name. That might be a nurse at the hospital, their mother's doctor, the attorney helping them plan, or a friend whose dad had a wonderful caregiver.
Those people are your referral sources, and for most agencies they're where the best clients come from. Much of home care marketing comes down to finding them, earning their trust and staying in touch.
This guide covers 12 referral sources worth knowing. For each one, it explains what they need from an agency. It ends with how to decide where to spend your time.
Two kinds of referral sources
It helps to sort referral sources into two groups.
- Healthcare sources see families at the moment care is needed, such as after a hospital stay, a fall or a new diagnosis. Their referrals usually need care soon.
- Community sources are the people families go to for advice, often before there's a crisis. Their referrals may take longer to start, but they usually arrive already trusting you.
A healthy referral network has some of both. Healthcare sources keep new clients coming in, and community sources make your agency the name families already know.
Healthcare referral sources
1. Hospital discharge planners and case managers
For many agencies, the local hospital is the biggest single source. Discharge planners, case managers and social workers help patients get home safely, and many of those patients will need help once they're there.
They need an agency that answers the phone, can start care quickly and will actually staff the case. We wrote a full guide on getting referrals from hospital discharge planners.
2. Skilled nursing and rehab facilities
After a hospital stay, many older adults spend a few weeks in a skilled nursing or rehab facility before going home. Social workers and discharge coordinators there plan those homecomings, and they often know the date ahead of time.
That gives you an opening. Offer to meet the family before discharge so care can start the day their loved one gets home. Facilities value agencies that make the move home go smoothly, because a patient who struggles at home can end up back in the hospital.
3. Doctors' offices
Primary care doctors, geriatricians, neurologists and cardiologists often notice that a patient is struggling at home before the family says anything.
You probably won't get to know the doctor. The office manager, nurses and medical assistants are the ones who hand families a name. Keep visits short and bring a one-page sheet with your services and phone number. Ask how they'd like to send you a referral.
4. Home health agencies
Home health agencies provide skilled care, like nursing and therapy, usually for a limited time after an illness or hospital stay. When that care ends, many patients still need help with bathing, meals or getting around, and that's the help a non-medical home care agency gives.
That makes home health a natural partner, not a competitor. Agree on how you'll hand off patients, and send them referrals when your own clients need skilled care. These relationships work best when referrals go both ways.
5. Hospice teams
Hospice teams visit regularly, but they aren't there around the clock. Families caring for someone at the end of life often need extra help in the hours between visits, and the hospice social worker is usually who they ask.
These referrals call for caregivers who are comfortable with end-of-life care, and for an agency that can start fast. If that's a strength of yours, tell them.
6. Assisted living and independent living communities
Residents of senior living communities sometimes need more help than the community provides, such as after a fall, during recovery or as their needs grow. Extra help from a home care agency can let them stay in their community longer.
Get to know the executive director and the wellness or care staff. Communities are careful about who works with their residents, so being reliable and getting along with their staff count as much as the services you offer.
Community referral sources
7. Elder law and estate planning attorneys
Families planning for long-term care often meet with an attorney early on. These attorneys hear "who do you recommend?" all the time, and they only want to give names that won't reflect badly on them.
Offer to explain how your care works, what it costs and how families usually pay for it. An attorney who understands your agency can refer families with confidence.
8. Financial advisors and long-term care insurance agents
When someone's long-term care insurance starts paying for care, the advisor or agent who sold the policy is often one of the first calls. They want an agency that knows how the claims and paperwork work, so their client isn't left to figure it out alone.
If your office is good with insurance paperwork, make that the first thing they hear about you.
9. Geriatric care managers
Geriatric care managers, also called aging life care professionals, are hired by families to coordinate care for an older relative. Choosing and overseeing a home care agency is often part of the job.
They'll judge you on communication. Send updates, tell them about problems early and make their job easier, and they'll keep coming back.
10. Senior centers and your local Area Agency on Aging
Senior centers and Area Agencies on Aging help older adults and their families find services. They usually can't recommend one company over another, but they can share information and invite speakers.
Offer a free talk on something families care about, like planning care after a hospital stay or caring for a parent with dementia. Teach, don't sell. People remember the agency that helped them understand their options.
11. Churches and faith communities
Many families turn to their faith community when a parent needs help. Pastors, parish nurses and care ministry volunteers are often the first to hear that someone is struggling.
Build these relationships slowly and genuinely, by volunteering, supporting events or offering caregiver education.
12. Veterans organizations
Some veterans have benefits that can help pay for care at home. Veterans service officers and local veterans groups help them find those benefits, and they often know who provides care in town.
If your agency works with veterans' benefits, make sure these groups know it.
Don't forget your own clients and families
Your happiest clients and families may be your best referral source of all. Families talk to friends, neighbors and coworkers who are going through the same thing. A personal "they took great care of my mom" carries more weight than any brochure.
Make it easy for them to say good things. Check in after the first few weeks and fix problems quickly. When a family is happy, ask if they'd leave a review or pass your name along. Your caregivers count too. They're out in the community every day, and they hear who needs help.
How to decide where to spend your time
You can't build a relationship with every name on this list at once, and you don't need to. A few strong relationships will send you more clients than dozens of drop-in visits.
A simple way to start:
- Pick 10 to 15 sources that fit the care you offer and the area you serve.
- Set a visit rhythm for each one. Your most active sources might deserve a visit every couple of weeks, and quieter ones once a month.
- Track what each one sends you. After a few months, you'll see which relationships bring in clients and which ones just take up your time.
- Move your time to what's working. Keep the sources that refer, and replace the ones that don't with new names from this list.
Keep it all in one place
Even a small referral network adds up fast. A few hospitals, a handful of doctors' offices, some senior living communities and a couple of attorneys can mean dozens of people. Without a record, it's easy to forget who you visited last month, what they told you and who has gone quiet.
For each source, write down when you last talked, what they said, what you promised and how many clients they've sent. Here are the 5 things worth tracking about every referral source. If you're not sure your agency needs software for this yet, here's an honest answer from an agency owner.
How ReferaCare helps
We built ReferaCare to keep every referral source in one place, from hospitals and doctors' offices to attorneys and senior living communities. Your team logs each visit with what was spent, and the reports show which sources actually send you clients and what each one costs. When a source goes quiet, you'll see it before your census does.
It works right alongside the scheduling and billing software you already use. You can see all the features, look at the reports, or check pricing. There's a 7-day free trial, no credit card needed.
Whichever sources you start with, the approach is the same: be useful, be reliable, and keep in touch on purpose rather than by memory.