Field Coordinators

We recently have had issues staffing clients when attendants call off work, this has led to losing those clients, losing hours, and going out of compliance with the set schedule. One way we decided to bridge this gap is by hiring field coordinators. These employees work like attendants, the only difference is that they work full-time on a 7 days a week 7am to 7pm schedule, and they are paid higher hourly wages. This means they are available for work within their set schedule.


Model

• They are guaranteed 64hours a week only when they do not call off work.
• If they call off work or are not available to work, the number of hours they could have worked will be deducted from their guaranteed hours
• They get paid mileage if they have to go to a second client. Meaning they do not get paid mileage if they leave their house to a client's home to work. When they leave from their first place of assignment to a second they can claim mileage
• The trends have shown older women are more willing and capable of managing this role

Advantages

• Clients feel more relaxed knowing they can count on the agency to provide services in the event their attendants call off from work
• Retaining clients and maximizing hours
• Helps with the cost report because their wages are high and they are placed as attendants compared with the office coordinators whose salaries cannot be reflected as attendant salaries in the cost report
• They are usually more reliable compared with attendants
• A win win situation for both parties, they get higher wages compared to most employees in the attendant category in the home health industry in Texas and on the other end we utilize them to ensure that clients with hours over 30/week or priority clients are retained
• It allows for office coordinators to focus on the day to day activities associated with managing their clients from the office

 Disadvantages

• It's not cost effective for smaller agencies
• It can be cumbersome tracking their hours
• It could be sometimes challenging to get someone willing to work a 7 day schedule and be available 12 hours a day

So far so good it has been effective, although at the beginning we faced difficult challenges in monitoring the activities of the field coordinators. Some agencies call them floaters but we call them field coordinators :)