Plan review reminders
Families and staff see upcoming plan of care reviews and can book the visit from the app.
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- Customer retention app for Home care agencies
Customer Retention App for Home Care Agencies
A customer retention app for home care agencies keeps families in care by reminding them of plan reviews, offering extra hours at the right moments and introducing new caregivers before the first visit. SIZ Group would build it for iOS and Android on top of the intake and scheduling records the agency already keeps.
01
How retention work happens today, and where families drift
Retention in home care usually falls to the intake coordinator or the owner, who calls families after a plan review or once a hospital stay has ended. Those calls matter, but they are rarely scheduled. A family whose review is due in March may only hear about it when the agency asks for a signature, and by then the conversation feels like paperwork.
Families also drift without any dramatic event. A client who once needed help four mornings a week may cut back to one visit after a routine change, and the agency may not notice for a month. Discharge planners who refer a family rarely hear how things went, so they have no reason to send the next patient.
- Plan of care reviews that are due but not booked
- Hospital discharge follow-up calls made late or not recorded
- Families who asked for extra hours and never heard back
- Referral partners who never hear how the family is doing
02
How families and referral partners choose, and why it matters here
Families searching for in-home care often start with a discharge planner, a doctor or a search for caregivers close to home. They compare how quickly an agency can start, how stable its caregiver team is and how it handles a change in needs. A family that stays with one agency for years is usually the one that recommends it.
The retention app should make that loyalty easier to earn. Timely reminders about reviews, a simple route to ask for more hours and a short note before a new caregiver arrives keep the agency in the family's mind at the right moments. The app is a service tool first, so every message should read as useful rather than as a sales push.
03
Consent, marketing and referral rules that shape the build
A retention app touches marketing rules as well as health privacy. Text messages to families need documented consent under the telephone consumer protection rules, and marketing email must carry a working opt-out link. Where the agency bills Medicare or Medicaid, it should not give referral partners anything of value tied to referrals without legal advice, because kickback rules apply.
Clinical details stay in the agency's records, and the app carries only what a family would expect to see. A reminder that a plan review is due is fine, while anything about a diagnosis or a medication change is not. We confirm message rules and how long family contact data is kept with counsel or your compliance adviser before launch.
What you get
Key features
Extra hours and respite requests
Families ask for added hours or a short respite stay, and intake receives the request straight away.
Caregiver introductions
A short, approved note introduces the new caregiver before the first visit, with a way to ask questions.
Care tips library
Physician-approved guides on fall prevention, medication safety and caregiver rest, each with a booking link.
Referral partner updates
Referral partners with consent receive a short status note, with no clinical detail included.
Consent and preference center
Families choose their contact methods and can opt out of any message type at any time.
04
The information, content and access the agency must provide
We will need the agency's service list, the reminder rules it wants to use and the referral partners who should receive status notes. The agency should also provide approved wording for care tips, a named approver for content and the owner of each family relationship.
Access is the bigger task. The app needs the review calendar, the consent status for each family and the intake contact details, but not the full clinical chart. We agree a limited data feed during scoping and record who can change reminder rules inside the agency.
- Plan review dates and extra-hour requests from intake
- Consent status for each family and each message type
- Approved care tip wording with a named approver
- Named staff owner for each family relationship
05
What drives cost and timeline, and how to keep scope under control
Costs depend on the number of reminder types, the number of channels such as push notifications, text messages and email, and how far the app connects to intake and scheduling records. Mobile apps start at $4,500, and the final figure is fixed once the reminder list is clear.
The first release works best with a short list of reminders tied to a real event, such as a plan review date or a schedule change. Campaigns, referral dashboards and reward ideas belong on a later list. Post-launch support covers template edits and new reminder types as the agency's services change.
06
Launching with the intake team and families who already trust the agency
Begin with the intake team, because they know which families are due for a review and which ones are waiting for a call back. Reminders should go first to families who already receive regular visits, and the team should review each early message before it is sent.
Give the intake lead the same reminder history families see, so the coordinator who calls a family knows what was already sent. Post-launch support covers new reminder types, changed wording and store updates, so the team can act on what it learns.
Will families see the app as a sales pitch?+
They should not, and we design it to avoid that. Each message refers to something the family needs to do, such as a review or a schedule change, and it comes from a named staff member. Families can switch off any message type, and the agency can see which ones are ignored.
Can we message families who have not asked for messages?+
Only where the agency holds the right consent and the message type is allowed. The app records consent for each family and blocks messages without it. Text and email rules differ, so we confirm them before launch.
How will we know the app is working?+
We track review bookings, repeat service requests and families still in care after their first review. Those figures are compared with the same period before launch. They show what changed, but demand also depends on local referral sources, so we cannot promise a result.
Does the app need to connect to our intake software?+
Usually yes, and it is the most important connection. The app needs care dates and consent status to send the right message at the right time. We check what your intake tool can provide and agree a limited feed during scoping.
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Let's make it happen
Keep families in care after the first review
Our team can map your review calendar on a free call, then send the scope and price in writing.