By Chris Gauvin
Several really big things happened in the third quarter of 2022! I would like to break down all the exciting matters that are taking place at Blossom by talking about What’s New, What’s Now, and What’s Next for our company.
I think the biggest change is the increase in field staff wages. There have been some challenges in getting insurance companies to match those rates, but progress in that area has been moving along well. The Department of Health is on our side, insisting that insurance companies need to match their rates with the pay increase. On our HR side, we have brought in Proliant to replace ADP and the transition has been smooth overall. Additionally, we are switching to Gallagher Consulting for our health insurance and benefits package. Finance and QA continue to hold down the fort and stay on top of all the frequent changes we see in the industry. The QA department recently completed two large projects; they updated and reviewed our safety manual and switched our policy platform over to PolicyTech. With Molly Dillon’s leadership, we have been able to address a significant amount of the company’s needs through that program. Finance and I have reviewed and updated a budget for 2023, establishing a path forward for financial stability. In Marketing, we have been developing a Core Values video that we look forward to sharing with the company. We have had several new hires for this quarter. New to our team is billing specialist Debbie Candelora. Amber Moore and Sophia Ruddock both have come on board with us as Health Homes Care Managers. Karol Mumby has come in as our Geneva Office Coordinator. Katy Robinson comes on board as our HR Coordinator and Drew Willard as our HR Compliance Coordinator. On our nursing side, we welcome Suzanne Russo as our Clinical Director. Everyone has shown enthusiasm for joining the Blossom family and I am excited to be working with them!
We have a couple of really important things on the near horizon. The scheduled conferences that took place in October have ended. We received a lot of information from the presenters and had the opportunity to meet with the Department of Health directly as well as some other governmental agencies. We got to interface and talk with several agencies in our industry. It was nice to commiserate and hear that we are not alone in the difficulties we are facing. Through shared experiences, we developed friendships and plan to work with these agencies in our region. I am also proud to announce we will be reopening our offices for our field staff! Through this positive change, we hope to reconnect with our field staff and feel more like a united family.
What’s up next for Blossom? We are celebrating our 25th anniversary of providing quality home care in the Western New York region! Regarding the overall industry, it is clear that the need for home care is not going to decrease. What we do here at Blossom is going to be necessary for people to live at home healthily and safely. Our mission for the next quarter, the next year, and forever is to find compassionate individuals who exemplify our core values to join our team, especially on the field staff side. The minimum wage increase should draw in a larger pool of candidates where we can find outstanding individuals who care for their clients like they would a family member. The climate in the industry over the past three years has been unprecedented. We are entering a period of some financial challenges over the next six to twelve months. However, we have positioned ourselves to handle it head-on and 2023 is looking to be a positive year here at Blossom.
