Expanding home care services and rolling out new products can be an opportunity for growth, but as Devin Woodley explains, it’s also crucial to consider the costs associated with expansion. Devin, VP of Managed Care Contracting at VNS Health, spoke with Home Health Care News to give more insight into how VNS Health explores new ventures.
Devin explains that launching any new product or service line is a strategic, step-by-step process. His team starts by gauging market interest of a product or service. Once confirmed, the team initiates external product development to align with mission and business goals.
“…We actually do have a product development team that we’ve put together in the past couple years to take a very disciplined approach to working with our different business units,” Devin says.
Our recent launch of an analytics tool in partnership with Netsmart demonstrates how collaborating with industry experts can enhance stability and effectiveness in new ventures.
“Working through a partnership where we can now allow other organizations to leverage some of the capabilities that we’ve developed and found a lot of success with is exciting for us,” Devin says. “Netsmart has been around for 50 years. We’ve been around for 130. It’s been a very calculated decision. We’ve also tested the market significantly to make sure that there’s an appetite for a product like this. We have very high confidence that this is something people want.”
Devin notes the financial risks involved when launching a new service line without sufficient preparation. For him, any initiative that negatively impacts EBITDA represents a financial misstep. “A feeder program moves a bunch of money trying to generate money somewhere else, but overall, it’s hitting your bottom line,” Woodley says.
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Want to learn more about VNS Health’s newest ventures? Check out how we are using AI and predictive analytics to improve care for patients at the end of life.
