Worker Safety
Home healthcare workers are vulnerable to physical violence or aggression from patients or others in the home—particularly if patients have cognitive impairments, behavioral issues, or substance abuse problems. The CDC reports1 that over 75 percent of workplace violence victims work in health care and social assistance. As much as 65 percent of home health workers are verbally abused by patients. Because they often work alone, keeping workers safe is a challenge. In our survey, the majority of respondents ranked the problem at nearly the critical level.
When asked to rank the costs associated with worker safety, insurance topped the list. But, other costs, such as regulation compliance, claims, reputational damage, lost productivity, and turnover rates, are also important.
1 as on-the-job violence rises, mitigation is up to home-based care organizations, HHCN August 2024
We asked home health companies what they do to mitigate the risks of lone workers. They spend an average of around $1,865 per clinician on safety mitigation measures, but where they spend that money is the more interesting part. Organizations are not relying on a single tactic to mitigate risk. The average is 3.7 different tactics among respondents. The most used tactic was equipping home health workers with a mobile device, followed by reliable communications, and then a mobile device with a panic button—so clearly technology is leading the way in terms of risk management.
Those who ranked worker safety to be five of five most critical used more tactics on average—at 4.1—and were significantly above the group average for using reliable communications, risk assessment visits, and GPS tracking.
Workplace violence is a top concern for home health agencies—with very real costs for organizational protection and prevention that are expected to increase in the coming years. Technology is increasingly being leveraged to reduce risk, and organizations that think and lead strategically with new mobile tech investments that offset their risk will be better able to manage costs as they climb for the industry in general.
Partnering with providers that offer cutting-edge field worker safety technologies, including applications, multi-use devices, embedded and easy-to-use panic buttons, and wearables is the starting point. Organizations should also look for partners that can advise on the technology for today and have industry relationships that will provide future insights—including managing integrations and delivering reliable connectivity where and when needed.
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