Build relationships with skilled nursing and rehab
Skilled nursing facilities were the referral source on 11% of Medicare home health stays in 2024. Short-term rehab is built to end with a trip home, and the social services team plans that trip for several patients a week from the same building.
One building, steady discharges
A short-stay rehab unit discharges patients every week: hips, knees, strokes, cardiac recovery. Each one needs a plan for home, and many need nursing, therapy, or an aide for the first weeks.
The director of social services or discharge coordinator usually runs that plan. They work with the same handful of agencies until one lets them down. Then they look for another.
One good relationship with one building can mean steady referrals for years, which is why rehab and skilled nursing teams are worth a dedicated campaign.
- Titles we target
- Director of Social Services · Discharge Coordinator · Admissions Director · Inpatient Rehab Case Manager · Post-Acute Care Coordinator
- Where they work
- Skilled nursing facilities, inpatient rehab hospitals, long-term acute care hospitals
- Best fit for
- Home healthHome care
What they need from an agency
Your first conversations should make these clear. If one of them isn't true yet, fix it before outreach starts.
Therapy capacity
Rehab patients go home needing PT and OT. Say how fast your therapists can start.
Hours after discharge
Many families need an aide for the first two weeks. Home care agencies that can cover that fill a real gap.
A clean handoff
Take the orders, confirm the start, and tell the facility it happened. They hate wondering.
Feedback on readmits
If a patient struggles at home, the building wants to know. Agencies that close the loop stand out.
What goes out from your profile
We mention the kind of patients the building sees, from the person's profile and the facility's own description, and ask about their go-home plans.
First message · example
thanks for connecting. you came up through admissions and now run social services for a rehab and skilled nursing building, mostly short stay orthopedic and stroke recovery. i run a home health agency here in Birmingham. when a rehab patient is going home and still needs therapy and help day to day, who do you usually call to set that up?
Follow-up · 3 days later
no rush. if a discharge ever needs therapy or help at home on short notice, happy to be a number you can call.
Other referral partners we reach
- Hospital discharge plannersThe people who hand a patient the list of agencies before they leave the hospital.
- Case managers & social workersCase management leaders and medical social workers who handle the hardest discharges.
- Physician practicesPractice managers and referral coordinators who decide where the home health order goes.
- Senior livingAssisted and independent living leaders whose residents need more help than the community provides.
- Hospice & palliativeHospice liaisons, intake teams, and palliative social workers who see families needing more help at home.
- Payers & care coordinationManaged care, Medicare Advantage, and Medicaid waiver care coordinators who assign services at home.
- Elder law & care managersElder law attorneys and aging life care managers who advise families before care starts.
Be on the go-home plan
On the audit we count the skilled nursing and rehab facilities in your service area who are on LinkedIn and pick the first ones to reach. Thirty minutes, free.