Referral growth guide
Working with Geriatric Care Managers on Home Care Referrals
Geriatric care managers advise families and recommend providers they trust. They pay attention to reliability, clear scope and how you communicate when a plan changes.
A geriatric care manager helps families assess needs, coordinate services and make decisions about housing, caregivers and safety. Some families hire this help after a crisis; others hire it earlier, when adult children live in another city. When a care manager recommends a home care agency, they are staking their own credibility on how you show up.
What they usually need to know
- Where you actually serve, and where you will decline a case because it is too far.
- Which types of support you provide, and which you do not (for example, whether you are non-medical only).
- How families start service, how substitutions work when a caregiver is out, and who they call with a problem.
- How you communicate with a care manager if the family has asked you to keep that person in the loop.
Be precise. A care manager would rather hear an honest “we cannot staff that this week” than a yes you cannot keep. If a situation is outside your license or your service, say so and, when you can, describe the type of provider who would be a better fit, without pretending to make a clinical recommendation you are not qualified to make.
How to make the first contact
Find the right person through professional associations, public directories or a territory scan, then introduce yourself with a short note. Ask for 20 minutes, not a lunch. Bring a one-page summary and a story of how you handle a common situation, without naming clients or sharing health details. Ask how they prefer updates, what makes an agency easy to recommend, and what has made other agencies hard to work with.
How to stay easy to recommend
Return calls. Start when you said you would start. Tell them early if a schedule will slip. If they are coordinating for the family, agree in writing who communicates with whom. Keep your own referral notes at the organization level. For follow-up timing, use a steady cadence unless they ask for something else.
Do not offer payment, gifts or exclusive arrangements meant to steer recommendations. If a care manager has a formal evaluation process, participate in it honestly.
Questions owners ask
Is a geriatric care manager the same as a discharge planner?
No. A discharge planner is usually employed by a hospital or facility and works around a discharge date. A geriatric care manager is typically hired by the family and may stay involved over months or years. You can work with both; they are different relationships.
Can we pay a care manager for referrals?
Do not pay for referrals or offer gifts meant to influence a recommendation. It undermines trust and can violate professional or legal rules. Be useful and reliable instead.
What should we do if we cannot take a case they send?
Say so quickly, explain the constraint in plain language, such as staffing or distance, and stay available for the next appropriate situation. A clean decline is better than a poor start.
Do we need client medical records to work with a care manager?
No, not for building the professional relationship. If a family later wants you to coordinate around a specific care plan, follow your agency’s privacy rules and keep clinical details in the systems meant for them, not in a referral tracker.
Keep reading
- Who Refers Clients to Private-Pay Home Care Agencies
- How Home Care Agencies Approach Hospital and Rehab Discharge Planners
- Building Referral Relationships with Senior Living Communities
- Approaching Physician Practices for Home Care Referrals
- What a ReferralOS Territory Scan Can and Cannot Show
- ReferralOS vs a Spreadsheet, a Bought List, or a Hired Liaison
- A Practical Follow-Up Cadence for Home Care Referral Relationships
- Home care referral sources: a practical guide
- ReferralOS overview
Where ReferralOS fits
ReferralOS is GetPatientNow’s referral growth software, configured first for private-pay home care. You can scan your territory free (no card needed) and then organize follow-up in one workspace. Discovered organizations are potential referral sources, not guaranteed referrers. See the home care workflow.