How Ascend Health saw a 28% decrease in clinician turnover
With Perry’s customized rewards system, Ascend Health retains talented employees and improves their performance — resulting in higher-quality patient care.
decrease in clinician turnover
of Ascend’s workforce rate Perry 8/10 or higher
more patient visits per day
“Perry provides an incredible return on our investment. Every time Perry gets one person to stay with Ascend longer, it pays for itself. And it does this over and over again.”
Justin Bhandari, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Special Projects at CareOne
Ascend Health provides home health, palliative, and hospice care across the United States from a team of trained registered nurses and home health aides. As part of the CareOne portfolio of companies, Ascend prioritizes safety, comfort, and dignity, supporting patients at every stage of their aging or recovery journey.
Retaining clinicians to improve quality of care
In-home caregiving is an important yet high-stress vocation. “Across healthcare, turnover rates are around 20%. In the post-acute space, it's closer to 100%,” explains Justin Bhandari, Senior VP of Strategy and Special Projects at CareOne.
At Ascend Health, high turnover had led to increased spending on training and signing bonuses — as well as more issues that are harder to quantify. “Turnover creates patient care inconsistency,” Justin shares. “There’s a loss of knowledge and relationships. The longer we keep people working for us, the more we can mitigate these things.”
The team wanted to improve Ascend’s retention to cut costs while also boosting the company’s culture and quality of care. They knew employee recognition was part of the puzzle; research shows that recognizing employees can not only improve performance, but make them 71% less likely to leave their organization. So, they decided to build a retention strategy around that idea.
Initially, the team considered hiring consultants to help design the retention strategy, but they hadn’t found the right approach. Ascend’s lean team couldn’t pour in-house resources into the project—they needed a pre-built solution that could be easily customized to their needs.
“Retention was top of mind when we found Perry. We wanted to recognize employees for their hard work, but do it with something different, beyond cash compensation.”
Designing clinician-centric rewards with Perry's customizable solution
Perry was the powerful, customized retention solution that Ascend Health needed. “We launched incredibly quickly,” says Justin. “The ready-to-go product is great and easily adapts to the individual needs of each Ascend.”
Ascend had planned a staggered rollout by region. But reactions from the first group of employees were so positive that they decided to immediately launch Perry company-wide. "The initial test group had engagement around 70% from the get-go," says Justin. "Our employees are busy — often juggling multiple jobs — so it was exciting to see them actively engaging right away.”
Today, Ascend uses Perry Points and Pulse Surveys to keep employees performing, satisfied, and engaged.
- Perry Points, redeemable as gift cards at 50+ retailers, automatically reward clinicians for completing tasks, incentivizing behaviors like submitting documentation and showing Ascend’s appreciation for their employees’ dedication.
- Pulse Surveys capture clinicians' experiences in real-time, so managers and HR can proactively reach out and offer support before stress and burnout impact retention.
- Missions allow Ascend to create custom goals for different facilities, driving targeted improvement.
Justin finds Perry's customizability most exciting. Ascend’s location managers can set unique Missions and rewards based on their team’s preferences, Pulse Survey results, and areas for improvement. Giving autonomy to each facility helps the clinicians meet the specific needs of their patients, boosting the overall quality of care Ascend provides.
“We’re looking forward to customizing Perry in different states and regions. Giving managers more control of how they're incentivizing teams helps them achieve location-specific goals.”
82% of Ascend’s clinicians rate Perry’s rewards and support highly
Two months after the company-wide launch, 82% of Ascend’s clinicians rate Perry at least an 8 out of 10. “Employees are sharing that they’ve never been recognized in this way, and managers love feeling like they can give their team something beyond their paycheck,” says Justin.
- 28% decrease in clinician turnover
- 82% of Ascend’s workforce rate Perry 8/10 or higher
- 13% more patient visits per day
“As we keep using Perry, we'll be able to promote from within and use experienced people to mentor new hires. That retained institutional knowledge will help us grow to the next level.”
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