When George Koenig couldn’t find reliable caregiving services for his elderly out-of-state parents in the late 1990s, this career-long executive took matters into his own hands: In 2001, he founded Senior Home Care Services, a nationally licensed and accredited company that, by the time he sold it in 2020, was among the most successful in the U.S., operating at the top 5% of revenue and 1% of earnings in the industry.
The 69-year-old New Jersey resident, who has been married for 36 years and has two adult daughters, had been happily retired since selling Senior Home Care Services — but has also seen how so many friends, acquaintances, colleagues and loved ones have struggled to find affordable caregiving when the need arises.
The need for such services is a nationwide issue ― and especially here in Florida.
According to Home Care Association of Florida, roughly 350,000 Florida seniors use home care services to help with the daily activities of living, such as dressing, bathing, shopping, cleaning, and other tasks.
George Koenig, the founder of the digital home care platform eCaregivers.com, believes there should be a safe, cost-effective alternative to hiring traditional agencies when the need for professional caregiving arises.
What’s more, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity projects that, by 2029, the state will have a need for some 101,000 home care aides. Currently, there are an estimated 73,000 home health aides working in a variety of settings.
As the baby boomer generation ages, the need for increased ― and affordable ― home health care will only continue to grow ― a reality Koenig has lived through both personally and professionally.
“My two decades in the industry showed me there is a gaping problem that needed to be solved — specifically, that there is no middle ground for families and care providers when it comes to senior home care,” explained Koenig.
“The two industry options are 1) Expensive home care agencies, in which care providers and families have little autonomy, control, and transparency; and 2) The ‘underground care market,’ which often amounts to hiring a neighbor, or acquaintance, or stranger off Craigslist. Sure, the latter option may cost less — but it is also less reliable and not covered by health-care or liability insurance.”
So Koenig decided to do something about it: He founded and earlier this year launched eCaregivers — which he believes will be “the Uber of home care.”
“Just as Uber disrupted the taxicab industry and offered a new platform directly linking users to drivers, we believe eCaregivers will change the home care industry by directly linking families to care providers without traditional agency fees,” he said.
How it works for care recipients
Potential customers can visit eCaregivers.com and conduct a free search by entering their ZIP code in the search bar. eCaregivers has potential care providers in all 50 states.
George Koenig, the founder of the digital platform eCaregivers.com, believes it will become “the Uber of home care.”
Doing the search doesn’t require that users sign up or divulge any personal information.
Potential customers can search to get a sense of the care providers available in their area.
To reach out to a care provider, users must then pick a subscription plan (a basic plan starts at $14.99 a month and the premium plan is $29.99 per month; choosing a full year subscription reduces those average monthly costs to $9.99 and $11.99, respectively).
“We made sure the sign-up process would be quick and easy,” said Koenig. “It usually takes users eight minutes or less.”
After paying and creating a profile, users then enter their care recipient information — i.e., location, health conditions, skills required, scheduling, care provider type preferences, etc.
This enables users to create a job posting seeking care for their care recipient.
Before an agreement is reached between the care seeker and the caregiver, all parties can meet via videoconference through the platform.
Koenig says users — both care recipients and caregivers — appreciate the flexibility the platform offers, especially when it comes to payment (more on that momentarily).
How eCaregivers is different
The eCaregivers platform differentiates itself from other online caregiving search tools in a couple of important ways.
First, it doesn’t initially require the user to divulge his or her email address or any other personal information to do a free search for caregivers in a given region. Thus, simply familiarizing yourself with the process and options doesn’t leave the user vulnerable to receiving a host of unwanted emails and/or advertisements.
By contrast, when users search for caregivers on such well-known sites as seniorliving.org, caring.com, caregiving.com or aplaceformom.com, users must divulge all of this information before being allowed to search.
An eCaregivers search for potential caregivers within 25 miles of my South Florida zip code turned up around 100 people ― and if I’d put the setting at 50 miles it would have doubled my options.
The second way eCaregivers is different is that it provides all parties involved the payment infrastructure to reach cost-effective service deals ― which is how it mimics the Uber model.
Think of it like this: eCaregivers purports to be Uber while home healthcare agencies are the equivalent of hiring a limousine service.
Koenig stressed that he has nothing against home healthcare agencies ― after all, he owned one for nearly two decades ― but believes that in today’s inflationary times, the agencies’ involvement often results in the price of home caregiving being beyond the means of too many people who need the service.
Users of eCaregivers can pay their caregivers via one of three options:
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Off-platform direct pay via cash, check, Venmo, etc. Both parties agree to this.
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Credit card payment (for 1099 IRS filings for providers): With credit card payments, the payment processor bills a user’s credit card for the provider’s hours worked within 24 hours of a shift being completed and transfers that money directly to the care provider within 72 hours. (Koenig notes “Care providers love this quick pay solution.”)
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W2 employee paycheck: Users submit their timesheets weekly and the platform HomeWork Solutions then pays the care provider while withholding taxes. HomeWork Solutions will also file taxes on the user’s behalf.
The goal of the financial platform is to reduce costs for the user while also potentially increasing the take-home pay of the caregiver, who doesn’t have to share any of their wages with an agency.
Why caregivers also like the platform
Because the caregivers are not eCaregiver employees but rather independent contractors, in order to be listed on the platform requires that every care provider initially supply the following:
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Their Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification number for background check purposes.
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A signature acknowledgment about the automatic insurance coverage policy regarding liability. In addition, all care seekers under the premium plan must have their desired care provider complete a more extensive background check prior to utilizing the platform’s care scheduling tools.
Koenig explained that the liability policies and background checks give everyone an extra sense of safety and security.
Registered nurse and longtime geriatric care manager Trish Colucci Barbosa, the founder of Peace Aging Care, believes that eCaregivers.com offers users more potential benefits and protections than other online home care platforms do.
Registered nurse and longtime geriatric care manager Trish Colucci Barbosa, the founder of Peace Aging Care, has known and worked with Koenig since he founded Senior Home Care Services more than two decades ago — and is a fan of the eCaregivers platform.
“I am blown away by the offerings of eCaregivers,” she said. “It is an extremely well-thought-out platform with all the bells and whistles needed to make private care as safe and convenient as possible, which is not something I can say for other online or direct hire sites or resources. George’s experience in the industry is what enables eCaregivers to gives families both the tools and protections necessary to hire caregivers of their choosing safely — and at a fraction of the cost often associated with this kind of care.”
And as the platform expands, Koenig envisions going international (he holds eight international patents related to the platform) as well as one day providing other home services, such as childcare and pet care.
“Our platform is a game-changer for families and seniors who want to take control of their care needs without the high costs and limitations of traditional agencies,” he said. “We wanted to build something that truly helps seniors and families, allowing them to take control of their care needs in a way that is accessible and transparent. And to bring our vision to the next level, we’re always on the lookout for partners who are passionate about transforming private-pay services for the greater good.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Can new Uber-style home care delivery model transform the industry?