A friendly breakdown of how smart episode planning adds up to real money

What Home Health Leaders Are Asking

Searches like "reduce visits per episode," "HHVBP bonus points," and "home health nurse turnover cost" are popping up more and more. Why? Because providers are looking for proof that cutting unnecessary visits and replacing them with lighter, more frequent touchpoints can actually boost margins and improve care.

"Enhabit is exiting 2024 having executed specific strategies that set us up for long-term growth in both our home health and hospice segments." – Barb Jacobsmeyer, CEO, Enhabit source

The good news? Their numbers are public, and they tell a compelling story.

The Power of Trimming Just One Visit

Let’s start with the basics:

• Visits per episode: 13.9 (Q4 2024)

• Total visits (Q4 2024): 1,093,620

• Direct cost per visit: ~$95

That translates to around 4.4 million visits a year across 315,000 episodes.

Now imagine removing just one nurse visit per episode:

• 315,000 visits saved × $95 = nearly $30 million in labor savings

Even when adjusting for overhead and being conservative, the estimate still holds at around $14 million in savings. That’s real money, especially when those visits weren’t adding much value.

Creating More Capacity Without Hiring More Staff

So what happens to all the nurse time you free up?

That time can be redirected into 24,000 additional episodes (based on the freed-up visits and a trimmed average of 13 visits per episode).

At Enhabit’s average revenue of $3,000 per episode, that’s a $72 million revenue opportunity. With typical home health margins around 47%, we’re talking about $34 million in actual new contribution to the bottom line.

And this isn’t just theory—people are actively searching for this: *"increase patient capacity home health."

The Impact of Reducing Hospitalizations

Reducing hospital readmissions is another high-impact lever. CMS found that the Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) model cut acute-care hospitalizations and saved Medicare $141 million a year. source

For a provider like Enhabit, even just a 1 percentage point drop in ACH (Acute Care Hospitalization) rate could unlock $1.5M to $4.5M in HHVBP rewards and reduced penalties.

It’s not just good care—it’s smart business.

The Hidden Cost of Nurse Turnover

Staffing is another major challenge.

According to the 2025 NSI National Health Care Retention Report, it costs $61,110 to replace just one bedside RN.

So if you reduce nurse turnover by just five percentage points, the savings add up quickly: $6M to $7M annually. That’s without even factoring in burnout, morale, or the strain of constant onboarding.

It’s no surprise that search terms like "home health nurse burnout solutions" are on the rise. Agencies want to protect their workforce.

Industry Trends Back the Shift

There’s a national movement toward doing more with less—and it’s working. According to MedPAC's March 2025 Report, in-person visits per 30-day period have dropped 16.7% since 2019, while quality measures have remained steady.

That means replacing a low-value visit with a smarter alternative—like a voice check-in or remote monitoring tool—isn’t just a nice idea. It’s already working for many.

Adding It All Up

Here’s what happens when you pull all the right levers:

That’s close to 7% of Enhabit’s total home health revenue.

What This Means for Home Health Teams

You don’t have to compromise care to improve performance. In fact, smarter scheduling and lighter-touch engagement often boost patient satisfaction.

Here’s what teams can do right now:

1. Audit your episode plans. If your average visits per episode are over 14, there may be room to optimize.

2. Embrace tech for lighter touchpoints. Swap a manual visit for a 60-second voice check-in or asynchronous symptom tracker.

3. Keep an eye on your ACH rate. Even a small improvement matters.

4. Support nurse wellbeing. Lower burnout rates mean stronger, more stable teams.

When you design episodes intentionally, everyone wins:

• Patients get consistent, meaningful support.

• Nurses feel more in control and less overwhelmed.

• Your business sees real, measurable financial gains.

This isn’t about cutting corners. It’s about making every interaction count.