Hhcn Future: “we Didn’t Lose Our Holiday Weekend”: How Ai Freed Home Care Teams From Burnout

This article is sponsored by Zingage. This article is based on a Home Health Care News discussion with Ali Dean, Chief Care Officer at New Horizons In-Home Care, Kunu Kaushal, CEO at Senior Solutions, Victor Hunt, CEO/Co-founder at Zingage, and David Knack, Head of Sales at Zingage. The discussion took place on September 16th, 2025 during the HHCN FUTURE Conference. The article below has been edited for length and clarity.

On Labor Day weekend, Senior Solutions Home Care fielded more than 400 calls. Normally, that would mean an all-hands scramble — missed family dinners, late-night messages, and burnout waiting to happen. But this year was different.

“Zingage handled nearly every call,” CEO Kunu Kaushal shared during the Home Health Care News FUTURE Conference. “Only 25 had to be escalated to our on-call person — our staff actually enjoyed their weekend.”

That story set the tone for a candid panel discussion featuring Kaushal, Ali Dean of New Horizons Home Care, and Zingage’s Victor Hunt and David Knack. Together, they explored one of the industry’s biggest questions: How do you introduce AI without losing the heart of home care?

David Knack: We’re about to start a session we’re calling Is Your AI Team Ready? How Innovative Leaders Are Preparing Their Teams for What’s Next.

We’ve had a lot of conversations lately about implementing agentic AI in organizations. One of the big questions is around change management: How do I tell my people about this? The undercurrent is, “My people are scared that AI is going to take their jobs.” We know we have to implement these new technologies, or else we’ll lose efficiencies and fall behind competitors. Today, we’ve got great leaders here who have approached that conversation in different ways.

Ali, I’ll start with you. How have you at New Horizons approached the conversation around new technology and what it means for your people?

Ali Dean: Thanks. Hi, everyone—I’m Ali Dean, Chief Care Officer for New Horizons Home Care in Oregon and Washington. We’ve started by being very explicit and consistent with staff: we are not seeking to replace them. We want to free them up so they can do what they do best—take care of people. We see AI as a tool to handle mundane, repetitive, time-consuming, and error-prone tasks, so staff can focus on meaningful conversations and the things that drive satisfaction and retention.

Kunu, we’d love to hear your thoughts.

Kunu Kaushal: I’m Kunu, CEO and Founder of Senior Solutions Home Care. We cover Tennessee and Georgia. For us, the conversation is a bit different. There’s no shortage of work—our staff generally feels there’s too much to do and not enough time in the day. Many are at risk of burnout because the job is so tough. The phone never stops ringing, and there’s always compliance work.

If the staff tells you they need resources and your response is, “Well, AI is going to solve everything,” that’s not the right approach. Instead, we ask: “If you had help, what tasks could someone—or something—take off your plate?” Structuring the conversation that way helps identify what they enjoy doing and what they don’t. Unsurprisingly, no one enjoys the mundane, repetitive, stress-inducing tasks.

Staff generally say they’d prefer to handle escalated issues—things that feel like they make a real difference—rather than repetitive chores. Technology, automation, and AI fit right into that theme, and we’ve been moving in that direction for years.

Victor, when you look at Zingage’s clients and the broader market, what kinds of things are you hearing about how people are approaching these conversations and preparing for the future?

Victor Hunt: I think it all goes back to asking everyone about their “why.” Why did we get into this space?For administrators, often we’re hiring reactively—we need a scheduler, a care coordinator, a recruiter. But deep down, people choose this industry because they want to touch real lives.

This is healthcare. We have the opportunity to be destination employers. Part of that means getting out of our own way when it comes to adopting new tools that help us serve clients, patients, and caregivers. Even though certain tasks—like answering phones—feel necessary, we should ask: Are we doing them because they’re truly value-added, or just because we’re comfortable with them?

Revisiting our “why” reframes AI adoption: it’s about creating more space to deliver proactive, human-centered service.

Both New Horizons and Senior Solutions have large administrative teams with layers of management. What strikes me is how both of you have built strong cultures that are resilient and adaptable to change. What work did you do ahead of time that prepared your culture for new technologies like AI?

Kaushal: The biggest thing is change management. In home care, no year looks like the one before—there’s always regulatory or strategic change. An organization either has the muscle for change management, or it doesn’t. If you’re struggling with adoption or pushback, that’s a cultural issue, not a technology one.

Think back to when everything was paper. Those filing and fax machine jobs don’t exist anymore. If an agency today was still doing things manually, you’d think they were about to shut down. People want to work for modern organizations that give them the right tools.

Any time we roll out change, we’re clear about the vision, the end goal, and we create feedback loops. Some transitions are tough, but we trudge along. For example, when EVV rolled out, people said caregivers would never use smartphones. Now we’re at a 95–96% verification rate. Ali, what about you

Dean: At New Horizons, we’re people-first. Our mission is to empower well-being through care and companionship—and that starts with caregivers and staff. When they’re cared for, supported, ande equipped, that translates into better care for clients. That’s why we offer scholarships, education reimbursement, partnerships with Zingage for rewards, and office socials. We’ve built a culture of teamwork where no one says, “That’s not my job.” We hope this foundation ensures that when we introduce new technologies, staff trusts it’s for their benefit and not a threat.

HHCN: Getting tactical, what steps have you taken to ensure AI is introduced the right way,
aligned with your culture?

Dean: We start with our people, then work backward to the technology. We ask: Will this tool help us serve our community better? If the answer isn’t clear, we won’t move forward. We see AI as handling administrative burdens so people can focus on care. We don’t invest in tech for tech’s sake—it must solve a real problem.

Kaushal: I’ll add: Standard operating procedures (SOPs) are essential. Consistency in operations makes all the difference. If your processes aren’t documented—like how to handle call-outs or intakes—you’re not ready for AI. AI will only amplify whatever foundation you give it.

Caregivers notice inconsistencies—how one admin handles a call-out versus another. That erodes trust. SOPs reduce that. Once you have consistency, AI can deliver it at scale.

Victor, you’ve worked with many agencies documenting SOPs. What are the key learnings?

Hunt: Every agency has two SOPs: the one they aspire to and the one they actually follow under pressure. The key is reconciling the two. Documenting is an ongoing process—new caregivers, new clients, new regulations all affect operations.

We’ve learned agencies need to “manage to the norm” while having backstops for exceptions. You can’t write SOPs for every bizarre scenario—like a caregiver locked in a trunk—but you can define escalation paths so people spend their time where it matters.

Let’s talk about your experience with Zingage. How has onboarding and implementation been different from other solutions?

Kaushal: We were early pilots. The Zingage team really took time to understand us. The tool integrates deeply into our systems—we don’t have to bounce between platforms.

The real game-changer came on Labor Day weekend. We had over 400 calls. Zingage handled nearly all of them, escalating only 25 to our on-call person. That meant our staff didn’t lose their holiday weekend. This wasn’t about taking jobs away—it was about support. The outcome was better for staff and caregivers.

Dean: For us, we started with Zingage’s rewards platform. Engagement has been over 80%, which is huge. The automation makes it fair, equitable, and manageable. Now we’re piloting Zingage’s AI for visit verification, which is one of our biggest administrative burdens. We’re eager to free staff from that so they can focus on human-centered tasks.

To wrap up, Victor—how do you see AI impacting schedulers and the back office more broadly?

Hunt: Many back-office roles today are bogged down in repetitive tasks. AI won’t replace them—it will free them. One case study: after deploying Zingage, a client’s care coordinators doubled their workload capacity but reported being “bored.” Now, they’re using that time for proactive outreach and in-person visits, which adds real value.

The future isn’t about replacing warm bodies—it’s about freeing them to do what only humans can: connect, empathize, and build trust. That’s what will help home care grow fivefold in the next decade. Ali, what does the scheduler role look like in the future?

Dean: I see it evolving from reactive task management to proactive relationship building. AI can handle the logistics, freeing schedulers to support caregivers, celebrate clients, and build human connections. It won’t eliminate the role—it will make it more human-centered.

Kaushal: Technology will keep advancing, but what will differentiate agencies is how we maintain relationships with clients and caregivers. Tech should free up time for those relationships—not just add more admin. That’s where the value is.

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