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Home-based care leaders told Home Health Care News that staff adoption is a major obstacle to using AI tools, even when the tools are intended to ease staffing and administrative pressures. An HHCN survey of 20 providers found varied training practices, while leaders described phased rollouts, department-level input and visible leadership support as ways to help employees adjust.
Home-based care leaders say staff adoption is a major obstacle to putting AI tools to work, according to a Home Health Care News report published in October 2026. The report describes providers’ efforts to address concerns about time, productivity and professional identity through training, employee input and leadership support, as companies explore tools for staffing and administrative work.
In an HHCN pulse survey, 73.3% of home-based care providers said they were exploring possible AI uses, piloting tools or integrating them in selected departments. A separate survey on change management drew responses from 20 providers. More than half of those respondents worked for organizations providing Medicare-reimbursed skilled home health, and 66% said their organizations provided personal home care. All represented organizations with one to 20 locations.
Training varied among respondents: 40% reported no formal employee training, while 20% said their organizations used vendor-provided training and another 20% reported an internal training program. The report says phased rollouts, leadership visibly endorsing tools and designating change champions or super users were among the strategies providers used or favored.
At Tribute Home Care, leaders involved department representatives in shaping tools around each team’s goals and needs. TheKey’s chief operating officer, Greg Meyers, told HHCN that some technology projects fail because employees do not adopt the solution. At CommonSpirit Health at Home, CEO Trisha Crissman said staff were slower than expected to adopt ambient scribing, in part because frontline workers were accustomed to documenting on tablets.
Staff Adoption Shapes AI Rollouts
For home-based care organizations, AI tools are being considered in areas such as scheduling, staffing and documentation, where administrative demands and workforce shortages can affect daily operations. The report’s central finding is that acquiring a tool does not by itself change those processes: employees need time and support to incorporate it into their work.
That adjustment can carry a short-term cost. Emily Kraeter, TheKey’s chief people officer, described an initial productivity dip after a new tool is introduced, followed by potential gains as workers become familiar with it. She said employees may be discouraged if they face performance targets while learning a new process. Leaders’ response can affect whether teams persist through that early period, according to her account.
The issue also reaches beyond technical training. Trust and staff buy-in were identified by most providers in HHCN’s survey as the largest gap to AI adoption. Employees may worry about lost productivity or changes to their professional roles. Those concerns matter to implementation because a tool that workers do not use may not deliver the operational benefits the organization expected.
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How Providers Are Testing AI
The report describes a sector exploring AI while adoption remains uneven. The 73.3% figure covers providers who were at different stages: considering use cases, running pilots or integrating tools in particular departments. It does not mean that all had deployed AI across their organizations. The survey of 20 providers offers a limited snapshot, and respondents’ organizations all had one to 20 locations.
Tribute Home Care’s Galip Gencer told HHCN that the company began with department leaders’ plans for the next two years, then built tools to support those goals. The approach included selecting “AI key users” from departments and involving them early in internally developed tools. That gives staff a role in shaping the process before wider adoption, Gencer said.
Other examples in the report show the challenges of changing established routines. Crissman said some CommonSpirit Health at Home employees were used to entering documentation on a tablet and were hesitant about conversational assessment dialogue through ambient scribing. At Tribute, CEO John Sneath said schedulers may stick with familiar methods when a new agent takes time to set up, even if the company expects the tool to help later.
“The reason they fail wasn’t because, for the most part, the solution didn’t do what it needed to do. It was the adoption of the solution didn’t actually happen.”
— Greg Meyers, chief operating officer at TheKey, speaking to Home Health Care News
Adoption Results Remain Unclear
The report does not provide a sector-wide measure of how many AI projects have improved productivity, reduced administrative work or eased staffing pressures. The survey describes provider activity and training practices, but the available findings do not establish whether particular implementation strategies produce better outcomes.
The survey included only 20 providers, and all respondents represented organizations with one to 20 locations. The findings may not reflect larger operators or the full range of home-based care organizations. The report also does not specify how long the reported productivity dips typically last or how much employee training is needed for different tools.
Some providers named lack of staff trust or buy-in as the largest gap to adoption, but the report excerpt does not detail how that finding varied among respondents or what concerns employees raised most often. The longer-term effects of AI on workers’ roles and professional identity also remain unclear in the material provided.
Providers Continue Their Rollouts
Providers described in the report are continuing to introduce AI tools through department-based planning, phased rollouts and staff involvement. Tribute’s approach places selected users in the process early, while leaders cited in the report said managers need to guide teams through the learning period and its initial effect on productivity.
The report does not name a common timeline or next industry-wide milestone for adoption. Further evidence would be needed to show whether these approaches lead to sustained use or measurable operational gains. For now, the development described is an ongoing implementation challenge: providers are exploring tools, while working to give employees the time, training and input needed to use them.
Key Questions
What is the main challenge home care providers face with AI?
The report identifies employee adoption as a major challenge. Leaders said workers may lack time to learn new tools, prefer familiar routines or have concerns about productivity and professional identity.
How many providers took part in the HHCN change management survey?
Twenty providers responded to the survey about managing changes related to AI tools. All respondents worked for organizations with one to 20 locations.
What training did survey respondents report?
40% reported no formal employee training. Another 20% reported vendor-provided training and 20% reported an internal training program. The report does not specify the training arrangements for the remaining respondents.
What approaches are providers using to support adoption?
The report cites phased rollouts, visible leadership support, change champions and super users. Tribute Home Care also involved department representatives early and developed tools around department goals.
Have the AI tools been shown to improve outcomes across the sector?
The report describes providers exploring, piloting and integrating tools, but it does not establish sector-wide productivity gains or other measured outcomes. Those results remain unclear from the survey findings presented.
Source: rss
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