Conferences like the 2026 HCAOA National Home Care Conference are about more than booths and product demos. They bring industry leaders together to discuss the questions shaping what comes next for home care.

How will AI change day-to-day operations? What does the changing regulatory landscape mean for agencies? Where will consistent growth come from? And how can agencies build stronger care businesses without ever losing sight of the people who actually make care what it is today?

Those questions sit at the heart of this year’s conference agenda and offer a useful snapshot of where home care is heading.

On September 28–29, home care leaders from across the country will gather at HCAOA in Orlando, Florida. CareSmartz360 will be there too.

The conversations shaping home care right now

Home care has never stood still for long.

Agencies are navigating changing labor requirements, rising operating costs, caregiver shortages, growing administrative demands and increasing pressure to do more with the resources they already have.

At the same time, technology is changing how some of that work gets done.

AI is moving into practical business applications. Operational data is becoming a resource for understanding performance rather than simply something stored in reports. And caregivers increasingly expect simple, connected technology that makes it easier to manage their work in the field.

Those shifts will be central to the conversations at HCAOA.

1. AI beyond the buzzword

AI will be one of the biggest discussion points at this year’s conference. But the more interesting conversation is what happens after the hype.

For home care agencies, the opportunity isn't simply to add AI to an existing system. It is to identify the redundant and repetitive work that consumes staff time. And also determine where technology can genuinely improve operations.

Scheduling, documentation, communication, recruiting and business analysis are all areas where AI can support day-to-day work.

The question for agency leaders is becoming less “Should we use AI?” and more “Where can AI actually make a difference in our business?”

That distinction matters. The value of AI isn't in using it everywhere. It's in using it where it can reduce friction, support better decisions or give staff more time to focus on work that requires a human touch.

2. Compliance remains a moving target

Compliance doesn't live in a policy manual. It shows up in schedules, clock-ins, documentation, payroll, EVV and the decisions staff make every day.

Wage-and-hour rules, EVV requirements, documentation standards and state-specific regulations can make an already complex operating environment even harder to manage.

For agency leaders, keeping up with regulatory changes is only part of the challenge. The bigger question is what those changes mean for day-to-day operations.

HCAOA brings together industry experts and agency leaders who understand those challenges firsthand. The opportunity is not only to learn what is changing, but to understand how other agencies are adapting and what those changes could mean for the business.

3. Growth is still the goal but sustainable growth matters more

Adding clients is only one part of growing a home care business.

Agencies also need enough caregivers to meet demand, efficient scheduling processes, strong referral relationships, healthy margins and visibility into what is actually driving performance.

That makes growth a much broader conversation than sales alone.

The next stage of growth may depend less on simply generating more demand and more on removing the operational friction that makes it difficult to serve that demand efficiently.

That is where technology and data become important.

When agency leaders can see workforce trends, scheduling patterns, financial performance, and operational gaps more clearly. They can clearly make decisions based on what is happening across the business – not what happened several weeks ago.

4. The caregiver experience is crucial

Technology conversations often focus on owners and administrators. But some of the most important technology decisions affect caregivers directly.

A complicated scheduling process, difficult mobile experience or disconnected communication system can create friction throughout an agency.

The opposite is also true.

When caregivers can easily access schedules, complete required tasks, document care and stay connected, technology becomes less of an administrative burden and more of an enabler of better work.

That makes caregiver experience more than a technology consideration. It is an operational consideration that can influence how easily an agency communicates, schedules and supports its workforce.

As agencies look for ways to strengthen operations, the caregiver experience will remain an important part of the technology conversation.

Where data fits into the picture

One of the biggest changes happening across home care is the growing importance of operational data.

Agencies have always generated enormous amounts of information from schedules and visits to payroll, billing, caregiver activity, client information and financial performance.

The challenge has been turning all of that information into something useful.

Better visibility can help agency leaders spot scheduling inefficiencies earlier, understand workforce trends, identify financial pressure points and make decisions based on what is happening across the business.

The future of home care technology isn't simply about collecting more data. It's about making that data easier to understand and easier to act on.

What CareSmartz360 is bringing to HCAOA

These are the conversations CareSmartz360 will be joining at HCAOA 2026.

The team will be demonstrating how agencies can bring more of their operations together – from scheduling and EVV to AI, business intelligence, billing, payroll, caregiver training and mobile workflows.

There will also be an early look at the reimagined CareSmartz360 caregiver app and portal, designed around caregivers' day-to-day experience in the field.

The goal isn't simply to show another software platform. It's to talk about where home care operations are still creating friction and what technology can realistically do to remove it.

Conclusion

HCAOA 2026 brings together the people making decisions about the future of home care. That makes it a valuable place to understand what is changing, hear how other agencies are responding and have conversations that go beyond the usual conference pitch.

For home care leaders, the bigger question isn't simply which technologies are new. It's which changes will actually make an agency easier to run, easier to grow and better equipped to support the people delivering care.

Whether the conversation is about AI, caregivers, compliance, growth, data or simply what is happening across the industry, CareSmartz360 would love to hear what's on your mind.

Hope to see you in Orlando.