Illustrative case study · Healthcare & Life Sciences
Who pays for a parent’s care sets the price of a nurse visit.
Adult children who arrange a parent’s care at home often share the bill with siblings. A home health provider planning a subscription of scheduled nurse visits set out to learn what those families would pay each month, and which plan they would pick. The report, drawn from 250 of them, was delivered in 20 days.
Illustrative example. The company, scenario, and all figures are fictional. They show UserCue’s method and deliverable format. They do not come from any client study.
The engagement
Illustrative scenariodays, with the report, the data file and a live readout.
Adults who arrange a parent’s care at home.
140 arrange care alone and 110 share it with siblings.
Van Westendorp range, a six-price Gabor-Granger and a two-plan forced choice.
A home health provider
What to charge for a nurse-visit subscription, and which plan to lead with
Concept and pricing test, before launch
AI-moderated interviews with two price tests and a forced choice
Care tasks, acceptable price range, demand at six prices, plan choice
Adults arranging care for a parent aged 70 or older at home
Headline figures
optimal price point a month, inside an acceptable range of $179 to $309
of families who share care would subscribe at $249 a month, against 31% of adults arranging it alone
chose one visit plus a care coordinator over a second nurse visit
The question
Will families pay enough to cover a nurse’s time?
The provider saw demand for scheduled nurse visits at home, and a plan that only pays its way above a certain monthly price. It needed evidence from the people who arrange care, comparing adults who do it alone with siblings who share it.
Who arranges and pays for a parent’s care today?
What monthly price will families accept, and where does demand fall away?
Which plan would they choose: a second nurse visit or a care coordinator?
What we did
How the study ran, start to finish.
- 1Kickoff
The product team names the decision.
Will families pay enough each month to cover a nurse’s time? The kickoff turned it into three questions: who arranges and pays for a parent’s care now, what monthly price families accept, and which of two plans they would pick.
- 2Design
Solo or shared care, six prices.
Adults who arrange a parent’s care at home qualified: 140 do it alone and 110 share it with siblings. Each completed Van Westendorp’s four price questions, a six-price Gabor-Granger and a two-plan forced choice; siblings priced the whole plan, then their own share.
- 3Fielding
250 caregivers on what they would pay.
Over a median 26 minutes by voice or text, quant and qual in one conversation, every refused price prompted one question: who else would pay? The researcher read all 287 and removed 37 duplicate identities and caregivers whose parent lives in assisted living, leaving 250.
- 4Analysis
Shared care lifts the price.
The researcher segmented Gabor-Granger demand by care arrangement: demand from sibling households stays above half through $299, past the $229 optimal price. At $249, 67% of families who share care would subscribe, against 31% of adults arranging it alone.
- 5Readout
Sharing families say yes at $249.
The researcher showed the price and demand model to the product team at a live readout, with a 31-page report and the full data file. The coordinator plan opened at $249 with split billing, so siblings share one account.
What we found
Four findings from the report.
Caregivers spend a median 6 hours a week arranging a parent’s care, and many already split it with siblings. Van Westendorp puts the optimal price at $229 a month. Above it, demand from families who share care stays above half through $299, and 73% of them chose a care coordinator over a second visit.
Arranging care is a second job, and siblings already share the bill.
Caregivers spend a median 6 hours a week arranging a parent’s care. 82% book and chase appointments, and 52% often update other family members. Among the 110 who share care with siblings, 77% already split some of the cost.
Tasks handled today · multi-select · n = 250Demand thins past $199, and the optimal price sits at $229.
Van Westendorp puts the acceptable range at $179 to $309 a month, with the optimal price point at $229. In the six-price Gabor-Granger, 59% would likely subscribe at $199, 47% at $249 and 31% at $299.
Would likely subscribe · four of six prices · n = 250Demand from families who share care stays above half through $299.
At $249 a month, 67% of the 110 families who share care would likely subscribe, against 31% of the 140 adults arranging care alone. Sibling demand stays above half through $299. Each sibling expects to cover a median 38% of the price.
A care coordinator beats a second nurse visit.
At the same monthly price, 55% chose one nurse visit a month plus a named care coordinator over two visits a month. 73% of families who share care chose the coordinator; most adults arranging care alone chose the second visit.
Chose the coordinator plan in a forced choice · n = 250“With my brother and sister each paying a third, this is an easy yes. On my own it is a stretch every single month.”Family caregiver · Illustrative quote
Illustrative quotes
Three themes behind the numbers.
“I book every appointment, chase every refill and then text my brothers about all of it. It eats my lunch breaks and most evenings.”
“We already split the aide three ways. A nurse plan would go on the same spreadsheet, so the price per person is what I look at.”
“Another visit is nice. Someone who calls all three of us after the visit would actually take work off my plate.”
What the care provider did
Three moves made with the report.
Opened at $249 on the coordinator plan.
Demand from families who share care stays above half through $299, so the subscription opened at $249 a month, with split billing that lets each sibling pay a share from one family account.
Made family updates the coordinator’s first job.
73% of families who share care chose the coordinator, and they ranked one update to every sibling as its first task.
Kept a lighter plan for solo caregivers.
Only 31% of adults arranging care alone would subscribe at $249, so a lighter one-visit plan without the coordinator stays on the roadmap for them.
Illustrative example. The company, scenario, and all figures are fictional. They show UserCue’s method and deliverable format. They do not come from any client study.
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