2016 Health Care Champions Administrator: Greg Horton

Greg Horton’s first career wasn’t health care, but it did help position him to start his own company.

With 19 years of experience as a practice partner-in-charge at Whitlock, Selim & Keehn LLP – now The Whitlock Co. – Horton specialized in management consulting, strategic business planning and auditing services for clients in the manufacturing, insurance and medical industries.

It’s business acumen well suited for the co-founder, co-owner and CEO of Integrity Home Care Inc. – a home health care enterprise that employs more than 2,400 in Missouri.

Horton says the goal of Integrity, which he started in 2000, is helping manage chronic disease, surgical recovery, frailty and disability, with an end goal of keeping patients independent and in their homes.

“This requires a responsive integration of both clinical-medical and nonmedical services, so whether the need is short term or long term, we can assist with the right combination of care to meet the goals of the individual and their family,” Horton says. “My role is to make sure that this vital safety net is relevant, viable and on a strong foundation to meet the current and future needs of those in our community that do and will rely on us.”

A personal goal is to champion change in how medications are managed in the home environment, and to that end Integrity Home Care developed a system for prepackaging patient prescriptions.

“Proper adherence with prescribed medications can be the difference between stability and disaster for anyone with chronic disease,” Horton says.

Integrity Home Care Chairman Paul Reinert, who partnered with Horton on the business in 2002, says despite his substantial talent as an accountant and financial adviser, Horton’s passion and service-minded nature is what led him to the field of health care.

“Beyond his knowledge of the health care industry, I saw that Greg was also a compassionate person who not only approached the industry as a business but also as a personal calling to make a difference in the quality of life for individuals in need of service,” Reinert says. “Under Greg’s leadership, Integrity Home Care has grown to become one of the largest and most respected home care providers in Missouri, touching the lives of over 5,000 individuals each month.”

Horton also impacts the lives of others in his professional and civic roles, including as a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Rotary Club of Springfield Southeast, and as a board member of Guaranty Bank and Foundation Capital Resources.

But it’s providing seasoned advice and tangible assistance in the home health care space that gives Horton the greatest sense of personal fulfillment and professional accomplishment.

“My motivation comes from experiencing the loving, compassionate care that our home care teams provide,” Horton says. “It is personal, it is often simple, it is sometimes very complex, but it is always powerful.

“The impact we make in people’s lives is very significant, and I am honored to lead and serve the incredible team that makes it happen.”