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Kim and Phil Melugin, owners
Kim and Phil Melugin, owners

2015 Dynamic Dozen No. 1: Phoenix Home Care Inc.

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In a short amount of time, the management of Phoenix Home Care Inc. has taken the fledgling Springfield startup from one office with 20 employees into eight markets with over 2,000 employees.

Launched in 2011 after owner Phil Melugin’s split from Integrity Home Care, the initial footprint covering Springfield, greater Kansas City and mid-Missouri now spans markets in St. Louis and Cape Girardeau, Wichita, Kan., and Montrose, Colo.

The rapid growth has been organic but also aided by strategic acquisitions. President and owner Phil Melugin says in four of five purchase deals, the sellers approached Phoenix with interest.

“It’s been a unique experience,” Melugin says. “The opportunities really came to us.”

In two acquisitions last year, Phoenix added hospice services in Wichita and entered Johnson County, Kan. Melugin says shortly after internal interest arose in the Overland Park, Kan., market, the Phoenix team connected with Essential Home Health Care and discovered parallel paths.

“We were called by an interested party wanting to sell their operations to us,” he says.

While building a niche in skilled nursing and special-needs pediatrics, a common company theme has been beating annual revenue projections. In its first three full years in business, 2012-14, Phoenix recorded a growth rate over 158 percent. It ended 2014 with $37.6 million in revenue, up from $14.5 million in 2012.

For the trend to continue, Phoenix would have to beat its $46 million revenue forecast this year.

With 800 licensed health care professionals on staff, Phoenix sends caregivers into some 2,100 homes each week. The team provides nursing care but also meets therapy and social work needs, and some stay in the homes overnight, amounting to over 35,000 hours in weekly visits.

Caregivers have identified a large special-needs child population, for instance, those acutely disabled with assistive devices for eating and breathing.

“Our nurses help operate these devices and do what’s necessary to keep the children in their homes,” Melugin says.

Now with growth management at the forefront for a six-member administrative team, Melugin says the greatest challenge is the tendency to spend more time on urgent needs at the neglect of important planning matters.

“A lot of companies that grow this fast have the challenge of reacting to growth, getting one more payroll out and figuring out how to plug a hole,” he says, noting key personnel spend half their time visioning for the future “while making sure the routine happens without a glitch. That’s not easy.”

To help, Phoenix last summer promoted Susan Bohning to corporate training coach and works with outside corporate culture coach Terri Tucker. The Branson-based motivational consultant, dba Tucker Resources, has worked in marketing for Herschend Family Entertainment and KY3 Inc.

Developing the culture with Phoenix executives since the launch, Tucker wrote a 6-hour curriculum for staff leaders and, along with Vice President Gwen Beebe, she teaches the monthly class.

“We catch them as soon as they come into the culture,” Tucker says of teaching the “Taking Flight” proprietary classwork that emphasizes the core values of compassion, honesty and patience. “We know the training is working.”

For example, she says the daily stand-up meetings taught at the Springfield headquarters are spreading throughout the satellite offices.

“We’ve had pictures and stories shared where these stand-ups are happening all over the company,” Tucker says of the “mini rallies” to spend a few minutes vocalizing the goals and celebrations for each day.

Melugin says the role of company culture cannot be overstated.

“Culture, in our opinion, eats strategy for lunch every day,” he says.[[In-content Ad]]

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