When Bobby Robertson bought HealthcareFirst Inc. in 1999, the company was about to be closed. But Robertson, now president and CEO, believed it had the potential to meet myriad changes that loomed for the health care industry, so he bought it.
Originally incorporated in Texas in 1992 with two employees, HealthcareFirst has grown to a staff of 137 in three states, with offices in Ozark, Baton Rouge, La., and St. Paul, Minn. Locally, the company employs 81.
Robertson says the firm is focused on developing new software technologies that help home health care and hospice agencies nationwide increase efficiency, expedite interaction with physicians and other care providers, and improve patient care.
Those efforts create jobs for a specific applicant demographic.
“Our people who we’re hiring have technical backgrounds, generally always college degrees, so we’re talking about ... bringing in highly skilled, high-paying jobs to the community,” he says. “We also have several interns that we bring over, kids who are going to college locally, and some high school kids who have an aptitude for technology.” Bringing in college and high school students as interns and introducing them to opportunities with HealthcareFirst helps show these students the types of jobs available in the Ozarks, which Robertson says could help the region economically in the years to come.
“We’re introducing them to technology, which I believe is a great incubator for our community, for these people to get their education and come back here and work,” he says.
The company also attracts visitors to the Springfield area.
“We work with more than 1,300 home health and hospice providers across the nation, and we add probably 10, 12 new customers a month. A lot of those, we bring to Springfield to train them on the software. So when they come to Springfield, they’re staying at hotels, eating at restaurants and shopping at our stores,” Robertson says, noting that the visitors often stay for three or four days.
Robertson says HealthcareFirst also has helped other companies achieve growth. Though he didn’t name the company, he cites one example of a firm that has increased staffing by as many as a half-dozen positions because of the work it does for HealthcareFirst.
“Rather than us having a whole department that allows us to get claim forms (that are appropriate) for 50 different Medicaids across the country or [for] different payers, we work with them so we can quickly accommodate customers’ changes,” Robertson says. “I’d like to think we’ve helped with their growth by partnering with them.”
In 2008, the company sold majority ownership to private equity firm The Riverside Co., which specializes in small- and medium-size businesses.
The company’s 2011 revenues were $22.5 million, up from $5.5 million, that year, and Robertson says he expects growth to continue.
“We are a growth-focused company,” Robertson says. “We have a solid plan in place to become a $100 million company in the next five, six years, so we are aggressively growing, and with that comes more jobs in the Springfield area.”
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