For Bobby Robertson, president and CEO of HealthcareFirst, being a leader is about bringing people together to share a common vision, as well as seeing a need for action and taking it.
In 1999, when he recognized the end was near for the Web-based software company, Robertson, a sales manager, gathered a group of employees to support his move to purchase control of the Ozark-based business.
Today, the firm has more than 130 employees and serves 1,300 home health and hospice providers across the nation. In 2011, the company posted revenues of $22.5 million, and its growth under Robertson’s leadership hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Through the years, HealthcareFirst has received five Springfield Business Journal Dynamic Dozen awards and a Missouri Fast Track award from the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry. HealthcareFirst also has been included on the Inc. 5,000 list for several years.
“In every business endeavor I approach, I make certain that my team members have a clear understanding of the vision, a clear understanding of our ethical standards and the support necessary to achieve what we agree to accomplish,” Robertson says.
Last year, Robertson helped change the position of the National Association for Home Care and Hospice after it publicly supported targeted Medicare cuts instead of the broad cuts being proposed by Congress. A group of publicly traded companies recommended NAHC’s position, but Robertson led a handful of home health agencies to perform a data analysis on HealthcareFirst’s customer base, concluding that the recommendations would impede access to millions of rural home care patients.
“We coordinated a trip to Washington, D.C., obtained a retraction of this recommendation from the president of the NAHC and were promised that rural health care providers would be included in all future discussions,” Robertson says.
Robertson is engaged in his community, active with his church and with organizations such as the Missouri chamber and the Missouri Alliance for Home Care.
After the EF-5 tornado in Joplin in 2011, Robertson pledged to match his employees dollar-for-dollar, and together they donated more than $11,000 for tornado victims.
Other philanthropic efforts are farther from home. “My son and I have participated in multiple trips to Brazil where we’ve been part of a local team that builds churches for impoverished communities,” Robertson says.
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