YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
Phoenix Home Care Inc. aims to be a one-stop shop for in-home health care. With recent additions of new services, including palliative care and hospice assistance in some markets, it is achieving that goal for its patients, says CEO and co-founder Phil Melugin.
Since its establishment in 2011, Springfield-based Phoenix Home Care has grown to treat patients through 19 offices in five states. Most recently, the company added operations in Denver, Colorado, and Topeka, Kansas. Throughout its footprint, caregivers provide a collective 45,000 hours of care each week.
When considering expansion, Melugin says the company seeks out areas in the United States that lack home-care companies offering the entire continuum of care.
“What this means is that they had companies there that did hospice only or perhaps did home health only or some did services that are paid for privately only,” Melugin says. “The growth was born out of identifying needs and, consequently, an opportunity and then, from that, we were able to develop the resources to go and have an impact in those markets.”
Melugin says the company continually looks for ways in which it can provide a more all-inclusive service for patients. To this end, Phoenix Home Care introduced a pharmacy subsidiary, hospice care in new markets and chronic-care management. Palliative care, providing management for chronic life-limiting diseases, is another important addition that Melugin says was identified as a critical need.
“We explored, well, what are some additional needs that are going unmet?” he says. “Palliative care is a major piece of that.”
The company also partners with physicians in the local markets to bring accessible health care to the patients in home who deal with chronic illnesses.
This, Melugin says, has increased health care accessibility for patients who have mobility issues. It also can help to prevent health problems from becoming severe enough to require hospitalization.
“A major piece of that would also be educating them,” he says. “That serves as a major solution to reducing readmission.”
If a patient struggles to afford the needed care, Phoenix Home Care has developed ways that make nonacute home care accessible for all its clients by accepting public funding for services that are often covered by the state or via commercial or Medicare reimbursement programs.
The company also created a foundation through which it can provide assistance for patients who do not quality for public assistance and cannot afford home care without such funds.
“There is a population that is really falling through the gaps,” Melugin says. “We know they are out there by the tens of thousands and that our foundation could have a small part in helping meet those basic needs for that population.”
Phoenix Home Care also is active in local community events and charities, including the American Heart Association, Alzheimer’s Association, Senior Foundation of the Ozarks, Harmony House and Equi-Librium Therapy Center.
Guest columnist Donnie Brawner says many entrepreneurs stray from their original business ventures, which is often a recipe for success.