2025 Dynamic Dozen No. 3: Phoenix Home Care & Hospice

SBJ: What has been the key factor to your recent growth?
Phil Melugin: I think longevity in the market. Our brand awareness is significant and has contributed to the awareness of the services we provide. This has been significant on the employee side and the business side in helping to keep the referrals coming in and people calling to be cared for. We have a steady pipeline of staff. In this business, it takes staff to be able to grow. Not only do you have to replace staff who come and go for numerous reasons, but you have to add to that number in a pretty consistent, if not aggressive, manner to see the kind of growth that we have had year after year. With having staff, awareness and the confidence of the communities we serve, the phone just keeps ringing.

SBJ: Sounds like keeping that employee retention is a huge part of staying on top of the constant growth in the home health care market and growth within the company.
Melugin: There’s a reality that the community has been kind of trained to the idea that nobody has enough employees in a labor-intensive industry. I believe that there is confidence throughout the communities we serve that Phoenix does have an employee base, and it has helped our growth. The foundation of managing our growth is growing our workforce and retaining them, which brings in the many complicated factors of benefits and compensation. Missouri Proposition A is a challenge. We were already paying well over the minimum wage, but, while we had good (paid-time off) plans, it’s a complication and the logistics of administering that particular statute.

SBJ: With that growth, what has it enabled your company to do?
Melugin: Well, this game is a low margin from a profitability standpoint. It takes volume in order to have a return that is very necessary for us to turn around and invest in our workforce, outreach and branding and all the things that are necessary for business development.

SBJ: Can you give me an example of the type of business development Phoenix aims for?
Melugin: We specialize in pediatrics in St. Louis. But recently, we have been able to take these tight margins and through volume, create enough of a return in other areas in the company and we have been able to invest that return in our St. Louis market to provide a full continuum of services for the senior population.

SBJ: Do you think the growth you’ve had is sustainable?
Melugin: We have sustained growth for 14 years. We’re good at growing, and we have proven that we don’t overrun our headlights, but we’re also a $200 million company now, which means the growth as a percentage will slow down. But I do not anticipate us not continuing to grow. We will continue to reinvest the success that we’ve had with Phoenix into solid business development, which means we will continue to grow vertically in the markets that we are serving in. We don’t have anything planned at the moment, but we may add new markets that will also help us with growth that we’ve seen in the past.