Anghel?s Home Health prospers in tough market

Jeri Anghel and her husband Luca started Anghel's Home Health Care LLC in 1997. From an industry standpoint, their timing could have been better.

Earlier that year, Congress passed the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which significantly re-duced Medicare funding.

Following its passage, the total number of Medicare home health visits declined by 40 percent, and the average number of visits per patient declined by 30 percent nationwide between 1997 and 1999, according to the National Association for Home Care in Washington, D.C. Dur-ing this same period, the average payment per patient de-creased by 38.5 percent.

These tough market conditions forced many home health agencies out of business. Dur-ing this same period, however, Anghel's Home Health Care flourished.

The company, which started out with one office in Ozark, went on to open two more offices in Springfield and Mo-nett in 2001. In addition, sales quadrupled last year, according to Jeri Anghel.

Still, Anghel said, she doesn't measure the company's success by its sales volume. She measures success by the level of care she provides to her clients.

"This business is my heart," she said. "We didn't open a home health care business to make a lot of money. We did it because we saw a real need in this area for some of the services we provide."

These services include hospice care, respite care, live-in and overnight companions, daytime companions and housekeeping services.

Anghel's Home Health also provides skilled nursing services, which are provided by certified nurses aids, certified medical technicians, certified medical assistants, licensed practical nurses and registered nurses. Several of the company's clients use the company for both companion services and skilled nursing services.

Unlike some home health care agencies, Anghel's Home Health has no established time minimum on certain services. For example, if a client needs respite care for a loved one, he or she can get respite care in increments as small as one hour.

Many of the services An-ghel's Home Health provides, such as preparing hot meals, taking clients to doctors' ap-pointments and shopping for groceries, help foster independent living.

This allows clients to stay in their homes instead of having to go to a skilled nursing facility or assisted living facility.

Providing a wide range of services has helped Anghel's Home Health prosper in a tough market. Another factor that has helped the company is its payment policy. Unlike agencies that rely on Medicare and Med-icaid clients for their core business, Anghel's Home Health doesn't accept Medicare or Medicaid. Instead, the company accepts private payment or files claims with the client's insurance company. Anghel's Home Health also accepts worker's compensation.

According to Sandy Ingram, general manager, much of the company's business comes from clients who need hospice care. Another popular service Anghel's Home Health provides is home health-care consulting.

Prior to moving to Springfield and starting Anghel's Home Health, Jeri Anghel worked as a nurse in California and Arizona. During this period, she worked in the cardiology, neurology, nephrology, pediatrics and audiology departments at various hospitals. Now, Anghel is using her broad background in health care to help her clients determine their home health-care needs.

"I do all the price comparisons on medical equipment, supplies and pharmaceuticals, and I hire the staff that's needed," Anghel said. "Sometimes, I've even found medical specialists for clients using my connections out-of-state."

Currently, Anghel's Home Health employs 39 full-time workers. All of these workers undergo an extensive background check, said Ingram, and each of the company's clients is given a notebook that details consumer rights.

In addition, the company conducts unannounced inspections while an employee is working in a client's home. These in-spections help ensure the em-ployee is keeping on task and doing the best job possible, said Anghel.

"We don't just send anyone," she said. "We really check them out first. We also try to match an employee's personality and lifestyle traits with a client's. For instance, if one of our cli-ent's is a heavy smoker, we wouldn't send out an employee who can't stand cigarette smoke or vice versa."

Like many small businesses, Anghel's Home Health is a family-run company.

Luca Anghel serves as the company's president, Jeri An-ghel is the administrator and her father Gerald Alfafara is the secretary.

In addition, Jeri's Anghel's daughters, Dawn O' Hagan and Angel Shortt, work for the company.

Currently, the Anghels are considering opening a satellite office outside the area. The satellite office would be located in Phoenix, Ariz., where Jeri Anghel still does some home health-care consulting work.