Ozark home health, hospice company marks 15 years offering independent care

Haven Home Health and Hospice has grown, expanding its reach to 23 counties, as it marks 15 years as a company.

The owners, John and Bethany Ray, said even though the coverage area has grown, they have remained relatively small and hyperlocal. The company reported $15 million in revenue in the last fiscal year.

“It has been less about how we grow in size and about how we grow in quality. It’s continuing to stabilize and making sure we’ve got a good, solid staff,” John said. “We want all the people here to care as much about quality as we do, and we can be really proud.”

The couple said they both worked for large healthcare companies – John as a physical therapist and Bethany as a speech-language pathologist – but were not fans of the environment.

“There was a big disconnect that we noticed between how employees are treated and how the business was being run,” said Bethany.

They said smaller healthcare companies were consolidating and being absorbed into larger regional and national companies.

“We thought eventually the Walmart effect was going to happen in healthcare,” he said.

The couple decided to strike out on their own, despite having small children at home, in late 2011. They have four children, now ages 15-26.

“We just decided we were going to do this, not try it on the side,” she said. “It was time to jump in with both feet and just do it.”

They started with three employees – the couple and Bethany’s mom, Susan Hinck – and slowly grew to 10 employees in the early years.

As they mark this milestone, the company boasts more than 200 employees. The staff are primarily nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, aides, social workers and chaplains.

“At any given time, we have about 300 patients on home health, 70 to 80 patients on hospice, and then a couple hundred patients on home care,” John said. “By the end of the year, we have served a few thousand people in the area.”

Services include skilled nursing, medical social work, spiritual counseling, personal care, medical equipment management and hospice diagnosis-related medications.

“The majority of the people who call us need somebody to come in and take care of Mom or Dad,” John said.

In an effort to keep people in their own home after an injury or illness, the company does a home safety assessment to see if any modifications are needed.

Healthcare workers will help manage medication, track nutrition and hydration, and help the client engage in exercise and social connection to the extent they are able.

The couple said investing in employees is critical to maintaining patient care standards.

They said beyond competitive pay and benefits, they provide coaching and one-on-one support.

“The biggest thing we do for our clinicians is we’re able to listen to them and hear what their needs are,” John said. “We can’t aways give them everything they want, but I do feel like they feel they have a voice here.”

Asked if they have fielded offers to sell, the couple laughed and said they are frequent.

“It’s pretty much every week, no kidding,” John said. 

The couple said they plan to stay the course and are content to stay small and local so they can keep tabs on quality.

The company registered as Haven Hospice LLC with the Missouri Secretary of State has expanded into 23 counties, but the couple said most of their clients are from Springfield to Branson.

“We want our employees to all feel like they can send their own people to us,” he said. “We want physicians that send us referrals to feel like they could send their own family to us because we’re going to hold people accountable to a standard.”