Pasco County mother-daughter pioneering entrepreneur s have established health services business over the past two decades with agility, innovation and commitment to business ethics
By: C. Sam Smith
(New Port Richey, FL, June, 2012) What was considered sound, ethical, open ended business strategy by woman-owned Mobile Personal Services, Inc. of New Port Richey, FL. has positioned the 22 year old home health agency for the possible effects of the Federal “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010” structural health insurance payment reforms, as they may occur.
MPS Home Office Location in New Port Richey
Owners Clara Ward and her daughter Lisa Ward Tabbert opened their now highly successful Pasco County home care agency in 1991 driven by a desire to ethically serve the health needs of the populations of a three county area.
New Port Richey is located in Pasco County, FL, approximately 30 miles north of Metropolitan Tampa, FL. and is a coastal city, population 20,000 and is considered by many an ideal place to either raise a family and an even more attractive place to retire. Lisa and Clara were pioneers in many ways. The two woman team had very little capital and very little knowledge of the home healthcare industry when they launched the agency.
These ladies have no fear.
What’s more, their timing was right.
Capital requirements have changed. In 1991 it was possible to start a home healthcare agency with as little as $2000 in start-up capital. Initially, MPS was licensed solely through Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration. They hold a license to serve Medicare clients now, after obtaining a license from the Center for Medicare Services in Washington, D.C. Currently, due to the increased complexity of the regulations, and the costs of licensing, hiring, marketing and advertising, the barriers to entry into the home health market are much higher and more expensive. Today, according to Lisa, starting a licensed home health agency accredited by the State and the Federal authorities, can cost anywhere from $100k $200k.
MPS’ founding based on ethics. Lisa remembers the ethical issue that led to the startup of their agency. Lisa remarked, “When I graduated from college, I secured a job as a social worker for a Medicare certified home healthcare agency,” Lisa remembered. “In those days, my job was to set up community resources for senior patients. Many of the companies I would refer to were good honest companies, however, some were not,” she stated. She observed that some agencies would intentionally overbill a slightly forgetful client. She would repeatedly have to call to correct these ‘oversights’. As she continued to observe these unethical practices, she approached her mother about creating a new business which would succeed by providing excellent, reliable, dependable and ethical care for area seniors, all of whom deserve honest professional care.
Naysayers did not deter their will to succeed. Lisa’s acquaintances told her that she and her mother never should even attempt to open a home healthcare agency. This advice did not deter them. After six months they had Mobile Personal Services licensed as a home healthcare agency and after one year they were able to give up their other jobs and work full-time in the agency. They began with two small rooms, two desks and two phones in a rented office space. All of referrals at the beginning before Medicare licensing had been secured were private pay patients that needed home healthcare. Lisa exclaimed, “My mother and I were literally on call 24 hours a day seven days a week for 10 years!”
Hard work is a prerequisite. They were determined to start a home healthcare agency that serves patients with reliability, dependability, and honesty. “It took a year of work and saving for us to buy our first copy machine,” remembered Clara. “Our first fax machine was bought by my husband, who was always very supportive,” Clara continued. “Sometimes it felt like we were skating up a hill of ice”, explained Lisa, “… but we were always grateful to be working at it together, which made the hard times quite bearable”. Adaptation is one of their strengths. The agency has changed from a non-Medicare to a Medicare Certified Home Healthcare Agency to diversify and expand their business. They have always believed in diversification. Having a private pay, non-skilled healthcare service offering as well as offering skilled nursing services has enabled the agency to achieve good stability in the recent turbulent economic times.
Employee Attrition is an issue for HHA’s - One of the biggest challenges of home health agency operation is attrition in staff, which brings about continuing re-orientation and retraining, both quiet costly in terms of productivity. Due to their open, listening philosophy towards their team, MPS has reduced the negative effects of attrition. Maintenance of excellence in the retention of professional staff is a key factor in a successful home healthcare agency. Clara and her daughter Lisa agree that they have finally achieved a very good balance of competency amongst their nursing staff and their administrative office employees. Lisa quipped, “I always look at it like building a house. If the foundation is not good the structure is going to fall”. She added, “Once we obtain a competent professional employee, in order to assure that he or she is happy, we try to think out-of-the-box”.
For example, Maribeth, the Director of Nursing for MPS, is a fitness buff. She maintains a very fit lifestyle and was unhappy with sitting at her desk all day doing paperwork, so she suggested to Lisa that she look into getting a treadmill desk! Lisa quickly agreed to accommodate this request. The DON’s job satisfaction has increased tremendously.
| Maribeth works and walks at her treadmill/desk |
The agency has also rotated many interoffice staff to four ten-hour workdays which is also increased job satisfaction and allows the agency to stay open longer hours to serve the prospects and patients.
The mother-daughter team have long ascribed to an ongoing philosophical formula: Honesty + Dreams + Plan + Faith + Hard Work = Success
Sharing the vision - “We are believers in everyone sharing the vision for the agency, and buying into the goals and objectives we as an agency have strategically decided to set as our operating vision”, stated Tabbert. After years of operation with a state and a federal Medicare license, the agency had an open mind regarding the varied ways that our clients may want to obtain and pay for services from us. Their strategy was to be agile and adaptable, and not to lean on just one payment source for their revenue stream. MPS accepts managed care insurance, HMO insurance, private duty clients and clients who reside in skilled nursing and assisted living facilities. MPS also has contracted with therapists of all disciplines so that their services are broad and applicable to patient’s needs.
Using technology to manage the increasing complexity
. In 2011, MPS had grown to the point of needing a tool to assist management and nursing care services in overseeing so many patients and maintaining compliance with the myriads of government and insurer regulations and standards. “In order to accept all the types of payment, and to be able to cope with the increasing complexity of home health agency operations, we needed an agile software platform to continue to expand and operate successfully”, Lisa stated.
Axxess is the choice
After what Lisa considers “extensive due diligence”, which included compiling a list of requirements, ,performing an internet search, and attending conferences to view and seek demonstrations of the varied vendors in the marketplace, MPS chose Axxess’ Agencycore® platform, over the many competitive offerings in the marketplace. Lisa is enthusiastic in her appreciation of this innovative technology, and quipped, “Axxess has been a great fit for our agency. They do not charge you for every little feature (like the other software companies she previewed)- they provide all these features at no additional charge”. She continued, “The training was easy and ongoing support has been exemplary. Axxess support staff have always been competent and friendly. The most important feature for me is that they listen to your feedback and constantly improve their product to meet our needs. I am a very happy customer.”
Staying true to the course
MPS’ mission remains a constant; providing honest, professional, caring home health services to Florida’s Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties. Additionally, the move to state-of-the-art technology promises to aid the company in achieving even greater success in today’s turbulent home health market. The strategic and philosophical decisions made at the outset at the founding of Mobile Personal Services, Inc. appear to have “passed the test of time” over the two decades they have been in operation.
“Due to our excellent technology platform, we are operating at a productivity level and volume that we could not have dreamed of in 1991”, beamed Lisa. “Our hope is that as we follow our business philosophy which is to provide the ultimate in care as we serve our patients, we will continue to drive our agency into the future. Strategically, we trust that our technologies, our ethics and our market will continue to afford us the opportunity to operate profitably and productively for years to come”.
She concluded, “As we reflect on our years in business, we can truly say that we are blessed.”
Knowing these ladies successful ways and determined approach, it’s a safe bet that MPS’ patients are blessed as well.
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