“Slow and steady wins the race” might be the mantra of the tortoise in the fabeled race between the tortoise and hare, but it’s also the growth mindset of one New Jersey-based home care franchise company.
Executive Care Home Care, which started franchising home care locations at the end of 2013, recently opened up three new locations—one near Philadelphia, one in the suburbs of Seattle and another in Pasadena, California. The company currently has 14 operating locations, with three more scheduled to come on line in September. By the end of the year, Executive Care could be a 20-franchise enterprise.
While the company has been in existence since 2004, it has opened franchise locations at a deliberate pace, according to CEO Lenny Verkhoglaz.
“We don’t want to be everywhere at the same time,” he told Home Health Care News. “We don’t want to sacrifice the quality that we promise franchise owners, so we are not going to be opening 20 to 30 units per year. We’re looking to grow no more than 10 units per year. Then we can pay attention to franchise needs and give them attention.”
As the company grows, Verkhoglaz is focused on ensuring the business is attractive enough to recruit caregivers in its new markets market.
“The [home care] market is not saturated, but very competitive,” Verkhoglaz said. “There are a lot of players in the market, and everyone wants to get into private pay—that’s where the money is and where the most growth is in terms of the need for care.”
At a time when home health care agencies are seeing Medicare reimbursement cuts and threats to Medicaid, private duty home care may be a safer bet.
“I think we are on the periphery of the health care debate going on,” he said. “We’re not concerned with it, but we have an eye on it. I feel pretty comfortable with the business model we have that we will go for years and years into the future.”
Written by Amy Baxter
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