Bayada CEO: Transition to Nonprofit is ‘An Adventure’

When one of the nation’s largest home health care providers announced it was going to give away the business, the move was seen largely as one to keep the company sustainable as it passed onto the next generation of leadership.

David Baiada, the company’s current chief operating officer, is expected to take over as president in August 2017. His father, Mark Baiada, founded the company in 1975 and is currently the president.

Nearly a year after the announcement, Home Health Care News caught up with Mark Baiada for an update on Bayada Home Health’s transition to a nonprofit and what to expect from the provider throughout the rest of 2017.

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It’s been almost a year since the announcement of Bayada’s transition to a non-profit. Where are you in the process? How is the transition going?

We are just about to do a lot of planning to do the transition. There are a lot of licensing and tax issues. We should soon be filing for then incorporation of Bayada in Delaware as a not-for-profit. When we get that back, then we have to file for 1023 for 501c3 [nonprofit] status. It’s in the works, and we hope to have to have the entity in place and up and running at the end of the year. Then we will start donating [the existing] Bayada to it, I’d say by 2018.

What’s the biggest challenge of the transition so far? Has anything surprised you throughout the process?

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I think of what the end product [will look like], and sometimes don’t think of the in-between. Like many things in life, it’s probably more about planning, not difficulty. We have to pay taxes to give it away—which blows my mind. Then there are all the regulations, state licenses, all the filings. There is probably more there than I have actually thought of. It’s just work, and I don’t mind work. It’s for a good cause. It’s an adventure.

We recently reported on the joint venture with Bayhealth hospital system. Can you talk a little bit about this JV? Is Bayada likely to do more hospital joint ventures? 

Bayhealth is in Delaware, and we’ve been in Delaware for 30 years. So, we have a long relationship providing services in the community. We are starting to do joint ventures. A lot of hospitals have a good home health agency, but they just have one. We have hundreds. The operational systems and methods, we have it down. And [we] can manage the services and help the hospitals reduce re-hospitalization rates and offer a higher level of professional services. We’re coming together, and hospitals are realizing it.

We’re with Temple in Philadelphia. We manage their home health. We’re with Inspira in New Jersey, and in a joint venture with Medical University of South Carolina, the large teaching hospital. We’re pursuing others to form partnerships. It’s a signal that home health is moving up and getting some attention, and hospitals are looking for professional partners. Managing the mobile workforce in the home, with completey different regualtory and payments structures, is different for them.

Why are hospitals disengaging from their own home health service lines and partnering up with home health agencies?

It’s good for the agencies to have a professional partner, and they are tied into the coordinated medical delivery system. Hopefully it can influence health policy and hospital policy around discharge and admitting patients to home care. It’s good for both sides.

Bayada has three visions: to serve millions worldwide; leave a lasting legacy; and be the world’s most passionate and trusted team. We have a professional partner to recruit, train and hopefully develop the staff to work at a higher level. This helps satisfy our vision.

What do you think about when entering these joint ventures with hospitals?

It … has to be [large] enough to have a sustainable office. A rural 60-bed hospital is probably not going to be a successful venture, but most hospitals probably will qualify. We would really like urban medical teaching hospitals.

We first want to make sure we are aligned on mission and values [with hospital partners]. We really follow the Bayada way; that’s the way we are going. That’s why we are going nonprofit. [We ask] are they aligned? Do they want to serve the community, is it a long-standing, good organization? Second, we look at the viability of the relationship. Is it a good team to work with? Are they good partners, are their operational goals aligned? It’s a marriage. Hospitals want to do better work in the home and are committed to it, with high quality services. [If we find that], I think we can form a positive relationship with them.

Written by Amy Baxter

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