2020 Economic Impact Awards 8-15 Years in Business Honoree: Phoenix Home Care and Hospice

Although Phoenix Home Care and Hospice operates 15 offices across the Midwest and one in Colorado, its 2019 local revenue accounted for nearly 30% of its 2019 companywide revenue.

Furthermore, Phoenix increased its local revenue by $5.4 million and its companywide revenue by $10 million between 2018 and 2019. CEO and co-founder Phil Melugin says that the company achieved this financial growth despite slimming industry margins.

“We have had to look for significant ways to decrease our overhead costs,” he says. “Whenever your margins are constricting like they have in our industry, you really have to protect your resources to invest in your product. Our product is our caregivers and our clinicians who are going out to the homes. In order to have the resources to continue the investment in them, their training, their benefits and their compensation, you have to find other areas to literally work smarter.”

Melugin also credits the success to the company’s ability to embrace innovation. In 2018, the company added a pharmacy to each of its locations. During that same year, Phoenix also was able to offer accountable care organization benefits through the Affordable Care Act. The ACO model connects provider reimbursements with quality metrics and reductions in care costs.

“That’s really innovation,” Melugin says of the addition of ACO. “We’ve found many services that are germane to the other core services that we provide, and it has resulted in sparking significant growth.”

Phoenix also demonstrates a commitment to enhancing the local economy by partnering with more than 30 Springfield-area organizations through nonprofit sponsorships and community involvement activities. From January 2019 to July 2020, Phoenix Home Care and Hospice has contributed $111,490 to these organizations.

“When a successful business is willing to give back to the community, it results literally in making a better community,” Melugin says. “A better community means that you have more people that are given an opportunity to contribute to the community and to society in some meaningful way.”

With a local weekly payroll of $679,827, Melugin says his 1,970 area employees also make an impact on the economy with their spending and charitable giving habits.

“We’re paying a lot in the way of taxes and making a contribution there is significant. But then beyond that, we have some of the higher paid individuals providing health care and health care administration in our community,” he says. “We know that those same high earners are leading by example. They are going to be contributors to organizations that benefit from compassionate individuals, and the culture of Phoenix is one that celebrates compassion.”