Enhabit’s new CEO, Dale Clift, expects double-digit growth for the company he now heads following its acquisition by private equity firm Kinderhook Industries.

Enhabit named Clift its chief executive last week, days after the Kinderhook acquisition closed. The veteran home-based care executive is now ushering Enhabit into a “chapter of growth,” planning to expand the company’s Medicare Part A and Medicare Advantage business, likely executing some acquisitions along the way.  

The CEO does have to adjust Enhabit’s growth strategy away from de novo growth, he told Home Health Care News, in response to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) moratorium on home health Medicare enrollment. 

HHCN sat down with Clift to discuss his priorities for his first six months at the helm of the company, his experience working with Kinderhook and his growth strategy.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

HHCN: You served as the CEO of Trilogy Home Healthcare for almost 10 years, and as the president and CEO of Nurse on Call for almost 11 years. Nurse On Call was a Kinderhook investment. I assume it’s a benefit that you’ve worked with the team there before?

Clift: Nurse On Call, l I owned 100% of it from the beginning. Built it up, then after three years of not taking a pay – we bought a little company out of bankruptcy – Kinderhook came in. I sold part of it to Kinderhook. Even when we sold a significant shareholder at Nurse On Call, so we started there. Then Kinderhook was involved in Trilogy also, so I’ve worked with them for going on 20 years now.

And we actually still like each other, we’re good friends, and most importantly, in my role here, we trust each other. We know how each other thinks, we know how to communicate with each other, so it makes it comfortable. I think it’s great for Enhabit also [and] the other employees, because if you got a private equity firm and a new CEO, and the CEO is kind of trying to impress the private equity firm … it can put more stress. This way, I think there’s a lot less stress on the whole organization. I’ll take care of Kinderhook.

How do you expect the transition to go for Enhabit moving to new ownership?

It’s going to be perfect. If it’s not, I’m not doing my job.

What are the key objectives for Enhabit?

Our objective is to grow the business. [Kinderhook] has got a great platform to grow from. They’ve done well, but I think now we’re kind of going to that new chapter of growth and both growing traditional Medicare and the Medicare Advantage programs. I think we should be able to definitely grow double digits.

What’s your growth strategy?

[Growth] through part A and grow in the Medicare Advantage, both of them, so they work in concert with each other to give you the growth you want.

For Medicare Advantage, I think you’ve got to make sure you are getting paid appropriately, because … if you don’t get paid an appropriate fee, you can’t provide the appropriate care. If we can’t get paid the appropriate amount to provide appropriate care, that’s an agreement we won’t take.

A lot of people in this business run their business looking at averages, and averages usually will lead you down the wrong rabbit hole. You have to be specific by payer and by the contract you’re doing with them. Because some pay episodically, some pay per visit, some pay a combination of episodic and per visit, so it really requires an analysis of each one to make a decision.

What types of agreements are you looking for? Any new plans regarding value-based care or other alternative arrangements?

We’re looking for whatever pays appropriately, so that we can provide the appropriate care. We’re open to everything. I think you just have to look at each one individually. One joint venture may be a great idea, another joint venture wouldn’t be such a great idea, you know? Some of the bundling is good, some of it may not be.

Do you see CMS’ home health moratorium impacting Enhabit’s growth strategy?

It requires us to refocus on some things. If we had X amount of resources dedicated to looking for starting new branches, we may take those resources and look at some small acquisitions, so we’ll reallocate the resources a different way.

What can I expect to see in the next year in terms of Enhabit’s acquisitions?

Too early to tell. I’ll be willing to commit to anything once I know what I’m committing to, and right now I’m not sure. I think over the next 30 to 45 days, we’ll develop an acquisition strategy that I’m comfortable with, and I can give you a better estimate.

What are your top three priorities for, say, the first six months?

My first one is to understand where Enhabit is right now. Second is just getting a feel for the people. I’ve been very impressed with the niceness of people, but in the first week or two, I can’t tell you who’s your A-plus player in this and A-plus in that. Three, which is absolutely the most important, is to get them to trust me. I have to earn their trust. In this first two, three months, that will be paramount, because if we want to do the growth and we want to make changes, if they don’t trust me, there’s not a good chance for that to happen in the right way.

It’s an active time for the home-based care industry, between the dramatic Medicare rate cut CMS proposed last year and the recently imposed home health moratorium. How would you describe the overall operating environment for Enhabit’s home health business?

Worry about what has happened, is happening, what is proved. You can’t worry about everything that might happen.

What is talked about may not have any validity, so be good, be on top of your stuff, be efficient, and be able to react quickly to what it is. You go nuts if you start trying to react to everything out there, because it’s not going to be what they say it is.