Home-based care veteran executive Dr. Brian Holzer has joined Freedom Senior Services as the company’s top executive after the company transitioned to new private equity ownership.
Following Gemspring Capital’s acquisition of Freedom, Holzer aims to make the company an aggressive M&A player while expanding service lines and client demographics. To do so, Holzer plans to leverage the provider’s dual approach to English as a second language and English as a primary language, as well as its high retention rates and culture of compliance.
“We think we have an enormous opportunity to grow a first-in-class, multi-state, non-skilled and adult day company,” Holzer told Home Health Care News. “Even though the allure of growing quickly is always there, I think we’re trying to be incredibly purposeful about building the foundation the right way, so that we’re able to grow with speed and not suffer the consequences of not building the foundation correctly the first time.”
Louisville, Kentucky-based Freedom operates in Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Tennessee, providing predominantly non-medical home care services, as well as integrated adult day centers. The company employs approximately 3,000 workers and serves slightly under 3,000 clients.
Holzer has previously served as the CEO of in-home substance use disorder treatment provider Aware Recovery Care, the founder and CEO of Lacuna Health, a Kindred Health subsidiary and the president of Kindred’s corporate innovations division.
Growth strategy and operating under increased scrutiny
The value proposition for non-medical home care is enormous, Holzer said, even more so than when he began his career – but providers are also coping with an enormous amount of pressure.
Two opposing forces characterize the home-based care operating environment, he said: tremendous acceptance of the importance of non-facility-based care and enormous pressure to control costs and reduce fraud, particularly on the Medicaid and Medicare sides.
The non-medical side of home-based care is “maybe a couple years behind that type of pressure,” compared to skilled home health, he said. Still, organizations like Freedom must prepare for an environment with increased scrutiny.
“[Freedom’s] approach is compliance is not a department, it’s a cornerstone,” Holzer said. “If you do things from day one the right way, and you have a culture of always trying to do the right thing, … you get to focus on growth instead of circling back and having to fight fires you didn’t set.”
Bolstering the company’s growth potential is its dual focus on English as a second language and English as a primary language, Holzer said, which differentiates Freedom in the markets it operates in.
Another tailwind for the company is a high retention rate. Holzer reported that Freedom’s caregiver retention rate is in the high 70s, which he attributes to the company hiring caregivers from communities that represent its clients.
Avenues for growth
Holzer sees his role as CEO as “carrying the torch” of Freedom’s previous leadership while pursuing several potential growth opportunities, including reimbursement and service line diversification.
Freedom currently focuses on Medicaid patients, but Holzer has his eye on private pay as a potential growth area, as well as veteran services. The company has a growing intellectual disability disorder business, Holzer said, and is considering serving clients of different demographics.
“We see inordinate opportunities to use the expertise we have here to continue to do it for different types of populations, not necessarily just seniors,” Holzer said.
The new chief executive is also looking to grow Freedom’s footprint. Approximately 80% of the company’s business is concentrated in Kentucky, but Holzer aims to grow density in other states Freedom operates in and expand into new ones, leveraging both organic growth and M&A.
“We’re going to be aggressive players in mergers and acquisitions as we look for potential opportunities to grow geographically or different service lines through an acquisition framework, as well,” Holzer said.
Holzer said there is a clear runway to Freedom’s growth – but a challenge is that there are too many ways to grow.
“What not to do is sometimes even more important than what to do,” he said. “When everything looks like a shiny penny, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you can collect them all at once. I think it’s being very, very intentional and continuing to ask yourself to prioritize opportunities, and being very disciplined about not trying to accomplish too much.”