Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / How Strong Culture Powers Growth in Healthcare Services, with Rich Johnson | Staffing Series

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How Strong Culture Powers Growth in Healthcare Services, with Rich Johnson | Staffing Series · The Inspired Stories Podcast

• 0:04
  Welcome to another edition of Inspired Stories where leaders
• 0:07
  share their experiences so we can learn from their successes,
• 0:10
  how they've overcome adversity, and explore current challenges
• 0:13
  they're facing. Welcome to another edition of
• 0:17
  the Inspired Stories podcast, where leaders share their
• 0:20
  experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired
• 0:24
  by how they've overcome adversity.
• 0:26
  My name is Anthony Kotaspodi, and today's guest is Rich
• 0:29
  Johnson, CEO of Via Quest, a healthcare company that believes
• 0:34
  strongly in choice for its employees and the people it
• 0:37
  serves. They have 3 core services,
• 0:40
  Hospice, behavioral and mental health and developmental
• 0:44
  disabilities. The company was founded in 1999
• 0:48
  and has grown from a single division in Ohio to serving
• 0:51
  individuals throughout Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania.
• 0:56
  The name represents the overall mission of the company, a group
• 1:00
  of people on a mission or quest to change the way VIA Healthcare
• 1:05
  services are delivered. As the largest veteran owned
• 1:09
  business in Central Ohio, they are proud to employ a lot of
• 1:12
  veterans and we just learned that Rich is scheduled to be
• 1:16
  inducted into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame in November of this
• 1:20
  year, 2024. Now before we get into all that
• 1:23
  good stuff, today's episode is brought to you by my company,
• 1:26
  Add Back Benefits Agency, where we offer very specific and
• 1:30
  unique employee benefits that are both great for your team and
• 1:33
  fiscally optimized for your bottom line.
• 1:35
  One recent client was able to add over $900 per employee per
• 1:39
  year in extra cash flow by implementing one of our
• 1:42
  proprietary programs. Results vary for each company
• 1:45
  and some organizations may not be eligible.
• 1:48
  To find out if your company qualifies, contact us today at
• 1:50
  Add Back benefitsagency.com. Now back to our guest today, the
• 1:55
  founder and CEO of Via Quest, Rich Johnson.
• 1:58
  I appreciate you making the time to Share your story today.
• 2:01
  Thanks so much, Anthony, for having me.
• 2:03
  And after that introduction, I, I, I think I'm good.
• 2:06
  I don't know what else needs to be.
• 2:07
  Said to wrap it up here and. Call it a day.
• 2:10
  So before we get into the origin story, tell us in your own words
• 2:14
  what Via Quest does today. Vyquest we're just, we're, we're
• 2:21
  blessed to have so many great employees that didn't wake up
• 2:24
  every day and and say they have the opportunity to change
• 2:28
  someone's life. So we serve people with
• 2:30
  intellectual and developmental disabilities all in home and
• 2:34
  community based settings throughout Ohio.
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  We serve people with mental and behavioral health conditions.
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  We serve a lot of people who have developmental disabilities
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  with the cooperating mental health.
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  We're also in quite a few skilled nursing facilities
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  serving our aging population with mental health diagnosis.
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  And then we serve Hospice, which is one of, if not the greatest
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  benefit that our, our nation has to offer people.
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  It's such a, it's an amazing benefit.
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  The word Hospice can tend to scare people and feel that it's
• 3:11
  the end. But the way we look at it, it's,
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  it's how are people actually going to live in that, in that
• 3:17
  final, in the final days while they're here on earth?
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  And, and we're blessed to be able to, to serve those people.
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  So first and foremost, you know, vyquest, we're, we're here to
• 3:27
  serve. And that's that's what our
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  mission is. Interesting that you called out
• 3:32
  Hospice as being such a tremendous service that you're
• 3:36
  able to offer. Why did you single out that one
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  in particular? Well, I think that that as a
• 3:43
  nation, the word Hospice just just scares people and there's
• 3:50
  negative connotations to it. And we're faced with that
• 3:52
  challenge every day and people don't fully realize.
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  And I don't think we do a good enough job of explaining Hospice
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  and what one of the best things that that has happened to
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  Hospice since I've been around, you know, and we've been in
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  Hospice for close to 20 years now is Jimmy Carter being on
• 4:14
  Hospice. I think that's, that's giving
• 4:17
  the American public a chance to, to understand it.
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  He, he got on Hospice. He hasn't passed.
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  He's been able to spend that time living his life in a, in a
• 4:30
  very meaningful way. And so, you know, I'm, I'm
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  excited because it's, it's an opportunity to shed a light on a
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  great benefit that we have here in the United States.
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  And, and it it's service that really helps families and and
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  patients. Is it Is our approach here in
• 4:49
  the states different as compared to other countries?
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  I don't believe so. I, I think it's more prominent,
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  it's more prominent here. And it's just, it's just a great
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  benefit that that, you know, as, as we, there's been a lot of
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  talk, you know, from people, should we change the name
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  because Hospice does scare people?
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  Should we? And, and so there was a big
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  debate going on around that. And I think it's just a function
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  of that are educating people and and making them aware of what
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  the actual services are. Can you maybe explain to those
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  for folks that have that negative connotation?
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  And I like, let's shine a light on it a little bit.
• 5:28
  Yeah, no, absolutely. Great question.
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  So the first thing that people feel is that if I, if I put my
• 5:34
  mom or dad on Hospice, they're, they're going to die right away.
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  So, you know, we're all going to die.
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  But you know, if you go on Hospice, it doesn't mean that
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  you're going to, to pass right away.
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  It's not, it's not, it's, it, it, it's really not a negative
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  thing. It, it's, you're going on
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  Hospice to be surrounded by care so you can live your best life
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  while you're here. We have, we, we have chaplains
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  or bereavement specialists that go in and work with the family
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  and help them cope with the fact that, that their, their loved
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  one has a, a, a condition that's going to end up being a life
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  ending condition. How do they deal with that?
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  How can we free the family up to spend quality time with their
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  loved one while they're still here and take some of that that
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  day-to-day pressure off the family?
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  So does Hospice care, typically at least the way Bioquest
• 6:35
  provided, end up happening in the home?
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  We do everything. Everything we do through Hospice
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  happens either in the home or a skilled nursing facility.
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  OK, got it. OK, so let's go back to a little
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  bit more of the origin story. After high school, you were in
• 6:55
  the Air Force. How?
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  Long. Were you in the service?
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  And I'd be curious to hear about maybe some of the important
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  lessons you learned there that you've been able to carry with
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  you later through life. Yes, I, I, I joined the Air
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  Force right out of high school. I didn't have a whole lot of
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  options. I didn't take, I didn't take
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  school very seriously. And so and I like to, you know,
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  I, I was very active in high school, so I like to get into a
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  lot of mischief trouble. So wasn't looking real good And
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  so join the Air Force, which what a tremendous experience and
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  it, it it was for me and for many people an opportunity to
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  serve your country. The first question for most
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  people is, you know, was IA pilot in in 1986.
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  They didn't have too many pilots that were 5-6.
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  I mean you. Is there a height requirement
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  for that? There were there's not now, but
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  just with the advancements of technology and planes and those
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  types of things. So I, the one thing that I I
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  really enjoyed while I was in high school was a, an accounting
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  class that I took. So I went into the service and a
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  lot of people say realized they had accountants in, in the, the
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  Air Force, they'll still have to get paid.
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  People still have to get paid, so great experience.
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  I was stationed at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, which
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  is a big logistics command base in Dayton, OH.
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  Ironically, it was just 50 miles from my hometown.
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  And because it's such a big logistics command had a lot of
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  responsibility at a very young age.
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  And the I, I could not have asked for a better opportunity
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  to learn on the job training while attending college, you
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  know, at nights and on the weekends, a great, great
• 8:55
  workforce there with not only enlisted Air Force personnel
• 9:00
  officers, but a great civilian workforce that really taught me
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  the ropes and, and gave me an opportunity to succeed.
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  And the one you know, the Air Force, the service in general
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  teaches you so much about, about life and instills a new values.
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  But the discipline, I was one that needed discipline.
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  I needed that discipline and still needed to take life a
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  little bit more seriously. And, and the service did that
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  for me. And still discipline, values
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  made sure that you know, when you give your word, you honor
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  your word. And a work ethic taught me, you
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  know, how to work, how to be responsible and you know, rain
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  or shine, you come to work and you do your job and you do it
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  well. And so it could not have asked
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  for a better opportunity. Nobody in my family had ever
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  attended college. So I was the first one in in my
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  family to go to college and and get a degree.
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  So I did that on nights and on weekends which which was a great
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  experience. Where did you go to college?
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  I I started a Wright State University, which is right there
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  in Fairborn for Wright Patterson Air Force Base.
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  Is that a date? Yep, they finished the capital
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  in Columbus. OK, so how long were you in the
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  Air Force? Four years.
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  I did one yeah 11 stint. One stint, OK, so how did you
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  find yourself going from the Air Force at what were kind of the
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  in between steps before getting with via quest, starting via
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  quest? I, I really, you know, I was
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  blessed to have a great opportunity, hadn't finished my
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  degree, had government accounting experience, went to
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  work for a skilled nursing facility as a controller in the
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  front office. And then there was a job that
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  was coming up, a regional healthcare CPA firm was opening
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  in Dublin, OH, which is right down the street from where I was
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  from, Marysville, OH. And the managing partner, Jeff
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  Hafey, he moved from from Toledo to open up this practice, hired
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  me as the first person. So I go from being in the Air
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  Force first person with the CPA firm here in Dublin and just a
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  great experience and got to work with the whole healthcare
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  industry, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, companies
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  have provided services to people with developmental disabilities.
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  Since there was only two of us. Jeff was very high level, did a
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  high level CPA firm consulting. I got to be included in those
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  meetings. So I was exposed to a great deal
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  again at a young age. So a great, great opportunity
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  for me to understand healthcare, healthcare reimbursement, the
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  finances to that. So I did that for from 1991 to
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  1994 and then ended up leaving to work for Mike Levinson out of
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  Cincinnati, OH who had a healthcare company I was trying
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  to get as a client. OK.
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  So you got you finished the Air Force, your first job out of
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  college is with this new CPA firm that specializes working
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  with healthcare entities. So you get to understand sort of
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  the financial and business side of the healthcare world.
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  And then you decide to make a transition.
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  You meet Mike Levinson, you relocate to Cincinnati and talk
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  to us about what what that experience was like.
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  Yeah, so Mike was, was a great entrepreneur.
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  I, I actually didn't have to move.
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  So I, because so much of what we do is, is reimbursed by the
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  government. I, I was able to stay in
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  Columbus. The State House is here and it
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  gave me an opportunity to grow the company statewide.
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  It's right, you know, Columbus is right in the middle of the
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  state. So it worked out.
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  Mike at that time served people with intellectual and
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  developmental disabilities in two settings that are two larger
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  settings in Cincinnati. And he had a goal of, of growing
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  his services statewide. He he did an, an amazing job
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  providing the services. I came on as his chief financial
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  officer and vice president of development and put all the
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  financial systems in place, helped him grow the company and
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  take it statewide, grew his company from 12 million to 50
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  million in revenue and took over as president.
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  I I joined Mike in 1994, took over as president in 1998 and
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  unfortunately Mike suffered a brain injury in 1999 that left
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  him permanently deceived. He was, he was young, he was 52,
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  had a 2 month old and a 2 year old son.
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  His wife Andy had never been involved in the business.
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  And it's just a, it was a tragic and difficult experience.
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  Mike was, you know, not only a mentor, but the owner of the
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  company, but he was a friend and somebody that just had a
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  tremendous impact on my life. And so that's really how Life
• 14:21
  Quest was born. You have the sole owner of a
• 14:24
  company, you know, basically incapacitated and then then a
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  call in the hospital on the, the bank was a little bit nervous
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  about how this would all transpire.
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  And I worked with Mike's wife Andy to, to make sure we can
• 14:41
  keep his company going. And so December of 1999, I
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  stepped out from Bioquest and entered into a management
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  agreement to run Mike's company for him, his wife Andy and, and
• 14:53
  their two sons and did that for 10 years.
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  And and she eventually sold to another provider here in Ohio.
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  So as part of this transition, you both started Bioquest and
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  were managing Mike's original company where you were employed,
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  and they're offering roughly the same services.
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  So Mike, you know Mike's company is from the MIC and great, great
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  company offered services in facility based settings.
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  So when I stepped out to form Bioquest, my number one job was
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  to continue to run his company, which we did and then I built
• 15:35
  via Quest from there. Our our strategy was a little
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  bit different than you know, having you know, those facility
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  based operations we would we would do community based
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  operations. So it wasn't a direct
• 15:49
  competition, it was kind of augment.
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  And so everything we've done has been in home and community based
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  settings and that was the big difference.
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  And so he may understand this for from an industry outsider
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  facilities based operations, does that mean that Mike's
• 16:05
  company owned their own facilities or they were
• 16:08
  augmenting staff for facilities that somebody else owned?
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  Yeah, Mike. Mike owned his own facilities,
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  employed the employees and it was a 24 hour residential care
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  setting. And then your strategy was you
• 16:27
  eliminate the the overhead of physical spaces.
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  You don't have to own real estate, you're not renting a
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  space and instead you were going to take care of the staffing
• 16:39
  component that where people need help in their homes.
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  Or what do you mean by community based service?
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  Like where would that service be provide?
• 16:49
  Yeah, so great question. We, we our community based
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  services can mean, you know, just that going into somebody's
• 16:57
  home. If, if you have an intellectual
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  or developmental disability, we can go into the home to provide
• 17:02
  services. It's more likely in, in most of
• 17:06
  the services we provide are in are in typical group home
• 17:09
  settings where you have 3234 individuals with a developmental
• 17:17
  disability living on their own and then we support them to live
• 17:21
  in that community. We support them to live
• 17:24
  residentially on their own, to get jobs, to be active.
• 17:30
  If they have a day program they like to attend, we also provide
• 17:34
  day programming services so they can go there during the day, get
• 17:37
  those community skills, a job if they like, and really be active
• 17:42
  participants in the community. Oh, so that's interesting.
• 17:46
  And so in, in this scenario that you described, you got 234
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  people with mental health or not mental developmental issues that
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  they need some assistance and they're living independently on
• 18:01
  their own, but with the support of someone from your team to
• 18:06
  check in on them, make sure they're OK, get them the
• 18:08
  training, them get jobs, kind of help them find their way through
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  the world. Is that sort of a a high level?
• 18:16
  Yeah, absolutely. That's a we.
• 18:18
  We put the supports around them so they can live in a community
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  and be, you know, productive citizens and, and to do whatever
• 18:25
  they choose to do within the community, whether that choice
• 18:29
  is a job to participate, the programs, you know, make sure
• 18:35
  that they have a very robust life in the community.
• 18:38
  It's interesting. I'm curious, got a few questions
• 18:42
  running through my head here to kind of wrap my head around all
• 18:45
  the services that you guys provide.
• 18:47
  One of the things that I'm looking at your website here, by
• 18:50
  the way, for folks listening, it's viaquestinc.com,
• 18:54
  viaquestinc.com and I'm looking at your locations page and you
• 18:59
  guys are scattered, like, I mean, you're in Cleveland,
• 19:02
  you're in Toledo, you're in Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton,
• 19:04
  Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, like you guys are all over the place.
• 19:09
  How is it that you can sort of manage all of these services
• 19:14
  that you're providing from a distance without having like
• 19:18
  physical locations in each of these geographies?
• 19:23
  Yeah, that's it. It's that's, that's a real
• 19:26
  challenge. You know the one thing that we
• 19:30
  are 100% government reimbursed. So everything that, that all the
• 19:36
  revenue that we get is coming from typically state government,
• 19:41
  federal government. So and when it's at the state
• 19:45
  level, it is the Medicaid budget, which is typically the
• 19:47
  payer of last resort. So all of us providing this
• 19:51
  service and when and when I say all of us, all the providers
• 19:55
  that provide this type of service, who, who and I can't
• 19:58
  say enough about. The companies and people
• 20:01
  dedicated to this field because it is it is absolutely a calling
• 20:06
  and labor of love that changes people's lives.
• 20:09
  The reimbursement's low. So we, we all pretty much pay on
• 20:14
  the same scale, have the same types of benefits, do all those
• 20:18
  things because we're reimbursed the same, our differentiator and
• 20:21
  what we like to focus on. And the biggest part of my job
• 20:25
  is building a culture where people love to come to work,
• 20:30
  feel appreciated, feel that what they do is making a difference.
• 20:33
  So when you have that scattered management, people out in
• 20:38
  individual homes where they don't come into a physical
• 20:40
  office can present a challenge. And, and fortunately, we, we
• 20:44
  just have great, a great management team who really takes
• 20:51
  that culture from the top down and pushes it down to make sure
• 20:55
  that everybody feels connected and everybody understands what
• 20:59
  they do matters and it changes lives.
• 21:02
  And so it is, I mean, it's amazing you picked up on that
• 21:07
  right away. Not many people do, but that,
• 21:09
  that's a big challenge being having that scattered site
• 21:13
  management and people out in the community.
• 21:16
  Our our job, my job and goal is to to make them feel part of
• 21:20
  something bigger that they are changing people's lives.
• 21:24
  It's really interesting to hear you talk about that being the
• 21:27
  differentiator for VIA Quest is building this company culture.
• 21:33
  Because in my mind, I would think, man, that's just going to
• 21:36
  be so hard to do. I don't even know how to begin
• 21:38
  to wrap my arms around it since we don't have, you know, a
• 21:41
  physical presence in these different places and you know,
• 21:44
  everybody's so scattered. Can you maybe give one or two
• 21:47
  examples of how you guys approach fostering that that
• 21:52
  company culture? Yeah, absolutely.
• 21:55
  We, we, we're very deliberate about it.
• 21:58
  So it's, it's very organized. We have a group of, of people
• 22:04
  that that form a, a culture crusaders committee within
• 22:09
  within via quest. And their role is to be that
• 22:12
  leadership committee to make sure that the culture is being
• 22:16
  taken out to every, every branch, every person, every
• 22:21
  geographic region. And so we don't want our values
• 22:26
  to be something that you just splash on a wall.
• 22:28
  We want them lived out every day.
• 22:30
  And their role is to make sure that each and every person
• 22:33
  working for Bioquest is living out of our values.
• 22:36
  So first and foremost, that's we have that leadership committee
• 22:39
  that that goes out and does that, you know, the tentacle of
• 22:43
  our year, we bring people in. We can't bring everybody in from
• 22:49
  the company, but roughly 500 liters into Columbus and have a
• 22:56
  day and a half educational session.
• 23:00
  But it the, the most important part of this is we bring people
• 23:05
  who've been affected by the services that the people in the
• 23:08
  audience provide. So family members, individuals
• 23:13
  themselves, excuse me. And they get the look in the
• 23:17
  eyes of the people that provide that service and tell them how
• 23:21
  much, how much they mean to their loved one, to them
• 23:26
  themselves and how, how important their job is if they
• 23:29
  do make a difference. And, and to see that, I think
• 23:32
  really permeates that culture. They get to, they get to hear
• 23:36
  directly from somebody's life has been changed.
• 23:39
  And it just reminds them the, the work that did our people do
• 23:43
  is so hard. It, it's hard.
• 23:46
  It's 24/7. Everything we do is 24/7.
• 23:49
  And, and it, it, it can take a toll on me.
• 23:52
  So to have that time to be reminded of what they do and how
• 23:56
  it impacts people is it's just it, it has a tremendous impact.
• 24:00
  And and then we have a, you know, kind of an award ceremony
• 24:06
  at night, this raucous affair. I'm telling you tonight, it's
• 24:09
  not some boring more award ceremony, but it's it's
• 24:13
  competitive. People are cheering for each
• 24:15
  other. We give out awards we
• 24:18
  appreciate. It's just a big appreciation for
• 24:22
  what we do. We always open it with a tribute
• 24:25
  to the United States. We present the colors that a
• 24:28
  little patriotic that that gets us back.
• 24:30
  We we do live in the greatest, you know, country in the world.
• 24:34
  From my perspective, we haven't, we, we certainly have our
• 24:37
  issues. And just like any family, you
• 24:39
  know, we have our disagreements and it's never seen a time like
• 24:44
  we see now, but we'll get through it together.
• 24:46
  And we, we just appreciate that, that we're free to, to be able
• 24:50
  to provide this service and that the, the people receiving these
• 24:52
  services are free to live in a community.
• 24:55
  And how powerful is that? There's a couple of great things
• 24:58
  that I want to kind of unpack a little bit there.
• 25:02
  I love what you're describing this annual event that you do.
• 25:05
  I mean, because I, I've never done this kind of work before,
• 25:08
  but I have to imagine as you're describing it, it is tough and
• 25:11
  grueling and probably feels entirely thankless at times.
• 25:16
  And so to be able to bring everybody together, lift them
• 25:19
  up, build them up, you know, kind of have a a good rah rah
• 25:22
  and show them, have them, you know, have like actual families
• 25:27
  and actual clients patience come in and share their stories about
• 25:32
  how meaningful this kind of work has been to them.
• 25:35
  His got to just hit the the right place in the heart for for
• 25:38
  the people who are are on the front lines doing this work
• 25:41
  every day. Absolutely.
• 25:44
  And that, that's it, it, it's, it's, it's our time to be
• 25:48
  together to celebrate the, the many lives we get to change.
• 25:51
  And it's it's powerful. And, and Anthony, the big
• 25:55
  challenge from that is making sure that that feeling and that
• 26:01
  what, what they're experiencing lives on beyond that the, the,
• 26:04
  the conference, the event that we have.
• 26:06
  And so they take it out of there and take it out into the
• 26:11
  operations throughout our three states to make sure everybody
• 26:14
  feels that, yeah. And, and then the other thing I,
• 26:17
  I really like that you started to touch on there was, you know,
• 26:20
  your, your patriotism, you guys, you start the session with, you
• 26:24
  know, a tribute to to America. You, you bring out the stars and
• 26:28
  stripes. And, and while, you know,
• 26:31
  acknowledging that while this is the greatest country in the
• 26:33
  world, I, I tend to agree. I'm a little biased as well
• 26:37
  maybe. But yeah, we, we do have our
• 26:39
  problems like, and I like how you put that like any family
• 26:43
  does. And we'll work through them and
• 26:44
  we'll get through them together. And I think that's a, a really
• 26:47
  great message for everybody to hear anytime.
• 26:50
  But particularly this time of years.
• 26:52
  We're, we're heading into a pretty contentious election
• 26:54
  that, you know, has, has a lot of people on edge and, and I'm
• 26:58
  going to guess that'll maybe a lot and tell me if I'm right or
• 27:02
  wrong here. A lot of the sense of patriotism
• 27:04
  for you comes from having served in the Air Force for four years
• 27:09
  and and having been a veteran. Is am I right on that?
• 27:12
  Yeah, absolutely. It's a it's a way to to honor
• 27:16
  the country we live in. And, and, and the fact that the
• 27:19
  services we provide is, is, is a form of freedom for so many
• 27:23
  people and so many people that that could be, you know,
• 27:27
  forgotten in society and, and they're not forgotten here in
• 27:30
  the United States. And we can't forget that.
• 27:32
  We have to honor that. And that's one way that that we
• 27:35
  do it. And, you know, when I, when I
• 27:37
  open, if you look around that room and, and I'm just guessing
• 27:42
  politically, we don't talk about it too much, but you, you get,
• 27:47
  that's the great melt melting pot.
• 27:49
  I mean, if you look at that audience, yeah, people from
• 27:52
  every walk of life, different races, religions, beliefs,
• 27:58
  everything. But when we get within, you
• 28:01
  know, the four walls, we call the four walls a vehicle W, you
• 28:05
  know, not physical walls, but within, when, when people walk
• 28:08
  through the doors, we have one thing on our mind and it's not
• 28:11
  our differences or political affiliation or anything like
• 28:15
  that. It's serving that person.
• 28:18
  And so we don't engage or talk about, you know, a lot of the
• 28:22
  other things because when we walk through those doors, we are
• 28:25
  united even how different we we may be.
• 28:30
  We are united in that service. And I, I just commend our staff
• 28:33
  for that. I think that's fantastic because
• 28:36
  I, I think a lot of times, especially when politics gets
• 28:39
  involved, we can focus too much on what separates us.
• 28:42
  And the approach that you're describing sounds like you're
• 28:45
  putting the focus on what, what the commonalities are like, what
• 28:49
  brings us together. And that's that that can be a
• 28:52
  pretty powerful way to to build a culture.
• 28:55
  And I do have to say I, I, I tried to make some political
• 28:58
  jokes a few years ago and it, it didn't go over well.
• 29:02
  So I'll never try that again. You learned your lesson, but it
• 29:05
  wasn't so. You learned your lesson, you try
• 29:08
  something new and and you move on.
• 29:10
  That's great. So I, I want to stick with sort
• 29:13
  of this, this patriotism and this veteran theme for a moment
• 29:17
  because a couple of things. One, I understand that you guys
• 29:21
  are the, the largest centrally central Ohio owned veteran
• 29:25
  business and you take great pride in employing a lot of
• 29:31
  veterans. How, how does that process work?
• 29:34
  How do you identify them and help them find jobs in your
• 29:38
  organization? Yeah, we were, we, we take a lot
• 29:43
  of pride in, in the fact that we do, we do hire a great number of
• 29:48
  veterans, which it's, it's not as easy as it sounds.
• 29:51
  So we, we as a nation talk a lot about veterans and we want to
• 29:55
  hire veterans and, and it's important in, in it's easy to
• 30:00
  talk about. And I think that everybody has
• 30:02
  has are genuine when they say that, but the skills that you
• 30:07
  have in the service, unless they're very specific that
• 30:11
  transfer into the the private workforce is, is, is difficult.
• 30:16
  So the first thing that we do is make sure that we provide the
• 30:19
  training to allow people to make that transition from the service
• 30:24
  into into via quest. But we also, and, and we do have
• 30:29
  a, a great number of of veterans in every division that we have
• 30:34
  in, in so far behavioral, our health division.
• 30:39
  We have some leaders, some psychiatric nurse practitioners
• 30:43
  who served and who, who also serve in, in the Paralympic
• 30:49
  Games and the Veterans Games and do a lot of those different
• 30:54
  types of things. But we, we do put a strong focus
• 30:58
  on it because we know, and we always say and kind of, you
• 31:01
  know, it's snapshot of Southwest Airlines, you know, hire for
• 31:04
  attitude, train for skill. That's that's what we try to do.
• 31:08
  And so if you're hiring, you know, for attitude or hiring for
• 31:12
  those values, you know, with, with veterans, you're getting
• 31:15
  that certain type that, that those values, you know what you
• 31:19
  can expect you're going to show up.
• 31:21
  They're going to give it their all.
• 31:23
  They're going to, they may not have the the job may not match
• 31:26
  exactly what they did in the service, but you know they're
• 31:29
  going to give everything they can to make it successful.
• 31:32
  So how do the veterans find you or how do you find them?
• 31:35
  How does sort of this matchmaking take place?
• 31:37
  There's a lot of great veterans platforms that you that you can
• 31:43
  you can post on where veterans coming out of the service.
• 31:47
  Years ago, we were the first private company that contracted
• 31:52
  with the government. We went to Fort Bragg and so
• 31:54
  anybody separating through Fort Bragg, which at that point in
• 31:59
  time this was, this was dating back ten years ago, more people
• 32:04
  separated from the service through Fort Bragg than any
• 32:07
  other installation. We not only helped them find
• 32:11
  jobs, we connected them with, if they needed mental health
• 32:15
  counseling, if they needed medical treatment, we connected
• 32:21
  them into their communities that they were going back to.
• 32:23
  It was great. It was a pilot project for the,
• 32:26
  for the Armed Services and it was a great pilot project.
• 32:29
  So we, we took that experience and really applied it to our
• 32:33
  everyday, making sure we know where veterans are going to look
• 32:37
  for jobs. We, we reach out to those
• 32:40
  veterans organizations, make sure that we're prominent, that
• 32:43
  people know who we are, what we do and how we can, how we can
• 32:47
  reach them. Social media, I mean, through
• 32:50
  social media we're very big, you know, making sure veterans know
• 32:55
  what jobs are available through social media.
• 32:58
  That's great. And then news that you just
• 33:01
  provided me the other day, which is pretty exciting.
• 33:04
  You're going to be inducted into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame
• 33:08
  later this year, November of 2024.
• 33:10
  How did that come to be? Well, it's a, it's a big
• 33:14
  surprise to me to be so our government relations firm, Andy
• 33:19
  Herff, who works with the Shoemaker advisors when,
• 33:23
  whenever you go to, you know, downtown Columbus and you're,
• 33:27
  you're educating our legislature on the services we provide.
• 33:32
  And we and, and so here in Ohio, the direct support professional,
• 33:39
  which is the frontline person providing services to people
• 33:42
  with intellectual developmental disabilities, they've been
• 33:45
  underpaid for so long because our reimbursement has been so
• 33:49
  low. And so the provider community in
• 33:51
  Ohio got together and said this has to change.
• 33:55
  They're the, the job that the direct support professionals and
• 33:59
  everybody in in this field what it, it needed to change.
• 34:04
  We need a better reimbursement. So we spent a lot of time at the
• 34:07
  legislature. When you go down that escalator,
• 34:12
  the Veterans Hall of Fame has a wall there.
• 34:15
  And we would sit and, and I knew some people that were in it, It
• 34:19
  it, it's just a great honor. And we'd look at it.
• 34:21
  And unbeknownst to me, or, or Andy nominated me and, and you
• 34:28
  know, General Ashenhurst gave me a call.
• 34:32
  I thought I was in trouble. We provide some better, Sir.
• 34:35
  I When you called by the general, you think you're in
• 34:37
  trouble. You've been called to the
• 34:39
  principals office, Rich. You got it, got it.
• 34:42
  And she let me know that I'm going to be one of the inductees
• 34:46
  coming up November 7th. And what, what a tremendous
• 34:48
  honor. And it touched me and I, I
• 34:51
  couldn't speak for a few minutes because here I'm thinking I'm
• 34:53
  getting taken to the carpet. I got a little emotional.
• 34:56
  So it would have been an honor. And I'm grateful to, to Andy and
• 34:59
  our chief operating officer, Emily Stickley, and my assistant
• 35:04
  Diana Baer. They, they all behind the
• 35:06
  scenes. Boy, you know I'm a little bit
• 35:10
  concerned because now I know they all can keep the secrets.
• 35:13
  Wonder what else they're keeping from me?
• 35:15
  Well, fortunately, in this case, they use their powers for good,
• 35:18
  so and this, this ceremony, this induction will take place in
• 35:23
  Columbus, OH. It will it's going to be at Ohio
• 35:27
  State University Faucet Center and the governor's going to be
• 35:31
  there. And it's, it's just a tremendous
• 35:33
  honor. And, but with the class, I'm
• 35:34
  very humbled with the, the people that I'm being inducted
• 35:39
  with. It's, it's, it's not only
• 35:42
  humbling, but I, I sometimes I have to ask myself, how did I
• 35:45
  get ahead? And so it's just a great honor.
• 35:48
  That's terrific. And is this open to the public
• 35:50
  or is this like an invite only kind of thing?
• 35:53
  It is. It's open to the public, OK,
• 35:56
  right. Well, congratulations on that
• 35:59
  honor. Look forward to hearing about
• 36:01
  how the ceremony goes. OK.
• 36:03
  So rips, there's there are other companies that provide similar
• 36:07
  types of services and at least most of the ones that I'm
• 36:12
  familiar with have come across they're they're smaller, right.
• 36:15
  For somebody who set up, they've hired a few people.
• 36:17
  What is it that has allowed you and by a quest to grow so
• 36:24
  successfully and so quickly to so many different geographies?
• 36:28
  What is it that you're doing that's different?
• 36:31
  Yeah. And by far, by far the reason
• 36:36
  we've been able to do this is, is the people we have.
• 36:38
  I know that can sound a little cliched, but it's not.
• 36:42
  I mean, it's, it's, it's the truth that that we have leaders
• 36:47
  and that really when we get together every year, we don't
• 36:52
  say never. I've never said, OK, what when
• 36:55
  we put our budgets together, what, what numbers do we want to
• 36:58
  hit? What's the revenue numbers?
• 36:59
  What's the number? We don't look at it that way.
• 37:02
  We look at how many lives do we want to change And, and you
• 37:06
  know, it's, it's, it's simply that we have leaders that want
• 37:10
  to impact people's lives and make sure they're living their
• 37:13
  best life. And that's how we've been able
• 37:16
  to grow. We've taken opportunities to
• 37:18
  grow. And it's all about making sure
• 37:23
  that that, that no one is left. Indeed, if there's somebody out
• 37:27
  there with the need, want services, we want to do it.
• 37:31
  And it's, it's, it's really because of those leaders and
• 37:35
  our, our psychiatric and behavioral solutions division
• 37:40
  has grown a great deal in the last several years.
• 37:43
  We not only provide behavioral health services to the people we
• 37:47
  serve within electional developmental disabilities, but
• 37:49
  we go into skilled nursing facilities, which was a
• 37:52
  relatively new service. And so to provide that service,
• 37:59
  you know, especially if you think of COVID not being able to
• 38:02
  get into some of the skilled nursing facilities and being
• 38:05
  able to, we, we did a lot through telepsychiatry, but it,
• 38:11
  it, it just, it's a calling and a passion.
• 38:14
  You know, whether it's our our therapist or our therapeutic
• 38:18
  behavioral support or psychiatric nurse practitioners,
• 38:21
  they, they know what the service, they know that the
• 38:25
  services we provide change lives.
• 38:27
  So they are motivated to provide that services to more people to
• 38:32
  help change their lives. So that's really how we've
• 38:34
  drawn. We've just taken those
• 38:36
  opportunities and it comes from our employee base that it has a
• 38:40
  charge and a passion to expand those services.
• 38:44
  I really like something that you said.
• 38:46
  You don't look at what's the revenue number that we want to
• 38:49
  hit. You look at how many lives do we
• 38:51
  want to change this year? And it's a subtle but a very
• 38:57
  important difference, I think. Because if you want to motivate
• 39:01
  your entire team of people, you know, saying, oh, we've got to
• 39:05
  hit this revenue number, that's going to motivate a handful of
• 39:08
  people, right? The people who are going to be
• 39:10
  maybe more directly impacted by that.
• 39:12
  But to have your focus be on how can we affect more lives, how
• 39:17
  can we help more people this year?
• 39:19
  And that's something that's easy for everyone to get on board
• 39:21
  with, right? You got it 100%.
• 39:25
  And it comes from them. I mean, it's they, they inspire,
• 39:28
  it's they, it, it comes directly from them.
• 39:31
  And, and again, it's, it's, you know, when we talk about our
• 39:36
  behavioral health division, our director of development, Kayla,
• 39:41
  Kayla Bell, you know, it's, it's her passion to make sure that
• 39:46
  nobody goes unserved. And her team, it's grown a great
• 39:51
  deal because they wake up every day and say, where can we go
• 39:56
  that somebody doesn't is not getting services and how can we
• 40:00
  apply these services in these facilities?
• 40:03
  And it's, it's been, it's been amazing to watch.
• 40:07
  How do you think about and choose new locations, new
• 40:12
  geographies to move into? Yeah, we, we, we do it, you
• 40:18
  know, strategically, we look at what the opportunities are first
• 40:21
  and foremost. Where can we hire?
• 40:24
  You know, there is a, a shortage of workers that we're faced with
• 40:29
  in the United States, especially healthcare workers.
• 40:32
  So we need, if we're going to expand, we need to make sure we
• 40:35
  can hire people. So we look at that first and
• 40:37
  foremost. And then what are those
• 40:39
  opportunities? What does that look like?
• 40:42
  We want to make sure that we're not spreading ourselves too
• 40:44
  thin, that if we move to a geographic location that we can
• 40:50
  provide those supports and that somebody's not out there on
• 40:53
  their own that we can wrap those services around.
• 40:57
  The number of lives that you want to affect?
• 40:59
  Is that something you feel comfortable sharing here?
• 41:02
  How many lives are we trying to affect in 2024 and beyond?
• 41:08
  Great question, Anthony. And it, it's, it's division by
• 41:11
  division. And I, I would be lying to you
• 41:14
  if I said I even knew what the, they, they come up with it.
• 41:18
  And I don't, I don't know that that number off the top of my
• 41:22
  head. I I appreciate your honesty and
• 41:23
  this actually leads perfectly into my next question because
• 41:27
  you know when, when you started the business, I'm going to guess
• 41:31
  Rich Johnson, you wore a lot of different hats.
• 41:32
  You had your fingers in pretty much everything and being in
• 41:37
  start up mode and being in the mode that you are now where you
• 41:41
  employ so many people across so many different geographies.
• 41:46
  There has to have been a huge evolution in the way you have
• 41:53
  been involved with the company and the the way that you need to
• 41:57
  sort of level up and, and leverage your own skills.
• 42:01
  You know, wearing all the hats, having your fingers and
• 42:03
  everything at the beginning is not going to work when you're at
• 42:07
  this size. Talk to me about how you've kind
• 42:11
  of made that transition through different stages of growth.
• 42:16
  Yeah, it, it, it was difficult. So, you know, being a little bit
• 42:21
  of a control freak and then, you know, I as, as an accountant,
• 42:27
  pay a lot of attention to the details and so very detailed
• 42:31
  involved in a lot of different things.
• 42:33
  But as we've grown, I, I have found it's, it's, it's
• 42:38
  interesting because you feel if I was, I was a great detailed
• 42:43
  person, I'll always be a detailed person.
• 42:46
  And, and that doesn't really hold true.
• 42:48
  You know, I'm good at it. They, they don't let me look at
• 42:51
  the, you know, financials a whole lot now.
• 42:53
  I used to be really good at that as ACFO and you, you kind of
• 42:58
  lose sight of that. And as you grow, you know, my
• 43:02
  vision is more on the, the global macro level and the, the
• 43:08
  way that we've been able to do it is through our leaders.
• 43:12
  We have a lot of people who've been here for a long time.
• 43:15
  Our chief operating officer, Emily Stickley, she and I have
• 43:17
  worked together for 18 years and she grew up in in the industry.
• 43:24
  She's just does an amazing job. She's better than than than I
• 43:31
  ever was doing the things that she's doing.
• 43:36
  And so, you know, I've grown, she's grown into that and, and
• 43:40
  growing up in the company, she knows what, you know, what's
• 43:45
  important from a value perspective and what we won't
• 43:48
  compromise. And she does an amazing job of
• 43:51
  leading that. Our chief financial officer,
• 43:53
  Michael Bell, you know, being a being ACFO.
• 43:58
  And that's where I came from. I sat in that seat.
• 44:01
  When you're in healthcare, it's it's a real, it's a real
• 44:04
  different dichotomy because, yeah, you have to be good at the
• 44:07
  numbers. You have to make sure that we're
• 44:08
  being fiscally responsible, but we have people's lives in our
• 44:12
  hands. So it's not a you, you just, you
• 44:15
  can't stick to just the, the numbers.
• 44:17
  And you, you really got to, you got to balance the, the fact
• 44:23
  that we are providing services, people's lives are in our hands
• 44:26
  with being physically responsible.
• 44:28
  And that's not an easy task. Or between our CFO, Michael and
• 44:33
  and Emily, they work very closely together.
• 44:36
  They don't always get along, which I wouldn't expect them to
• 44:38
  because you have numbers and you have operations, but they do it
• 44:42
  well and make sure that the mission is never compromised.
• 44:46
  And so and, and then when you go from there and look at the
• 44:49
  leaders of each of our divisions and within those they, they just
• 44:54
  do an amazing job to where my focus is more globally on the
• 45:01
  culture, making sure that people are living out our values for
• 45:07
  help, making them feel appreciated and driving that
• 45:10
  vision versus being involved in the day-to-day.
• 45:14
  You don't often see a company founder still be successfully
• 45:21
  involved with a company that's grown to the size of yours
• 45:24
  because it's a different mentality, different
• 45:28
  personality, different skill set that's required in those early
• 45:31
  days than it is to be able to step back and sort of look at
• 45:34
  things from, you know, global perspective like you're
• 45:36
  describing. I'm curious, were there any
• 45:40
  mentors or trainings or things that you found helpful in kind
• 45:45
  of coaching you through that transition?
• 45:49
  Yeah, I, I've always been a I feel that we always have to
• 45:55
  continually be learning. So I, I'm a, you know, ferocious
• 45:59
  reader. So I read and, and the, the we
• 46:03
  read good fortune of living here in the United States.
• 46:05
  We have a lot of great examples. So, you know, the one thing I
• 46:10
  really had to let let go of is, you know, my ego and making sure
• 46:16
  that that you know, because it did in a certain way and was
• 46:22
  over certain things at one point in time, I needed to let that
• 46:25
  go. So I wouldn't say there's one,
• 46:28
  one person that did help mentor me, but a lot of people who have
• 46:32
  been so blessed with having a great advisors around it,
• 46:36
  whether it's our attorneys or our CPA firm and people that I
• 46:39
  could pick up the phone and call and just take their individual
• 46:42
  experiences. You know, I encourage everybody
• 46:45
  to have that good team around them and just pick their brains
• 46:49
  because they, they, whether it's my, my long time attorney who,
• 46:54
  who just did amazing work as we grew, he represented a lot of
• 47:00
  other clients. He could give you advice on what
• 47:02
  they, he saw them do. Same with our CPA firm and
• 47:05
  different, you know, different professionals that could provide
• 47:09
  that. And, and, and to this day, just
• 47:11
  continually learning, we this podcast, I mean, one of an
• 47:15
  amazing gift that you're giving people to help them learn.
• 47:19
  I mean that, so we have access to podcasts like this.
• 47:25
  We have access to, to, to books and, and whether you read or
• 47:30
  listen to it information like we've never had.
• 47:33
  And, and, and I, I don't take them for granted.
• 47:35
  I I make sure that I'm always trying to learn.
• 47:39
  That's excellent. That's a piece of advice I try
• 47:41
  to get my little kids every day, you know, they look at dad and
• 47:46
  they think that I've got the answers and I know everything
• 47:48
  and they can't wait to be, you know, out of school so they can,
• 47:51
  you know, stop learning. And I say, oh, no, said if
• 47:54
  you're doing it right, you are learning something new every
• 47:56
  day. I, I and I put myself in those
• 47:58
  same shoes. So a, a great lesson for my 8
• 48:01
  and 10 year old, a great lesson for me to hear again, great
• 48:03
  lesson for our listeners to be reminded of, to, to always be
• 48:07
  learning new things. You know, I, I'm curious to hear
• 48:11
  your perspective on this, Rich, a lot of folks I talked to on
• 48:14
  this podcast, you know, they're still experiencing a very tight
• 48:18
  labor market. It's hard to find good folks.
• 48:21
  It's hard to hold on to good folks.
• 48:23
  I think, you know, the, what you shared before about all the
• 48:28
  effort that you put into building a company culture, it
• 48:32
  goes a long way to holding on to good folks and, and keeping
• 48:37
  them, you know, at the company. But I think, you know, you even
• 48:42
  said at the beginning of the interview, like you and your
• 48:45
  competitors, you get the same government reimbursements.
• 48:47
  So you're making the same amount of money, you have the same
• 48:50
  amount of to dole out to folks in terms of pay and benefits
• 48:54
  and, and all of that. So what are some things that
• 48:58
  you've tried and are are finding that is working for you to help
• 49:03
  recruit those folks into your organization to begin with?
• 49:09
  Yeah. And, and I, I think first and
• 49:12
  foremost, we, we, we try to focus on retention because, you
• 49:16
  know, trying as, as you said, you know, we, we have a real
• 49:19
  workforce challenge and there's a shortage of people coming into
• 49:25
  the workforce. So our first and foremost, we
• 49:27
  want to make sure that we're retaining people.
• 49:29
  So we, we do spend a great deal of time reaching out to our
• 49:34
  employees and making sure whether it's through very simple
• 49:38
  surveys and it starts with the, with the day they're hired.
• 49:44
  What, how are we doing from an orientation?
• 49:46
  What are we making them feel like when they walk through the
• 49:48
  doors? How are we training them,
• 49:51
  equipping them to be successful when they're on, you know,
• 49:55
  thirty, 6090 days? We're constantly seeking
• 49:58
  feedback from them because we found it within the first six
• 50:02
  months. If we can keep somebody and they
• 50:04
  get acclimated into our culture, we're going to keep, but we, you
• 50:08
  can lose a lot of people within those first six months to a
• 50:10
  year. So we're constantly seeking
• 50:14
  feedback. What are we doing well?
• 50:16
  What could we do better? Any suggestions you may have?
• 50:20
  And having a workforce that's out in the community can, can be
• 50:24
  difficult. So making sure that we're
• 50:26
  connecting with them, getting their feedback and input.
• 50:32
  And, and I think that they, I think, you know, once we have
• 50:35
  that, if, if people are happy, it helps with the recruiting
• 50:40
  process because they're going to refer their friends or their
• 50:43
  families. And we have, you know, referral
• 50:45
  bonuses for, for our employees if they bring somebody else in
• 50:50
  that we want that we believe. We, we really do believe in
• 50:54
  nepotism because if you're happy and you want to share that, you
• 50:59
  know, you're going to bring a family member and her friend.
• 51:02
  And, and I, I know that there was a time where that was not
• 51:05
  looked upon favorably, But, you know, I, I have to say that
• 51:08
  because, you know, all three of my kids work for the company
• 51:11
  and, you know, my son-in-law. So we, we believe and it's in
• 51:15
  our blood. And so I think it all, I think
• 51:19
  it all evolves around if people are happy, then that helps with
• 51:26
  the recruiting process and, and, and so that's, that's really
• 51:31
  what we focus. On nothing more powerful than
• 51:34
  word of mouth and, and I'm curious, what's the approach?
• 51:39
  So we talked about recruiting, retaining staff, how do you find
• 51:42
  new clients? What's that process look like
• 51:44
  for you? It's, it's really different
• 51:48
  depending on what division it is.
• 51:50
  So we, we do have referral sources that did in, in all
• 51:55
  three divisions. So here in Ohio, you know, we're
• 51:58
  blessed. We have, we have county boards
• 52:00
  of developmental disabilities doing an amazing job and, and so
• 52:05
  partnering with them, they're responsible for that care
• 52:07
  coordination for people with disabilities.
• 52:09
  So we, we really focus on building a great working
• 52:14
  relationship with our county boards, making sure that we are
• 52:18
  working with skilled nursing facility operators.
• 52:22
  Boy, they, they, they've got a tough job and, and, you know,
• 52:26
  being in healthcare, every day a new regulation comes on.
• 52:30
  So you're getting pounded. And certainly that's so with the
• 52:34
  skilled nursing facility community right now.
• 52:36
  How can we be a better partner to you to come in and, and
• 52:38
  provide services to the people living in, in, in your
• 52:42
  communities? And then you know that, that,
• 52:46
  and, and then on the Hospice side, working with hospitals,
• 52:51
  working with skilled nursing physicians, you know, making
• 52:54
  sure, you know, that's a conversation that physicians,
• 52:58
  we're always comfortable having that, that your loved one may
• 53:01
  need Hospice at some point in time.
• 53:03
  How can we help you as the physician?
• 53:06
  If we can have that conversation, how can we make it
• 53:09
  easier? And I, I think physicians are
• 53:12
  doing such a great job. They've educated themselves on
• 53:15
  the Hospice benefit and are able to have those conversations.
• 53:18
  So you have to be fully engaged in the communities because
• 53:23
  that's where we're going to get. Rich, what's a serious challenge
• 53:28
  that you've had to overcome either in your business or your
• 53:30
  personal life and. What did you?
• 53:32
  Learn from that experience. Yeah, so I I've had several
• 53:39
  different big challenges. The first, you know, was was
• 53:42
  Mike getting sick? I mean that, you know, that that
• 53:47
  that affected me personally just because here's my mentor and my
• 53:52
  friend and how that's affecting him and, and the the weight of
• 53:58
  that to make sure that his his company could survive.
• 54:01
  And then right on top of that was the financial cross crisis
• 54:06
  of O eight O 9. So we, you know, we're a
• 54:13
  relatively new company at that point time had been been around
• 54:17
  for, for 10 years, had our legs under us, didn't have a whole
• 54:22
  lot of debt. But everything we do, we don't
• 54:26
  have physical, any physical plans.
• 54:28
  We don't have facilities, we don't have homes, we don't have
• 54:31
  anything. Everything's receivables.
• 54:34
  And when the banks got in trouble, the bank that we were a
• 54:39
  part of and, and were funded for was having an especially
• 54:44
  difficult time. So they looked at, they looked
• 54:46
  at all of their customers that didn't have physical assets.
• 54:50
  They posed a risk which we would be 1.
• 54:53
  And I'll never forget that it was a, it was a Friday
• 54:56
  afternoon. And I had been asking for the
• 55:00
  better part of the year that our, our line of credit needed
• 55:02
  to be extended because we grew and as you grow, your
• 55:06
  receivables grow. We needed to grow the line of
• 55:08
  credit. And I've been on them quite a
• 55:10
  bit. And I got a call and said, well,
• 55:12
  we like to come out. And I said, oh, it's been time.
• 55:16
  They're coming out to extend my line of credit.
• 55:19
  And the more I thought about it. So it's 4:30 Friday.
• 55:23
  They're not coming to to extend our credit.
• 55:26
  So they walked in and said that they stripped off cash out of
• 55:31
  our our account, paid down the line of credit, not fully, and
• 55:36
  then asked us to leave the bank and that, that you know,
• 55:42
  everything that we do. And basically they would not
• 55:46
  lend us another dime. So we had to operate on our
• 55:49
  cash, which they had just taken the cash and paid down the line
• 55:53
  of credit. So I, I had a payroll, I had to
• 55:55
  come up with $500,000 over the weekend and in the Monday to
• 56:01
  fund our payroll. And I, I was just very grateful
• 56:06
  we had, we had somebody that we worked with that owed US money.
• 56:12
  But if they, it wasn't due for another six months.
• 56:14
  And I I called him he was a business owner himself skilled
• 56:18
  nursing facility operator does does a great job here in Ohio
• 56:22
  and explain the situation. So he he paid us early so we can
• 56:27
  be paid for the next year to year and a half that that was
• 56:32
  our life was making sure that we can meet number one make sure we
• 56:37
  can pay people and we paid a lot of people late work the phones
• 56:42
  called vendors. I mean, this was this really
• 56:46
  shows you what what American the American people are about,
• 56:49
  because I I would call people and say I can't pay you.
• 56:53
  I will make it right. But if you work with me and
• 56:57
  nobody, nobody made a move on us and allowed us to do that.
• 57:03
  There were worse. We were paying, you know, some
• 57:07
  of our benefits late. And so we work the phones, you
• 57:12
  know, constantly between our finance department, myself
• 57:16
  asking people to stick with this.
• 57:18
  And it was horrible. You know, we, we never missed a
• 57:20
  payroll. There are a lot of people who
• 57:22
  didn't get paid. And it took us, it took us about
• 57:25
  a year, year and a half to get another bank engaged because at
• 57:30
  that time, if you remember the bank, you know, no bank is
• 57:33
  taking on new, new customers. So we, we spent a year and a
• 57:38
  half. And so if you think about that,
• 57:42
  our employees, some of their benefits weren't getting paid.
• 57:45
  So they're hearing it from their spouses, they're hearing it from
• 57:48
  their physicians. And so it, it was a terrible
• 57:52
  time in, in the world in the United States.
• 57:55
  But, and now our employees have the most difficult job you can
• 57:58
  imagine. Now they're getting it on a
• 58:00
  personal side, but our our turnover was less than it's ever
• 58:07
  been in that sixty months, 18 months.
• 58:11
  And our employee satisfaction was the highest it's ever been.
• 58:15
  People literally said, I have another job that will pay me a
• 58:18
  lot more money and I won't have these headaches, but I can't
• 58:21
  leave because if I leave, that's going to show people that we
• 58:26
  provide services to that the company's not stayed and it
• 58:30
  could affect their life. So we're staying and people
• 58:34
  stayed and they took the, you know, later on they may have
• 58:37
  taken that job. It was the most that that just
• 58:40
  shows the the fabric of this nation and the company and and
• 58:46
  those those are the types of employees we have.
• 58:50
  So if there's. Who's listening that was
• 58:54
  skeptical about Mike's or I'm sorry Mike about Rich's
• 58:58
  discussion on building company culture?
• 59:04
  Replay the last 45 seconds of what Rich had to say there
• 59:09
  during the most challenging part of the company's history, when
• 59:14
  they struggled to make payroll. They couldn't always pay
• 59:17
  benefits. Everybody that works there knows
• 59:21
  that the company is on shaky financial ground.
• 59:25
  They have the highest employee satisfaction rates and the
• 59:29
  lowest employee turnover rates ever.
• 59:35
  I I can think of no other thing to attribute that to then
• 59:39
  loyalty by way of an incredibly strong company culture.
• 59:45
  Am I missing something Rich? Is there something else at play?
• 59:48
  No, and I, I think it really goes to the, the type of people
• 59:54
  that do the work. It's a calling and and they
• 59:58
  really sacrifice for the people we serve.
• 1:00:03
  I mean, they give, they give everything they have.
• 1:00:05
  I I've, I I've never. Been a part of anything like it.
• 1:00:11
  It was truly amazing. Every day there was a story or
• 1:00:16
  somebody that could have moved on to a better life, a better
• 1:00:21
  position, but wouldn't because they they did not want to
• 1:00:25
  disrupt the lives of the people we served.
• 1:00:27
  They felt that if they were the first one out, then other people
• 1:00:31
  would follow and then it would be a domino effect.
• 1:00:33
  And we stayed and and became stronger because of it.
• 1:00:37
  I'm only here today because of those people, I mean.
• 1:00:39
  Yeah. So, So how did you eventually
• 1:00:42
  get another bank to work with you during this time?
• 1:00:45
  Because it wasn't like the economy came back like this,
• 1:00:48
  right? It was a slow process.
• 1:00:52
  Yeah, we, we eventually went with a specialty lender.
• 1:00:56
  So you have banks that, you know, everybody knows the
• 1:00:59
  requirements of those, but there are some specialty lenders and
• 1:01:01
  healthcare that, that lend off of your receivables and they get
• 1:01:06
  paid a premium for that. So it's a little bit expensive.
• 1:01:09
  It was a road we'd never taken. So I didn't have a whole lot of
• 1:01:12
  context. So I, I do know a lot of people
• 1:01:14
  within the industry and try to participate, you know, in, in
• 1:01:19
  industry types of functions. So with the help of our
• 1:01:22
  attorneys, with the help of other people, got connected to
• 1:01:24
  the right people. And, but even then, once we got
• 1:01:28
  the introduction, just to get through their credit committee
• 1:01:30
  and get, you know, get comfortable with the fact people
• 1:01:35
  had to be confident that we were going to survive.
• 1:01:38
  So even though all the metrics may have been there for a
• 1:01:42
  specialty lender to take us on month three, they didn't do it
• 1:01:47
  because they could see that the company could tip one way or
• 1:01:51
  another. After a year of seeing that our
• 1:01:55
  employees stayed, seeing the fact that we've, we, we kind of
• 1:01:59
  strung this together by collecting cash and paying bills
• 1:02:03
  and, and doing it. They they saw the fortitude of
• 1:02:07
  the company and said we're going to, we're going to take a chance
• 1:02:10
  on this company. Have you been able to transition
• 1:02:13
  back to a relationship with a more traditional bank with more
• 1:02:16
  favorable lending terms or are you still with that that same
• 1:02:19
  organization from years ago? Yeah.
• 1:02:21
  No, we, we were, we were fortunate to, to be able to
• 1:02:26
  transition and, and I can't say enough about about them.
• 1:02:30
  It was it was geminal financing took a chance on this and then
• 1:02:34
  we we partnered with KeyBank here in Central Ohio and and the
• 1:02:41
  person that is servicer account Roger Campbell and and Melissa
• 1:02:45
  Ingerson, who is the the president over the Columbus.
• 1:02:49
  They, they, they, not only we, we, we were not only a customer,
• 1:02:53
  but they would come to our ending and they would see the
• 1:02:57
  services we provide. And in it they became part of
• 1:03:00
  that, that, that family could see that.
• 1:03:03
  And so they've become one of our biggest advocates to, to bank
• 1:03:06
  with us and to, to help us be successful.
• 1:03:09
  And, and that's something we've always tried to do is if we can,
• 1:03:14
  you know, our employees get, you know, first opportunity to come
• 1:03:18
  to, to our conference. But we do like to bring some of
• 1:03:22
  our very important partners in so they can see and looked at
• 1:03:27
  people in the eye that it's more than just numbers on a page.
• 1:03:31
  It's more than just a financial. It's, it's, it's a, it's a
• 1:03:35
  calling to serve people in the community and serve, serve a
• 1:03:40
  group of people that, that that could be forgotten in society.
• 1:03:45
  Rich, what's a fun or interesting fact that most
• 1:03:49
  people wouldn't know about you? Fun fact about about me, I guess
• 1:03:56
  so humor is one of our values. So, you know, our values just
• 1:04:03
  happened to spell choice. We didn't go down that road.
• 1:04:06
  So it's customer service, the humor, second ownership
• 1:04:10
  integrity, you know, creativity and excellence.
• 1:04:15
  And so humor is important. So I like to have fun.
• 1:04:18
  And so this should be an easy question for me.
• 1:04:20
  What? What would be a fun fact, But
• 1:04:24
  well, I'm blanking on on blame it on something that I could say
• 1:04:28
  that's appropriate. I like.
• 1:04:34
  You you have a good joke. You have a good.
• 1:04:35
  Joke to share with us. I don't is it?
• 1:04:38
  Humor guy no. OK, that fair enough.
• 1:04:41
  So one more question for you before we go Rich, before I, I
• 1:04:46
  get to that, I want to do 2 things for those listening
• 1:04:48
  today. If you like today's content,
• 1:04:50
  please hit the like share subscribe button on your
• 1:04:52
  favorite podcast app. Rich Johnson, I also want to
• 1:04:55
  tell people the best way to get in touch with you.
• 1:04:57
  What would that be? Thank you, you, you did that
• 1:05:01
  Anthony on, you know, vyquestinc.com to check us out
• 1:05:05
  on, on our website. It has all the information there
• 1:05:09
  and, and it shows all the great work that that our people do.
• 1:05:12
  So that's the easiest way to get contact.
• 1:05:15
  Viaquestinc.com And then last question for you, Rich.
• 1:05:18
  I'm curious, how do you see your industry evolving in the next
• 1:05:22
  few years? What do you think the big
• 1:05:23
  changes are that are coming? I think it's, it's an important
• 1:05:28
  time for, for I think innovation and how is AI going to play into
• 1:05:32
  that? So when you when you get
• 1:05:34
  reimbursed a, a fixed amount from the government, you got to
• 1:05:38
  be as efficient, as efficient as possible.
• 1:05:41
  If you can, if you can use technology, there's never going
• 1:05:46
  to be enough people. So it's not a function that
• 1:05:48
  technology is going to replace people.
• 1:05:50
  Just it can't happen. The numbers just don't don't fit
• 1:05:53
  in healthcare. So how can we, how can we use
• 1:05:59
  technology to become more efficient on on the back end so
• 1:06:04
  people can spend more time face to face with the people we
• 1:06:08
  serve? And that's the most important
• 1:06:10
  thing. And as Healthcare is an industry
• 1:06:13
  bedside, you know, our nurses take for instance, in the
• 1:06:16
  Hospice, they got in the Hospice, they want to spend time
• 1:06:19
  with the patient at the bedside, But we, there's so many
• 1:06:22
  requirements on, on documentation.
• 1:06:26
  There's, they're spending time looking at a computer when they
• 1:06:29
  should be looking at, into the face of somebody they're
• 1:06:31
  serving. How can we use technology to get
• 1:06:34
  them to provide that service face to face better and faster?
• 1:06:38
  And I, I think it's a very important time to leverage that
• 1:06:42
  technology. I think AIA lot of people are,
• 1:06:45
  are nervous about it. I'm I'm one excited about it
• 1:06:48
  because if they can free up time for people able to spend more
• 1:06:52
  time on that direct contact, the better it will be.
• 1:06:54
  How do you see AI playing into this?
• 1:06:57
  Are there any tools or examples of it being used in your field
• 1:07:01
  yet? Yes.
• 1:07:04
  A tremendous and you know, our, our IT department, our CIO Samir
• 1:07:09
  Bogarva has done an amazing job. So when we have a lot of shifts
• 1:07:14
  to fill, I mean, we have 3800 employees and we, we're 24/7.
• 1:07:19
  So a lot of those shifts were, were manual processes.
• 1:07:23
  If somebody called off, if somebody couldn't cover shift,
• 1:07:25
  you work the phones, you know who, who, who has hours
• 1:07:30
  available, who's not worked so many hours.
• 1:07:33
  And so it was a very manual process of people working the
• 1:07:35
  phones. Now that's all electronic and
• 1:07:38
  you can use AI in that RPA process to where the computer
• 1:07:44
  actually does and it scans who's worked, who's eligible to work
• 1:07:47
  for that particular person, who has hours available, who has who
• 1:07:51
  geographically, who's the closest, and it narrows it down
• 1:07:55
  and can fire out an e-mail or a text to see who can pick up a
• 1:07:58
  shift. It's had a tremendous impact
• 1:08:01
  that, and that's just one example.
• 1:08:04
  I mean the amount of hours it saves people from working phones
• 1:08:09
  and trying to fill shifts is incredible.
• 1:08:11
  Well, it's fascinating. It's certainly an interesting
• 1:08:14
  topic to keep an eye on. Well, Rich Johnson of Viaquest,
• 1:08:18
  I want to be the first to thank you for sharing both your time
• 1:08:21
  and your story with us today. I really appreciate it.
• 1:08:24
  Well, Anthony, I, I appreciate you and you know the funny part
• 1:08:27
  about when you asked a fun fact about the I I was clear as clown
• 1:08:31
  on my classroom. I know how it was fun and I even
• 1:08:35
  I I totally whiffed on that one. Put you on the spot?
• 1:08:38
  Well, does something come to mind yet or are you still sort
• 1:08:41
  of stuck? Well, I I get stuck because it's
• 1:08:44
  the appropriateness of I could come up with some really good
• 1:08:46
  stuff, you know, you're coming up, but the.
• 1:08:49
  PG version of it's a little more difficult.
• 1:08:52
  You got it. Yeah.
• 1:08:53
  Well, you've been a great host. And my gosh, you, you pick up on
• 1:08:58
  things. I mean, an amazing host.
• 1:09:01
  So thank you for what you do and you're doing great work.
• 1:09:04
  I thank you, appreciate those kind words, Rich, and also thank
• 1:09:07
  you to the audience for learning with us today.
• 1:09:09
  That's a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.