A health-care business that's reviving house calls
Willow Grove firm brings primary care to homebound patients.
LEO SAFRO, 34, of Ivyland, Bucks County, is CEO and owner of MultiCare Health System, based in Willow Grove. Launched last year, the company provides primary-care services to about 100 homebound patients, most of whom are seniors.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for MultiCare?
A: I was a consultant and started in home health care. I saw that lots of patients didn't have a primary-care physician or weren't seeing one. That increases hospitalizations and doesn't give people comfort about their health. In 2008, I hired an attorney to research all the regulations and develop a business plan. We started accepting patients last year.
Q: Where'd you get funding?
A: I put up $150,000 of my own money toward the startup.
Q: Your target clientele?
A: There are 115,000 people over 75 in the Philadelphia market. All don't need a physician, but might someday need our services.
Q: How do you connect with your homebound patients?
A: A client calls and says we don't have a primary-care doctor, haven't seen one lately or can't get to a doctor. We get their information and connect to a nurse practitioner. If they qualify, we schedule a visit within 48 hours.
Q: So how many people do you have actually making house calls?
A: We have two nurse practitioners and one visiting physician.
Q: How many employees?
A: MultiCare has six employees. We also have a home-health-care division that handles nursing and physical therapy.
Q: What separates MultiCare from others in this space?
A: We have excellent response time. We're able to come out the same day. We're able to see new patients within 48 hours. And we cover the five-county Philly area.
Q: What's the biggest challenge you faced growing the business?
A: Educating people about what we do. A lot of them don't know about our service or that it doesn't cost them more than an insurance deductible or co-pay if they went to a doctor's office.
Q: What's the typical co-pay?
A: Usually from $5 to $25.
Q: Are services paid for by government or private insurance?
A: Yes.
Q: What's the age range of your clients?
A: Our current client population ranges from 27 to 98. About 85 percent are elderly.
Q: If you visit a client and determine that more-comprehensive services are needed, do you take the person to a doctor or hospital?
A: Absolutely, but we do our best to find specialists who will come to the client's home first.
Q: How big a business is this?
A: Often, the insurance reimbursements are only one-third of what our costs are. We hope to be profitable by the end of 2014.
Online: ph.ly/YourBusiness