Dave Totaro – Chief Executive Officer of Bayada Home Health Care and President and Executive Director of Hearts for Home Care will retire from these roles at the end of the year.
“I had a mentor who said that timing was the most important thing in your career,” Totaro told Home Healthcare News. “Timing is very important and when I saw what I built with Baiada and the strength of the team, it went ahead and personally took a step back and explored ways that could help others in the industry build something similar.”
Bayada offers home health, home care, hospice and behavioral health services in 23 states. The company also has international locations operating in Germany, India, Ireland, New Zealand and Korea. Bayada has approximately 32,000 employees nationwide. Hearts for Home Care is Bayada's 501(c)4 Advocacy Arm.
Totaro confirmed that he plans to remain involved in advocacy for home care.
After Totaro's retirement, Sue Chapman Moss, Senior Vice President of Payer Strategy and Government Affairs, will take up the role of President and Executive Director of Hearts for Home Care. She will also continue her current role.
Totaro joined Bayada in 2009 as the first Chief Marketing Officer. Soon, his tricks to building relationships with clients led to opportunities to adopt this skill and apply it to the company's government relationships.
“We were well building relationships with patients, patients, but our biggest clients, government, didn't have relationships with them not only within the Baiada, but also essentially within the industry,” Totaro said. “70% of what we do comes from the government, so they're our biggest clients. “What do you know? I think you can do that. It's very similar to building a brand.
Totaro started with small teams in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
“I didn't work in Washington for about a year, but I started expanding my services,” he said. “As the return on investment increases, we've added more feet to the movement. Today, I have 12 people (people). From Florida to Missouri. We're defending over 12,000 members for home care. We've come a long way.”
In many ways, Baiada is a pioneer. According to Totaro, it was one of the first home care organizations to create a role dedicated to government issues and advocacy.
Totaro explained that Bayada wants to go beyond policy development, and that the company has three feet on its “Advocacy Stool.”
“We are lobbying directly, like everyone else and policy development, but we also recognize that it's not enough to develop strong policies, and it's important that we can sell it,” he said. “So I have two other feet in the office. One is a grassroots engagement… and perhaps four years ago we realised we needed to get consumers involved in advocacy.”
The company's mind for home care arms is the epicenter of grassroots efforts. Currently, Hearts for Home Care has over 350 trained ambassadors.
“Every serviced office has one (an ambassador),” Totaro said. “(They) are trained on our issues and ready to mobilize their office team when we need them. No one else has done something similar to that.”
Looking back at the results that helped drive the company forward, some stand out most for Totaro.
Bayada has donated more than $500 million in incremental revenue to the company through increased refunds.
“Our number one goal has always been to go after a higher refund so that we can fund the recruitment and retention of the nurses and aides we need and improve access to care,” Totaro said.
The company also closely tracks its return on investment. During his tenure as Chief Government Affairs Officer, Baiada's return on investment was 14-1.
In other words, every dollar Bayada invested in the government affairs program or advocacy program brought $14 back to the company.
Totaro is proud of the way Bayada was able to attract individuals to its mission at Hearts for home care.
“We got clients, patients and field staff,” he said. “Of the 1,200 members we have at Hearts for Home Care, more than 55% are Bayada employees. They are consumers who read about other home care companies, other companies, and us. We are building a national network of home care advocates. We have a goal of 15,000 next year.”
As we approach the end of 2025, Totaro will focus on many federal and state priorities.
“Unfortunately, this is one of the most challenging times for home and community-based service programs,” he said. “We're struggling with very important Medicare cuts. We're waiting for the first week of November and seeing what CMS will do with the final rules. Medicaid cuts have come out of the pipe since 2026. Those two things are certainly the biggest heads.”
At the state level, Totaro has picked North Carolina and Pennsylvania as key concerns.
“Some of our states, like North Carolina and Pennsylvania, have yet to have the 2025 budget approved and it's starting to hurt so much, even before the big, beautiful bills are in place,” he said. “For example, in North Carolina, effective last week, there was a full Medicaid cut of 3% to 10%. We've already heard there are a few agencies in North Carolina saying they need to close their doors for these significant cuts.”
Ultimately, Totaro hopes to be involved and engaged in the industry.
“For us as an industry, it's extremely important to stand up to our healthcare system that speaks up and recognizes that access to home care is important to all Americans,” he said.
