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TheKey has been one of the most active acquirers in the home care space, but is now shifting its focus to other growth drivers.
“That’s a big focus for us right now: How do we double down on our organic growth,” Melissa Reyes, western division president at TheKey, said in a recent conversation with Home Healthcare News, which took place at HHCN’s FUTURE conference in Nashville last month.
Headquartered in Delray, Florida, TheKey provides home care, memory care and specialty care services in more than 100 markets across the United States, Canada and Australia.
In addition to organic growth, Reyes also discussed how Zaky differentiates itself from competitors and why the company is doubling its private compensation.
HHCN: What has been TheKey’s biggest accomplishment so far and what is the highlight for 2024? How have you driven the business forward?
Reyes: We’ve just come out of a period of great growth and are now at a stage where things are starting to stabilize and our operations are healthy.
Often times when it comes time for a big acquisition, it gets noisy and it’s hard to understand: Are we growing organically?
It’s been so exciting to see all the hard work really come to fruition throughout the beginning of the year.
TheKey has never shied away from growth through M&A, but where does organic growth fit into the company’s strategy?
That’s a big focus for us right now. We want to double down on our organic growth.
Our sales force and field people have always been a number one priority for us. We’ve invested heavily in this group and will continue to do so. We’ve also invested heavily in sales enablement to make sure that we’re creating products that actually bring value to our referral partners and to our customers. We’ll continue to be very focused on those areas. That’s where we’re focused the most.
Does TheKey still see many valuable acquisition targets in the home care space?
It’s been a little quiet but there are signs that it’s starting to open up a little bit.
Now that we’ve completed all of our acquisitions and the business is stabilizing, I think we’ll start to get a little more serious about that area towards the end of this year or early next year as the market starts to change.
How does TheKey differentiate itself in the competitive home care industry?
There are a few things that make us unique. First, we have a scientific advisory board that really helps improve the value and the services that we provide to our clients. We focus on person-centered care, but we develop programs that really embrace the client. It’s an integrative program. How do you train your brain? How do you socialize? What about the client’s nutrition and sleep patterns?
We bring all of these pieces together to really build a person-centered approach, which we call the Balanced Approach to Care, and with each new client, we identify which of the five pillars of the Balanced Approach to Care we need to focus on to really build a holistic approach to in-home care.
What is TheKey’s current payer mix, and how important is achieving payer diversity to the company?
We are 90% privately funded. We have no plans to change that. The other 10% is VA and some long-term care. We will continue to have a strong focus on privately funded.
Is the private healthcare environment becoming more challenging in terms of affordability?
We are very transparent with our clients up front about our organizational structure and pricing model. We evaluate our rates annually on the anniversary of our agreements with our clients and consider and implement rate increases if necessary.
We are not focused on price, but on the value we are providing for the services our clients get from us. We feel strongly that our pricing is fair for the market given the value we are providing to our clients and referral partners. We will continue to focus on that value and the education we are providing to our clients.
How important are partnerships to TheKey right now, and what types of companies are you looking to work with?
We are working more with estate advisors, trust lawyers and GCMs, we know it’s an area that’s pretty untapped.
What are TheKey’s strategic priorities for the remainder of 2024?
For the remainder of 2024, we’re focused on continuing to drive organic growth. We have a lot of strategic priorities around how we think about retention — customer retention, caregiver retention; how we get strategic and innovative in that space. We continue to be on that path together.
