Health clinicians can give medicine. They can administer treatments and do procedures. But the caregivers at Phoenix Home Care strive to offer their patients something more: a new beginning.

“Home care has often been viewed as maintenance care,” said Phil Melugin, president and CEO of Phoenix Home Care. “We want a new beginning of independence to those we serve. For individuals who have seen their world shrink, we want to give them an opportunity to see their world grow again.”

Melugin and his wife, Kimberly, founded Phoenix Home Care in 2011. Since that time, the company has thrived through its work to recruit high-quality caregivers. To help hire the right people, the company created an innovative candidate appraisal tool called the X-Factor. This tool helps the company weigh job candidates based on their experience, skills and orientation toward service. The X-Factor also favors employees who have positive, optimistic attitudes.

“We want our employees to take a bright, sunny disposition into the homes of our clients,” Melugin said. “It’s infectious and I think it’s been a major component behind our success.”

And success has been plentiful. Today, Springfield-based Phoenix Home Care serves communities throughout Missouri and is expanding west in Kansas and Colorado. The company will soon have a major presence in the Denver market.

As the company upscales, revenue is growing as well. In 2014, Phoenix Home Care reported $37.5 million in revenue. That jumped to $50 million last year and is expected to reach $60 million by the end of 2016.

The company’s workforce has also increased, from 2,000 to 2,900 employees over the last year.

“We have been able to attract and retain a high-quality workforce, and that’s difficult in this industry,” Melugin said. “That’s probably one of the biggest advantages we have over our competitors who are not growing as fast as we are growing – we’re not selling from an empty trunk.”

The caregivers at Phoenix Home Care serve patients as young as newborns who need special care soon after birth. With the addition of a home hospice service in 2015 – a program that greatly expanded in 2016 – the company now cares for people during all stages of life.

The company’s ongoing boom comes as the health care industry is working to transition as much care as possible out of hospitals and into more cost-effective settings. Home care is an increasingly attractive option, as it naturally strips away many of the expenses involved in caring for patients in a specialized health facility such as a hospital or nursing home.

With this trend and the growth trajectory Phoenix Home Care has established, Melugin sees good things ahead for his company.

“Are we going to keep growing at this explosive rate? I don’t think so,” he said. “But we believe that with the product we have, there’s no end to the opportunity to continue to grow.”