Interim HealthCare To Expand Toward Coast
By Liv Osby
Inspired by the growth of the home health industry, Interim HealthCare of the Upstate is about to embark on an expansion that will take it from Greenville all the way to the coast within two years.
“We are hoping to have at least one of our coastal offices open by this time in 2022,” CEO Charles McDonough told Greenville Business Magazine, “and complete our expansion plan by 2023.”
But first, he said, the company will expand to the Midlands by this summer.
Interim, which bills itself as the largest home health services provider in the Upstate, offers hospice care, personal care, and home management of chronic diseases such as congestive heart failure, COPD and cancer.
Most patients are Medicare eligible though the company also takes patients with Medicaid and private insurance, McDonough said.
“Throughout the pandemic we have been finding that more patients of all ages are seeking care in their homes versus in a facility,” he said. “This is a trend being seen throughout the industry.”
The population 85 and older – those most likely to use health care services – is expected to increase 350 percent by 2050, he said, citing statistics from Brandessence Market Research. And the home health industry has grown 113 percent during the pandemic, he said.
That provides an opportunity for the business to grow organically, he said.
Currently, Interim operates two locations in Greenville and Easley serving about 4,000 patients in Abbeville, Anderson, Cherokee, Greenville, Greenwood, Laurens, Oconee, Pickens, Spartanburg, Union and Newberry counties, McDonough said.
Of its 800 employees, about 30 percent are nurses; 30 percent are physical, occupational and speech therapists; and the rest are social workers, home health aides and administrative personnel, he said.
A third office is set to open in Columbia by July, which will serve Richland, Lexington, Calhoun and Orangeburg counties, he said.
“To start out, we’re hiring a full complement of disciplines … with 25 to 40 employees, depending on the number of patients,” he said. “Our overall expansion from there is a march to the coast.”
Interim is still determining which coastal communities it will enter first, he said.
The cost of the expansion will vary by market and depend on growth, he said.
“However, we expect to infuse whatever is necessary for the operating and capital ventures,” he said. “The expansion will be funded partially through the company’s growth over the past few years and also through the company’s investment partners.”
Interim is evaluating a possible name change once the expansion is completed that will reflect all the areas it will serve, he said.
Interim HealthCare of the Upstate was founded in 1979 by Ray Schroeder. It is a locally owned and operated subsidiary of the national Interim HealthCare network. Between telehealth and technology, it can also monitor patients at home and conduct virtual visits and has cared for more than 1,000 Covid patients over the past year.
To learn more, go to In Home Care in Greenville | Interim HealthCare of the Upstate.