Matt Kroll, President of Personal Care Services at Bayada Home Health Care, joins host David Knack for a deep dive into the lessons from his 25-year career. Matt opens up about his biggest strategic mistake: trying to launch and manage too many different service lines at once in a search for an "easy way out," which diluted focus and resources. He explains how learning to master one thing before diversifying became the key to successfully scaling operations across over 100 offices.

Matt shares Bayada's relentless focus on caregiver recognition, wages, and career advancement as their cultural north star. The conversation delves into the critical balance between investing in caregivers and maintaining financial health, the underrated need for the home care industry to embrace healthcare outcomes and data, and how Bayada is using predictive AI models to prevent hospitalizations and improve care.

Lesson Takeaways:

1. Master One Thing Before You Diversify: The temptation to add new services when one gets challenging is strong, but it dilutes focus. True success comes from building excellence and infrastructure in one core service before expanding.

2. Link Short-Term Actions to Long-Term Vision: Avoid the exhausting cycle of week-to-week reactivity. Build business rhythms that connect daily and weekly metrics to quarterly and annual goals to create proactive, sustainable momentum.

3. Invest in Quality and Support, Not Just Wages: While competitive pay is crucial, caregivers and families deeply value consistent, reliable support. Investing in quality supervision and being present for your team builds loyalty and better care outcomes.

4. Embrace Data as a Healthcare Partner: To secure our place in the healthcare ecosystem, we must move beyond satisfaction metrics. Tracking and improving clinical outcomes like falls and hospitalizations demonstrates our value to payers and referral sources.

5. "Embrace the Chaos" with Consistent Execution: Private pay home care is inherently volatile. The key isn't controlling every discharge or admission, but maintaining consistent marketing, admissions, and quality efforts over the long term, like running a marathon.

Timestamps: 00:00 - The privilege of care and what hooked Matt for 25 years

04:43 - The alternate path: Wall Street and the importance of relationships

06:50 - Bayada's cultural markers: Recognition, wages, and caregiver advancement

08:40 - The financial equation: Investing in caregivers while maintaining margins

11:30 - The big mistake: Trying to do too many things at once

14:25 - How to thoughtfully diversify payer sources (Medicaid vs. Private Pay)

16:40 - The underrated thing: Embracing our role in the healthcare ecosystem

18:20 - The metrics that matter: Tracking falls, hospitalizations, and ER visits

21:30 - Using predictive AI and care data to prevent adverse events

26:45 - Managing at scale: Building business rhythms beyond week-to-week volatility

29:50 - The little mistake: Managing week-to-week instead of long-term

32:15 - The importance of betting on quality and supervision

35:10 - A recent win: Using data to drive a new "Enhanced Quality of Care" model

37:45 - What to plug: Getting involved with industry advocacy

Quotes: Matt Kroll: "I think what I learned is... the need to have a plan to be really good at one thing before you start trying to do multiple things."

Matt Kroll: "Quality isn't just about going out and supervising to make sure things are done right. It's about being there when the caregivers and when the families need you."

David Knack: "If all we are as a home care agency is a staffing company, it's gonna be really hard to compete... If you are finding other ways to add value... you make their life so many multiples better."

David Knack: "You've got to stop being the 'hit by a bus' problems in our own businesses. It's gotta get out of our brains... thanks to the innovations of AI, you can systematize that knowledge."

Resources:

1. Connect with Matt Kroll on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-kroll/

2. Learn more about Bayada Home Health Care: https://www.bayada.com/

3. Get involved with the Home Care Association of America (HCAOA): https://www.hcaoa.org/

4. Connect with David Knack on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-knack/

5. Powered by Zingage: https://zingage.com

6. Watch this episode on Zingage's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Zingage