Fire Awards: Winner - Biotech/health care
Within the past year, EmpowerMe Wellness had targeted expansion at a furious pace. In January, the provider of senior health services said it had raised more than $100 million from local investors. It’s used that funding to expand its senior health services to more than 20 states and expand its workforce. Additionally, EmpowerMe Wellness has recently opened a new diagnostics laboratory at its headquarters at 1335 Strassner Drive in Brentwood and closed on the acquisition of a physical therapy provider based in Florida.
Josh Stevens, founder and CEO of EmpowerMe Wellness, shared how his company has approached its rapid growth.
How is EmpowerMe Wellness disrupting the health care industry? EmpowerMe Wellness is transforming health care in senior living through its fully integrated health care platform. By providing therapy, pharmacy, diagnostic and primary care services to senior living residents across the country, EmpowerMe is delivering truly coordinated and integrated care that improves health care outcomes and enriches communities. Additionally, EmpowerMe is the first-ever provider to cross-train therapists as diagnostic specialists. Residents are now able to receive phlebotomy and other critical diagnostic testing every day within their community.
EmpowerMe Wellness has grown massively in the past year. How has it been able to manage and execute on such rapid growth? EmpowerMe Wellness has an incredible team dedicated to our mission – the relentless pursuit of opportunities to improve the lives of seniors. We have hired over 1,100 passionate team members in the last 12 months, and we are expecting to more than double again in the next 12. Our singular focus on seniors and services that add the highest value to their health and well-being helps us execute at a rapid pace while continuing to set the standard of care for our industry.
EmpowerMe Wellness has succeeded in hiring hundreds of employees even as other companies struggle to attract and retain talent. How has it been able to do that? EmpowerMe Wellness’ mission and core values are the focal point of everything we do, including hiring. When we celebrate with our teams, it always is tied to a core value they embody versus reaching a specific metric alone. EmpowerMe Wellness also provides employees ongoing opportunities for career advancement. For example, we can upskill our therapists to be diagnostic specialists, which enables us to reward them for furthering their impact on the seniors’ health and well-being. We also take great pride in the upward mobility we provide for leaders in our organization as well. Since 2021, we have promoted 505 team members, such as therapist to team lead, team lead to area director of operations (ADO), and ADO to regional vice presidents.
How is being headquartered in St. Louis a competitive advantage for EmpowerMe Wellness? St. Louis is a hotbed for talent and innovation, especially in health care! EmpowerMe Wellness has been able to build a world-class leadership team by attracting individuals with an array of experience from leading large hospitals to building a successful pharmacy from scratch. We are beneficiaries of St. Louis’ top-notch higher education institutions — Saint Louis University, Washington University, University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis, Maryville University, as well as leading-edge companies with large local and national footprints — all of which are represented in our leadership teams. Strategically, St. Louis also is the perfect place for our diagnostic lab and pharmacy because being centrally located in the Midwest allows us to serve most of the U.S. effectively and cost-efficiently.
As the company scales its team and expands to new markets, is keeping its startup mindset and agile approach important? EmpowerMe Wellness’ rapid growth has provided numerous opportunities to promote many of our earliest team members to become leaders across the organization. This has given us the advantage of leaders with extensive institutional knowledge while continuing to honor our startup mindset. Adding new services and opening new regions not only requires an agile approach, but it also keeps work exciting for our team. We encourage team members to share their ideas and feedback as we innovate through our Innovation Council, which makes sure to review every idea and crowdsource innovative concepts that we can implement across our entire platform.
What is your company’s top goal for the next year? EmpowerMe Wellness hopes to end the year by serving over 100,000 seniors and continuing to transform our industry by elevating the standard of care. We are continuing our nationwide growth strategy and plan to be in 36 states by the end of 2022, as well as to introduce our newest services to the seniors we already serve through our integrated model.
There's currently concern about an economic downturn and what that means for startups. What steps is your company taking to ensure it can continue to grow, even through a downturn? EmpowerMe Wellness is looking at M&A strategically as a means to achieve scale and increase the value we provide to customers. This helps us continue growth without as much concern for cutting costs. For example, given our rapid growth, we were able to commit to retaining every employee as part of a significant acquisition we made last April and amidst wide-spread layoffs in many other industries, EmpowerMe Wellness is positioning itself as a destination for those talented individuals who are willing to become passionate about our mission and want to make an impact.
Are you hiring now? If so, for what roles? EmpowerMe Wellness is actively hiring! We currently have 356 open positions across the country. We are hiring therapists and area directors of operations nationwide, as well as laboratory scientists, pharmacists, and a wide range of corporate roles here in St. Louis.
For links to profiles of winners and finalists in the 2022 Fire Awards and Startup Exit Awards, go here:
