How I Stopped Saving Everyone and Saved My Agency — Bob Roth

Bob Roth, co-founder and managing partner of Cypress Home Care Solutions, joins host David Knack to discuss the painful mistake that nearly sank his agency: letting empathy override good business sense. After building a successful home care brand in Arizona, Bob recounts how he held onto a toxic C-suite leader for too long because of compassion, leading to a 20-person turnover in just three years.

In this candid re-release, Bob reveals how his greatest strength (being a caring, compassionate person) is also his greatest weakness. He shares why home care owners must fire fast even when it hurts, how he rebooted Cypress from 18 to 157 caregivers in under a year, and why he believes the term "non-medical" is holding the industry back. Bob also offers hard truths about Medicare Advantage, the new GUIDE program, and why you should stop feeding discharge planners lunch.

Lesson Takeaways:

1. Kindness Without Boundaries Hurts Your Team: Empathy is an asset, but tolerating underperformance from a trusted leader because you "feel bad" leads to a mass exodus of good staff. You can't save everyone without sinking the ship.

2. Reframe What You Are, Not What You Aren't: Calling our trade "non-medical" or "non-skilled" tells the world what we are not. We provide "in home supportive care services." To get a seat at the healthcare table, we must act and speak like medical partners.

3. Don't Fish in the Wrong Pond (Acute Care): It is a waste of time and money to feed hospital discharge planners if you are a private-pay agency. 9 out of 10 people leaving the hospital cannot afford private care. Fish where the fish are: trust officers, foundations, and families who can pay.

4. Innovate or Become Obsolete: Post-COVID, caregivers won't come to you. You have to go to them. Using machine learning (AI) for credentialing and virtual interviewing cuts hiring time from a month to 4 days. If you stay static, you will be in the rearview mirror.

Timestamps:

01:20 – Bob's accidental start: From Gatorade and Michael Jordan to caregiving

03:35 – Redefining the industry: Why "non-medical" is a losing label

04:30 – The ice cream break: Cookies and cream vs. S'mores

05:48 – The surprising summer job as a beach lifeguard in Delaware

07:46 – The big mistake: A 20-person turnover in three years

11:38 – The toxic C-suite leader and the nine-month payout

14:33 – Strength and weakness being the same thing

15:32 – Fixing the mistake by bringing in younger leadership

15:51 – What's totally overrated in home care right now

20:27 – The "told you so" moment on Medicare Advantage

21:28 – Running a business with Medicare Advantage reimbursement

23:10 – How many respite hours dementia families actually need

26:14 – The stupid mistake: Wasting money feeding hospital planners

30:38 – How Cypress rebooted from 18 to 157 caregivers

39:25 – How to connect with Bob Roth

Quotes:

David Knack: "Your greatest strength is that you're a caring, compassionate person, but your greatest weakness is that you're a caring, compassionate person."

Bob Roth: "I look back at that and I wouldn't do it any differently... except I thought I would get a different response from this individual. You have to do what's right for the business, not right for humanity."

Bob Roth: "We are the Rodney Dangerfield of the healthcare continuum. We get no respect. If you call our industry non-medical, you're not going to get a seat at the table."

Bob Roth: "If I stayed the way we were in 2019, I probably wouldn't be here today. You need to innovate. You need to collaborate. If you stay static, you're going to be obsolete."

Resources:

1. Connect with Bob Roth on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-roth-b131b0/

2. Learn more about Cypress Home Care Solutions: https://www.cypresshomecare.com/

3. Email Bob directly: [e-mail]

4. Read Bob's article on innovation in HomeCare Magazine

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

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

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