Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue IV, 2011 | Page 18

DOMINA
TORS
By John Carroll

Too Much Fun!

Navigating through the winds of change

T

om DiMarco knows his numbers—and they’re getting bigger
every year.
When he was recruited 27
years ago as controller for Salo Inc., a
franchisee of Interim HealthCare, the
company had only four locations. As
Salo has grown, so has DiMarco’s career.
Seven years ago he was tapped to become
the president of the organization, and
today the fast-growing business has 45
Interim HealthCare locations in 5 states.
Salo, based in Columbus, Ohio, offers
full- and part-time work to 8,300 employees, up from 6,600 people just a few
years ago. The company is still growing
steadily—along with a healthcare industry that continues to expand even as the
economy languishes—and has become
the largest provider of home healthcare
Medicaid services in Ohio, providing
everything from pediatric to geriatric
and skilled nursing services.
In fact, says DiMarco, a bad
economy has been a boon to Salo
and other Interim franchisees.
“There are a lot of skilled RNs
and licensed practitioners who
stayed at home, taking care of
their kids,” he says. “With the
downturn, there was a huge
influx of these professionals.
They were brought back into
the workforce, looking for work.”
Interim HealthCare, a
40-year-old brand with 325
home healthcare franchise locations in the U.S., brings plenty
of name recognition—and a crucial national contract to provide
Medicare and Medicaid services
to the elderly and families get-

16

Name: Tom DiMarco
Title: President
Company: Salo, Inc.
No. of units: 45 Interim HealthCare locations in 5 states
Age: 60
Family: Married for 36 years with 3 kids and 3 grandkids 
Years in current position: 7
Years in franchising: 27

ting by on low incomes.
Despite all the uncertainty about
healthcare reform at a time financially strapped states are cutting back on
hours for home healthcare providers
(one of their healthcare professionals who may have needed six hours to
provide a service may now be lucky to
be approved for four), DiMarco has no

plans to slow down.
“We’ve set a goal next year of $200
million in revenue,” he says following a
goal of $174 million for 2011. And the
company, which billed for 5.5 million
hours in 2010, has its sights set on 6
million hours in 2011.
Given the budget cuts he’s seeing in
the five states where he operates, those
figures may be ambitious, says
DiMarco. But he would rather
set a goal and fall short than
be too conservative and fail to
expand as quickly as the organization is capable of doing. He
also knows that the stronger
Salo becomes, the better his
chances are of navigating the
turbulent changes ahead for
the nation’s home healthcare
agencies.
“The upside is the strong
will survive,” he says. With
some 13,000 home health
agencies scattered across the
country, government officials
have made it clear that they
want that number reduced
to a more manageable level.

Multi-Unit Franchisee Is s ue IV, 2011

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