Huber, chief executive of Better Home Health, agreed, saying contracts to provide personnel for programs run by hospitals have helped her company to grow. She said her greatest challenge is finding trained workers at a time of record-low unemployment. Better Home Health, like many medical companies, has found its finances squeezed by insurance carriers that have reduced reimbursement payments in recent years. About 45 percent of the company's cases are Medicaid. To keep Better Home Health growing, Huber and Woodley plan to open offices in Queens and along Nassau's North Shore.
Most patients currently come from southern Nassau.
The women also have diversified by establishing two companies that are independent of Better Home Health but provide complementary services. They became a franchisee of Snelling Personnel Services in 1995, and now they find permanent and temporary jobs for about 350 people each year, including at Better Home Health. The services range from grocery shopping and prepared meals to pet care and housekeeping.