The year 2017 is an important one in the history of DPI. Prior to it, business had been stagnant, but a key hire sparked substantial growth. As the company lost ones of its lifelong mentors in the passing of George Sikes, it welcomed what would come to be a major catalyst for exponential growth. Larry Hornsby joined the DPI executive team as Chief Strategy Officer and immediately set to work on reorganizing the company structure in a way that would support significant expansion. With many years of experience as a clinical CRNA and a profoundly successful business executive in the anesthesia specialty, Hornsby provided the spark DPI needed.
With Hornsby’s new strategic direction, DPI was awarded its first contract outside the state of Louisiana in December 2018. Southern Regional Medical Center (SRMC) brought DPI into the Atlanta, Georgia market. The group DPI replaced had been unsuccessful in recruiting anesthesiologists and CRNAs for the prior 18 months, but DPI was able to establish a cohesive anesthesia team quickly at this inner-city hospital. The SRMC contract started notable momentum for the company.
The following spring, DPI signed an agreement with a large hospital system in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This facility had a similar struggle with staffing and had been unable to recruit anesthesia providers. With this, DPI had another opportunity to score in their own back yard. In less than four months after DPI’s start date, the anesthesia department at this facility was fully staffed.
A year later, amid Covid-19, a large system in South Carolina chose DPI to be its anesthesia services provider. During the peak of the COVID-19 crisis, DPI continued to experience exponential growth and proved to be successful changing the culture and staffing models across all their partner facilities. Even though the pandemic stressed healthcare systems across the world, DPI embraced the uncertainty and continued to thrive.
From 2017-2021, DPI grew its revenue tenfold while fulfilling staffing goals at each new facility and maintaining high staff retention at each of its legacy facilities. During this period of growth, DPI was able to hire many exceptional leaders that have guided industry-changing practices as it relates to opioid-sparing techniques, ultrasound guided regional anesthesia and point of care ultrasound practice. The company’s growth has been bolstered by these leading-edge clinicians who have elevated standards of care at all our facilities. Additionally, any successes achieved by DPI can be attributed to the collaborative culture of its anesthesiologists and CRNAs. All anesthesia providers working together—to the fullest extent of their training and comfort levels—has proven to be an efficient and financially responsible practice model.
In the aftermath of COVID-19, the anesthesia market has been completely unbridled. Labor shortages for anesthesiologists and CRNAs has placed tremendous compensation pressure on anesthesia management groups and facilities. As groups and facilities across the country continue to struggle with staffing operating rooms, DPI prides itself on not only being fully staffed, but having a waiting list of providers ready to fill any open positions. Even in the most difficult market in the history of anesthesia, DPI has been able to serve clients well.