Mohamed Basha hopes to expand his health care company nationwide over the next five years.
In order to do that, he’s working to enhance his business and leadership skills, recently completing the UVM Health Care Management and Leadership Professional Certificate program.
Basha is the founder and CEO of TLC Nursing Associates, Inc & TLC Homecare Services, Inc. TLC Nursing offers health care staffing services throughout New England area, and TLC Homecare Services offers personalized home care services to people of all ages, physical conditions, and cognitive abilities. Based in South Burlington, the company is one of the largest home care providers in Vermont and New Hampshire.
“At the end of the day, health care is a business. To work as a leader in this field, you need to understand the business side of things,” says Basha, who founded TLC in 2006 while working as a registered nurse. “When you’re working in leadership or management in a health care setting, you’re typically working with chief financial officers and comptrollers. You need to understand what they’re saying so you can speak the same language.”
Enhancing Health Care Management and Leadership Skills
The UVM Health Care Management and Leadership Professional Certificate program includes five, one-day seminars focused on project management, data-driven decision making, strategy and management, change management, and how to lead and develop employees.
One of the most important things Basha learned in the program was how to examine data to grow his business.
“I always looked at numbers in past, but now I view them differently,” he says. “Now I can see what we need to get to the next level in terms of staffing, revenue, and clients. Because of this program, I learned how to project where we are and what our capacity is for growth.”
While growing up in Burlington, Basha had his sights set on working in computer science. But he had a change of heart shortly after starting college. He transferred to Castleton State to study nursing, earning his degree in 2006.
That same year, his friend’s mother was in a nursing rehabilitation center and she wanted to return home and live independently. But she wasn’t strong enough. The friend’s family hired Basha, a registered nurse, to help with physical therapy seven days a week. Within a couple of months, she was well enough to go home.
“While working with her, a light bulb went off and I saw a real need for health care staffing in long term care facilities and acute needs for quality home care with nursing centered care,” he says. “She was my first client, and TLC was a one-man operation when it started.”
Basha employs between 250-300 people at his company, which offers services in homes, hospitals, long-term care facilities, nursing homes, and other places of residence.
More than anything, making a difference in people’s lives is what Basha finds most rewarding about his work.
“In five years, my hope is that our company goes nationwide,” he says. “Right now, we want to be known as the best provider in the area and the Northeast. We want to be known as a Vermont company with Vermont values that is dedicated to our craft.”
Register for the UVM Health Care Management and Leadership Professional Certificate
