By Brendan Duebner, President, IT Total Care
IT Total Care helped Bridge Home Health & Hospice grow its Bay Area operations from 25 employees in 1 location to more than 250 employees across 11 locations in three years (2017 to 2020) by serving as the region’s single, accountable IT partner.
This case study shows what multi-location home health IT looks like in practice: one accountable partner, right-sized technology, and standards that make every new office a repeatable process.
Case Study at a Glance
| Client | Bridge Home Health & Hospice (bridgehh.com) |
| Industry | Home health and hospice |
| Headquarters | San Diego, California |
| Region supported | San Francisco Bay Area |
| Locations supported | Bay Area offices, including Fairfield and Walnut Creek |
| Managed IT engagement | March 2017 to present |
| Growth period | 2017 to 2020 (3 years) |
| IT Total Care services | Managed IT, cybersecurity, HIPAA support, VoIP, networking, Microsoft 365 |
| Platforms | Microsoft 365, Unifi networking, VoIP phones, Windows laptops and desktops, iPhones, iPads |
| Results | 25 to 250+ employees; 1 to 11 Bay Area locations |
About Bridge Home Health & Hospice
Founded in 2013 and headquartered in San Diego, Bridge Home Health & Hospice is a post-acute care provider serving the Bay Area, Northern California, the Central Coast, the Inland Empire, and Southern California. Its mission is simple: “Committed to excellence in serving our community.” Bridge was named to the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Behind every home visit, care plan, and patient phone call is a technology backbone. In the Bay Area, that backbone had to keep pace with rapid growth without ever putting patient data at risk.
What IT Challenges Did Bridge Face as It Grew?
When IT Total Care began working with Bridge’s Bay Area team in March 2017, the region had 25 employees in a single location and an ambitious growth plan. Office personnel were handling IT on top of their day jobs, and no one owned it.
- No internal IT ownership: No one inside the organization was accountable for IT, so decisions went unmade and problems went unresolved.
- A phone system no one could configure: No one on staff knew how to select and set up a VoIP phone system that could handle the agency’s call volume.
- A network with no one to fix it: No one knew how to set up the network properly or troubleshoot device and network issues when they came up.
- HIPAA Security Rule uncertainty: No one knew how to meet HIPAA Security Rule standards, creating compliance risk for an agency that handles protected health information.
- No standardization: Staff bought devices and software without considering the downstream effects. With some employees on iPhones and others on Android, managing every device from one place was impossible.
Every new hire and every new location added complexity instead of progress. Bridge needed a partner who could bring structure to its technology and move fast enough to keep up with its growth.
How Did IT Total Care Solve Them?
IT Total Care became the single point of contact for IT across Bridge’s Bay Area operations and took ownership of every problem slowing the region down.
A Single Point of Contact for IT
IT Total Care owned every IT issue in the region and resolved user and network problems as they came up. Bridge’s staff had one place to go for help, and leadership had one partner accountable for the results.
Technical Consulting
- Right-sized phone system: We recommended a VoIP phone system built to handle Bridge’s call volume effectively.
- Networking sized to the budget: We recommended Unifi networking gear that could handle the network load at an affordable price, a foundation for network stability as offices were added.
- HIPAA-aligned security: IT Total Care took the lead on implementing the systems needed to meet HIPAA Security Rule standards.
Standardization Across Every Office
- Standardized office buildouts: Every new office followed the same approach to cabling, networking, and VoIP setup.
- Repeatable SOPs: We created user onboarding, user offboarding, and hardware acquisition SOPs to standardize the devices employees use (Windows laptops and desktops, iPhones, and iPads) and how key processes are executed.
Every new hire, office, and device now followed a proven, repeatable process, and Bridge’s leadership no longer had to guess at technology decisions.
Before and After IT Total Care
| Area | Before | After |
| IT ownership | Office personnel handling IT; no one accountable | IT Total Care as the single point of contact |
| Phone system | No one could select or configure VoIP | VoIP system recommended to handle call volume |
| Network | Not set up properly; no one to troubleshoot | Unifi gear sized to load and budget; issues handled as they arose |
| HIPAA security | Security Rule standards not understood | IT Total Care-led implementation of HIPAA-aligned systems |
| Devices | Ad hoc purchases; mixed iPhone and Android | Standardized through a hardware acquisition SOP |
| New offices | No standard buildout | Standard cabling, network, and VoIP setup |
| Onboarding and offboarding | Not standardized | Documented onboarding and offboarding SOPs |
The Result: 10x Growth on a Foundation Built to Scale
In three years, from 2017 to 2020, Bridge’s Bay Area operations grew:
- From 25 to more than 250 employees, a 10x increase
- From 1 to 11 locations across the San Francisco Bay Area
During this period, Bridge was also named to the Inc. 5000 in 2020, and again in 2021 and 2022. For a home health and hospice agency, growth at that pace only works if the systems behind it keep up. With IT Total Care building the IT blueprint for each new location, Bridge’s Bay Area technology grew right alongside its team.
“When we started with Bridge, their office personnel were trying to handle their IT needs here in the Bay Area. Our job was to own IT, fix the messes that had been made, and build an infrastructure that could grow quickly. Their 10x growth in employees and 11x growth in offices prove that we got it done.”
Brendan Duebner, President, IT Total Care
How Do You Build Multi-Location Home Health IT That Scales?
Bridge’s story shows why the IT foundation has to come before growth, not after it. Home health and hospice organizations depend on reliable communication, protected patient information, and the ability to open new locations quickly. Without a technology foundation built for scale, growth does not strengthen an agency. It exposes every weakness in its systems.
Three things make the difference. First, one accountable IT partner, so decisions get made and problems get fixed. Second, technology choices sized to the agency’s call volume, network load, and budget. Third, standardized buildouts and SOPs that turn every new office into a repeatable process. Learn more about IT for home health agencies.
Why This Partnership Works
Home-based care agencies are in the business of people, not IT. Bridge’s leadership did not need to become IT experts. They needed a partner who already was one, someone who could own the phone system, the network, the HIPAA requirements, and day-to-day troubleshooting so their team could stay focused on patient care.
That is the role IT Total Care plays for Bridge: not a vendor to call when something breaks, but a partner invested in making sure growth never outpaces the systems supporting it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How did IT Total Care help Bridge Home Health & Hospice grow?
IT Total Care has been the IT partner for Bridge’s Bay Area operations since March 2017. We owned all IT issues, recommended the VoIP phone system and Unifi networking gear, led HIPAA Security Rule implementation, and standardized office buildouts and SOPs. From 2017 to 2020, the region grew from 25 to more than 250 employees and from 1 to 11 locations.
Which Bridge locations does IT Total Care support?
IT Total Care supports all of Bridge Home Health & Hospice’s Bay Area offices, including Fairfield and Walnut Creek. Our Foster City headquarters keeps us close to the offices we support.
What IT problems do growing home health and hospice agencies face?
Common problems include no one internally owning IT, phone systems that cannot handle call volume, networks that were never set up properly, uncertainty about HIPAA Security Rule standards, and a mix of unmanaged devices such as iPhones and Android phones. Each new hire and location makes these gaps harder to fix. For network issues specifically, see our answers to common network stability questions for home-based care.
Why does standardization matter for a multi-location home health agency?
Standardization means every new office, employee, and device is set up the same way. Standardized cabling, networking, and VoIP buildouts, plus onboarding, offboarding, and hardware acquisition SOPs, turn each new location into a repeatable process instead of a new IT project. It also makes devices easier to manage and secure from one place.
Does a home health agency need an in-house IT person to grow?
Not necessarily. Bridge’s Bay Area operations had no one internally owning IT and grew from 25 to more than 250 employees in three years while relying on IT Total Care as their IT partner.
Is Your Agency Growing Faster Than Your IT?
IT Total Care gives home health, hospice, and home care agencies one accountable partner for phones, networks, HIPAA security, and day-to-day support, so your team can stay focused on patient care.
Talk to Us About Home Care IT Support
Call (650) 425-3910 or visit ittotalcare.com to get started.
About the author: Brendan Duebner is President of IT Total Care, a veteran-owned managed IT and cybersecurity provider in Foster City, California, serving home health, hospice, and home care agencies across the San Francisco Bay Area.
