Don Langmo, founder and chief executive officer of Healthcare Support Staffing, Inc., created his new company in 2002 to respond to a growing demand he saw for professional placement services in the healthcare industry.
Healthcare Support Staffing grew out of a company called Custom Staffing, Inc., which Langmo founded in 1995 and is now the third largest permanent placement agency in Central Florida, according to the Orlando Business Journal. But when recruiters at Custom Staffing began getting more requests for healthcare-related staffing, he thought a separate company could more ideally focus in and meet this specialized need for healthcare professionals in the Central and South Florida markets.
“We realized there was a void in the marketplace there,” said Langmo. While there were many employment agencies that specialized in clinical staffing of nurses for hospitals and nursing homes, there were none that specialized in providing permanent non-clinical “front office” staff to healthcare businesses and practices, such as office managers, billing clerks, pharmacy techs, insurance specialists and many other positions.
Langmo launched Healthcare Support Staffing in September 2002 and it has grown dramatically right from the start, earning an estimated $14 million annually and assembling an impressive roster of clients that include the American Cancer Society, Ameripath, Rotech Healthcare Inc., Cancer Center of Florida, CuraScript Pharmacy Inc., Physician’s Associates, Priority Healthcare Corporation (recently acquired by Express Scripts); Boca Raton Community Hospital and South Broward Cardiology Consultants, among others.
Since its start with two employees, Healthcare Support Staffing has outgrown its Maitland, FL, office and is moving in January into a nearby Orlando office that gives the company and its 35 full-time recruiters room to grow. In July of 2004, Healthcare Support Staffing opened its South Florida office in Ft. Lauderdale. In addition, in August of 2005, Healthcare Support Staffing opened a national permanent group that specializes in the permanent placement on a national level of pharmacists, nurse-case managers and respiratory therapists.
Langmo attributes the company’s explosive growth to taking the time at the start to understand the specialized employment needs of the healthcare community. The company recruits non-clinical and clinical staff members for hospitals, physicians’ practices, pharmacies and other companies, including office managers, billers, client service representatives, medical secretaries and transcriptionists, insurance specialists, case managers and registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, medical assistants and pharmacists.
“We’ve found a specialized niche, mainly providing staff to healthcare-related firms, offices, hospitals and practices that our clients--healthcare employers and job prospects-- respect and trust,” said Langmo. “Increasingly, healthcare clients are turning to us because they know we’ve invested the shoe leather, the energy, to learn exactly what their hiring needs are and how we can fulfill them in a way that ultimately is more cost-effective and efficient than if they handled it themselves.”
Previously, Langmo was a Management Consultant for Deloitte & Touchein Atlanta, GA, focusing on helping executives at Fortune 500 companies develop corporate strategy for business in the consumer products, chemicals, aerospace, retail, electronics and financial services areas. His areas of consulting expertise included: marketing strategy, capital structure, manufacturing operations, international marketing and mergers and acquisitions.
Langmo started his career as a Process Engineer for Bosch Corporation in Charleston, SC, designing and building automotive assembly operations, including electronic fuel injection systems and anti-lock brake systems. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Clemson University in Clemson, SC, and an MBA from the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL, with a concentration in finance.
Originally from Charleston, SC, Langmo lives in Maitland, FL, with his wife, Diane, and their six children. In his spare time, he enjoys coaching sports.