Woodland Hills, Calif.-based Top Tier Consulting celebrated its 10th Anniversary last year as an 80-person consultancy with more than $17 million in revenue. Brad Armstrong, Christopher Downy and Greg Anderson started the firm after working together for more than two decades at a Big 4 firm.
"We think very highly of those firms," Armstrong says. "But we started Top Tier to be a little closer to our clients, to have a complete focus in the healthcare niche and to specialize. We wanted to get back to our roots, and spend more time in front of our clients."
Armstrong began his career in a small firm and Top Tier has allowed him to come full circle, he says. "At smaller firms the overhead is so much lower so clients are getting the same level of expertise and value but at a lower price point, so it's sort of a win-win," he says. "It's been a steady climb. We started off with the three of us doing all the work, but eventually we started bringing on a few people, experienced people. That model is one of our differentiators."
Armstrong says the firm has always grown slow and steady, careful not to chase the waves that are all too common in healthcare. "Our sweet spot is knowing how technology works within the business and then using whatever tools are available at that point in time to make the business successful."
As a result, even through the economic downturn, Top Tier didn't lay off any employees while most of its competitors did. Armstrong credits the firm's deliberate approach that comes with a senior-level model. "We bring technology and business together and we fill that gap that a lot of firms are unable to fill," he says. "We bring the sectors together. Right now, for instance, you see a convergence of health plans coming together with hospitals, medical groups, technology vendors and life sciences. We have a lot of experience across all of those areas and we're able to help clients develop bridge solutions."
Top Tier clients include Kaiser Permanente, DaVita/HealthCare Partners, McKesson , Medtronic, Amgen, SCAN Health Plan and Molina, to name a few.
The approach has served the firm well. Top Tier grew more than 50 percent last year and is projecting another 55 percent this year. The bulk of the business will be core clients, he says. "The percentage will taper off over time."
One area of focus for Top Tier is the aftermath of the EMR (Electronic Medical Records) implementations on the provider side. "As part of Meaningful Use, a lot of clients put in huge EMR systems and we're finding satisfaction rates with the systems going down," he says. "Implementation of EMR is all cost and little benefit upfront, but we see an opportunity in making make those systems more valuable, more efficient and more productive."
Armstrong says the firm puts a high emphasis on creating opportunities for its people, and making sure those people are enjoying the work and their firm.
"That's one of the key reasons we started Top Tier and one of the things that keeps us going," Armstrong says. We have very low turnover. Consulting is too hard and life is too short to spend at a place where you're not enjoying what you're doing."
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.