Ranked No. 4708 on the Inc. 5000 list, Oceans Healthcare is one of only 28 companies in Dallas that made the cut. For President and CEO Stuart Archer, that success points to Oceans’ focus on a historically underrepresented area and the growing dialogue around mental health.

“When you think about the behavioral health continuum, there’s a lot of people in there doing a lot of great work,” Archer says. “But our organization focuses on often unmet needs: behavioral health treatment among older adult and geriatric patients.”

The elderly population has seen an increasing need for behavioral health. [Illustration by namfonji via iStock]

Oceans Healthcare is a provider of inpatient and outpatient behavioral health services for older patients and their families, and this is the third year in a row the company has made the Inc. 5000 list.

The average Oceans patient is around 65 years old, and could be suffering from a range of conditions, such as depression, schizophrenia, dementia, or historic mental health issues. Historically, Archer says this an under-treated and under-focused area—but hopefully, that’s changing.

“There’s a growing awareness and comfort people have in talking about mental health.”
Stuart Archer

“There’s been a lot of innovation around behavioral health in the aging population,” he says. “There’s a growing awareness and comfort people have in talking about mental health. We’ve seen a lot of celebrities talk about those types of issues, but unfortunately, they touch patients and families in every community in America today.”

Rather than treat older adults and geriatrics as a single population, Archer says Oceans hospitals have distinct programs for different age groups. Oceans also works closely with physicians outside of the traditional setting in places such as nursing homes, assisted-living facilities, or acute care hospitals.

Ultimately, Archer credits Oceans’ success to a dedicated, caring staff.

“Oceans is very focused on giving high quality, sustainable care to our patients, and I think that our organization’s growth has centered around those folks working and delivering great care to our patients,” he says.

OCEANS HEALTHCARE HAS SEEN REVENUE INCREASE YEAR OVER YEAR

In 2017, Oceans brought in revenue of $109.6 million, and since Archer stepped in as CEO in 2014, revenue has increased 66 percent year-over-year. The bulk of Oceans’ growth has been organic, which Archer attributes to such things as expanding outpatient services, working primarily with existing hospitals, and adding a few new locations.

“DFW is blessed to be served with a lot of very high quality providers both on the outpatient and inpatient side.”
Stuart Archer

He says Oceans is still a relatively young company, and the goal is to simply be smart with this fast growth.

Archer, who was named the health-care winner in the 2018 EY Entrepreneur of the Year competition for the southwest region, moved the Oceans headquarters from Louisiana to Plano in 2014. Although Oceans doesn’t yet have a hospital in the DFW area, Archer refers to Oceans as an “SEC [Southeast Conference] state company,” with potential properties on-deck in Texas and the surrounding areas.

“DFW is blessed to be served with a lot of very high quality providers both on the outpatient and inpatient side,” he says. “But when I think about Dallas, I think one of the struggles in the behavioral health world is linking together all the resources that exist for our patients and their family.”