Business: Traveling Man Hal Rosenbluths Next Act
As it happened, Rosenbluth wasn’t the only one thinking along those lines. CVS would begin opening its MinuteClinics in 2005. Miller remembers Rosenbluth wanting to make sure they weren’t just starting a business, but solving a problem. “He just is really inquisitive about how you can do things differently, for a real tangible benefit,” Miller says. “He comes at problems in a different way than most people do.”
The two considered where they might place their clinics, and did some quick market studies. Consumers said they wanted a medical feel to a mini-clinic — they liked a safe, brightly lit, private-office atmosphere. While people said they’d prefer not to go to a mall for health care, they felt comfortable at a pharmacy. It had to be affordable, quick, comfortable. It had to be like … a medical Wawa.
Given Rosenbluth’s track record and connections — he serves on several boards in the area, including that of SeventySix Capital in Conshohocken — it didn’t take long to secure financing, and within months, he was back in workaholic mode again. Originally, he planned to farm out Take Care locations to various retailers, and among his early clients was Walgreens. Over steaks one night, Rosenbluth asked Walgreens president Gregory Wasson if he’d like to invest in Take Care. Wasson said, “No, I’d like to buy your company,” and invited Rosenbluth to stay on as head of the division.
Rosenbluth is as surprised as anyone that he’s working for a massive corporation. While he has a boss, he has a fair amount of freedom. “I was doing a conference call during calving season this year,” he says, talking about his habit of conducting Walgreens work while out in the barns in Linton, “and all of a sudden, they’re hearing ‘Wah! Wah!’ cow noises. They’re wondering, ‘Who is this guy?’”
ROSENBLUTH’ LIFE AT THE MOMENT resembles an inverted, glossier Up in the Air. Instead of firing people, he flies around in the Hawker hiring people (including some ex-Rosenbluth Travel employees). Before he got to Murfreesboro this morning, he’d already jetted from Philly to Orlando, where Walgreens/Take Care operates a corporate health clinic for Disney World — a miniature hospital serving the amusement mecca’s 70,000 employees and their families. “I loved the travel business, but getting someone an airline seat isn’t the same as saving somebody’s life,” he explains back at the airport, climbing aboard the jet.
He spends little time at Take Care’s Conshohocken offices, where some 150 staffers are based; more often, he’s on his plane, commuting between Gladwyne and Walgreens’ Illinois offices, or visiting potential clients for corporate clinics. (“There are usually 10 of us on the plane,” he says. “In the morning, it’s like a flying office; on the way home, it’s a flying honor bar.”) Disney, like many other large corporations, insures itself, as do Harrah’s, Credit Suisse and Toyota, which all have opened Take Care-run clinics in some corporate offices.
