ATG continues growth, Rocky Mountain shifts focus

ROCKY HILL, Conn. - It appears ATG Rehab has found its groove, acquiring the complex rehab segment of Rocky Mountain Medical Equipment, but leaving the rest of the company behind.

It's the third time in the past year that ATG has made such a buy.

"It's a strategy that, when it applies, makes sense," said Cody Verrett, vice president of sales and marketing for ATG Rehab.

The deal, announced this month, caps a year of growth for ATG Rehab that began in January 2011, when Audax Private Equity became a majority investor. The other two rehab division-only deals: Vanguard in March 2011; and Westmed Rehab in June 2011.

ATG Rehab also picked up two standalone rehab companies, Peak Wheelchairs and Chesapeake Rehab, in the past year, and it's not narrowing its focus to full-line HME companies, Verrett said.

"We're always looking for great partners and great opportunities," he said. "In many cases, these full-line DMEs are what's in the market today."

ATG Rehab adds 3,100 customers and five ATPs to its mountain region presence as a result of its deal with Rocky Mountain.

As for Rocky Mountain, President Jody Wright said his Denver, Colo.-based company would shift its focus to products that, until this point, had been sidelines: orthotics and prosthetics, and electrotherapy.

"It'll take us a few months to ramp up, but we'll grow that end of the business," said Wright. "I'm still in business and I'll find another niche."

Wright said he decided to get out of complex rehab because of declining reimbursements and fears of worse to come.

"There's a reason why our industry has consolidated: reimbursement cuts," he said. "You need a large enough chunk of business for economies of scale. Five years ago, I had 20 competitors. Now there are five."