Home Health Depot 'not standing still'

INDIANAPOLIS - Home Health Depot staked its claim in a new state--Iowa--when it acquired Iowa City-based Advanced Rehab Technologies in February.

"As a company we pride ourselves on turnaround time, quick service and quality of service, and we think we found a good match at Advanced Rehab," said Nathan Feltman, president.

The provider in February also opened a new branch in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Home Health Depot now has 14 locations in four states (Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Iowa). The provider offers a full line of durable medical equipment, respiratory and complex rehab services, retail products and home modifications.

That diversity across product categories and state lines is part of Home Health Depot's growth plan. With branches located in Round 2 competitive bidding areas Indianapolis, Detroit and Chicago, it's crucial to build economies of scale, and consolidate certain business operations--like billing and human resources--into one centralized system, said Feltman.

"We saw coming years ago the challenges in the industry from a reimbursement perspective and a payer source perspective and so we have tried to go with a very diversified platform and we think that's served us pretty well," said Feltman. "At the end of the day, patients and the referral sources, we've found, want more of a one-stop shop."

The deal will allow Advanced Rehab, which just added three employees for a total of 13, to grow further.

"With the platform and services Home Health Depot can provide us, we can expand our business twofold in the next year and a half or so," said Tim Ascherl, one of Advanced Rehab's founders. "We are going to add aging in place. We've kind of tinkered in it before, but now we are going to go after that market."