Alpine Home Medical: Still going and still growing

SALT LAKE CITY - Alpine Home Medical is turning 25 this year and is growing faster than ever, many thanks to its independent spirit, says CEO Jay Broadbent.  

“Being an independent provider gives us a lot of freedom to do things the way we think they ought to be done,” he said. “We’re much more nimble than a large national company, so we can make a decision and go with it immediately." 

Today, Broadbent leads 10 Alpine Home Medical locations in Utah and Idaho, and plans on adding more. He also owns five Copper Star Home Medical stores in Arizona and four You Can Home Medical stores in Colorado—both of which are retail. 

When Broadbent launched Alpine Home Medical in 1997, he was a one-man operation. In the morning he’d make sales calls, visit referrals and type tickets; in the afternoon, he’d make deliveries; and on the weekends, he’d do billing. 

“We didn’t go into a ton of debt,” he said. “I think about our office furniture back in the day. It was all secondhand furniture. I don’t even think our vacuum worked half the time.” 

Broadbent got his start in the industry working for a small HME. The owners hadn’t put much energy into the business and when they sold it to a competitor, he hung out his shingle. He chose the name Alpine to give the business a head start. 

“Back then, everyone was in the Yellow Pages,” he said, “so if you had an ‘A’ name, that was better than being a ‘Z' name.” 

Broadbent credits much of his success to “good, hard working, motivated people,” as well as the company’s mantra. 

“I’ve always preached that we’re fiercely honest,” he said. “I can’t say I love Medicare’s rules and regulations, but they are what they are and we’re going to live by them. I think that helped attract good talent. People want to work for an ethical company and that’s certainly what we were trying to be and still are today.”