Alpine Home Medical ‘strikes balance’ for success 

SALT LAKE CITY – Alpine Home Medical’s 11th and newest location surpassed expectations in its first month of business, says CEO Jay Broadbent.  

Located in Tooele, in the fast-growing Tooele Valley just west of the Salt Lake Valley, the location offers a full line of durable medical equipment, including lift chairs, oxygen equipment, CPAP supplies, bathroom safety equipment, wheelchairs, walkers and power scooters.  

“The medical community is super excited to have us there,” said Broadbent. “We’ve been around, and we’ll continue to be around, and you’ll get good products and service from us.” 

Alpine Home Medical launched 27 years ago, serving Utah and Idaho. 

Broadbent also owns five Copper Star Home Medical stores in Arizona and four You Can Home Medical stores in Colorado—both of which are retail focused.  

“What we like about retail is that people can come in and see, feel and touch products so they can make informed choices, which they can't do online,” he said. “It's a great way for us to build a loyal clientele.” 

Retail is also a key part of Alpine’s efforts to strike a balance in its offerings. The company has reduced its Medicare business from 85% to about 25% of its overall business and, in addition to retail, it holds numerous contracts with commercial payers and Medicaid, says Broadbent. 

“Anybody in DME that's been around a while knows that you know if you're heavy into Medicare, five to 10 years ago those were rough years,” he said. “We've got a really nice respiratory business, but I would also say rehab is very strong and our retail is very strong. It was nice not to have all our eggs in that Medicare basket.” 

Still, Alpine isn’t sheltered from the realities of today’s business environment, including staffing challenges, rising fuel costs and the lingering aftermath of the pandemic, says Broadbent. 

“We really struggled to hang on and keep employees,” he said. “It’s better and it continues to get better. We all have to learn how to do more with less and we have to run lean.” 

Despite the challenges, Broadbent, who was named Small Business Person of the Year for Utah by the U.S. Small Business Administration in 2016, feels lucky that he can help those in need, including through Alpine’s B in Motion Foundation, which provides DME and mobility equipment to those in need. 

“We’re continually looking for people that are either underinsured or not insured and trying to find ways that we can help them,” he said. “We feel a great responsibility to give back to our community.”