Central Medical Supply ‘stays ahead’ with acquisitions

FLANDERS, N.J. – With the “gates opening” after two years of the pandemic, the timing was right for Central Medical Supply to pull the trigger on several acquisitions, says Joe Sacco, president and CEO. 

The company, a provider of equipment to hospice agencies that’s backed by Osceola Capital, announced in May that it had made three acquisitions: Helping Hands Medical Equipment, the hospice assets of Consolidated Medical Surgical Supply and PPD Homecare. 

“We have been working on expanding our footprint and looking for strategic partnerships that could enhance our profile and ability to service patients,” Sacco said. “These three companies have been friendly competitors for some time. We have been in conversations for a period of time, and it’s finally a good time to make these acquisitions.” 

The acquisitions allow Central Medical Supply to reach further into eastern and central Pennsylvania, Upstate New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. The acquisition of PPD Homecare also boosts the company’s respiratory capabilities and adds a respiratory therapist to its staff, says Sacco. Future growth plans include covering all of Pennsylvania – it recently opened a warehouse in Allentown – as well as Virginia and Connecticut. 

The hospice market faces the same pressures as other health care markets, including supply chain constraints, inflation and rising fuel prices, but there’s power in size, says Sacco. 

“We’re trying to stay ahead of the curve,” he said. “Smaller providers are having a lot of difficulty dealing with those challenges and we’re looking for those partnerships to add to our profile.” 

Central Medical Supply was founded as a wound care company in 1997, but it branched out into providing equipment to hospice agencies in 2006. Sacco says it’s now the largest family-owned company providing equipment and services to hospice agencies in the Northeast, with an average daily census of 5,000 patients. 

“We want to be careful that we maintain the high level of services we’ve developed,” he said. “We will not take our eyes off of service and we will not sacrifice service for growth.”