Enos narrows down business

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. - Enos Home Medical has been shedding businesses for the past year, making hospice its main business today.

Enos recently sold its sleep therapy business to Sandwich, Mass.-based Cape Medical Supply; in 2018, it sold its ventilation therapy business to Norwood, Mass.-based Reliable Respiratory.

“Ten or 15 years ago, we were a one-stop shop, but when competitive bidding and the 36-month oxygen cap came in we started taking a closer look at different lines of business,” said President John Enos. “With sleep, it was dwindling reimbursement, higher scrutiny, and the margins got too small for us.”

Enos now serves approximately 4,000 hospice patients in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and southern New Hampshire, offering a full range of home medical equipment and supplies. The provider currently holds about 30 hospice contracts that vary from pay-per-item to capitated—whatever works best for the client. Enos also employs a liaison with a background in hospice who is dedicated to growing the business.

Because hospice is a labor-intensive business, Enos has become more efficient—adding extra shifts to reduce overtime costs and opening satellite warehouses to reduce mileage spending. Such efficiencies allow the provider to put the patient first, says Enos.

“We don't look at each transaction as bottom line,” he said. “If somebody needs something that might not be essential in our opinion at 9 p.m., we do it, anyway. You only get one chance to do it right for that patient and we take pride in putting our best foot forward every single time.”

The family-owned provider was launched in 1950 by Enos' grandfather, a police officer who saw a need for oxygen tanks. His father turned it into a DME in the 1970s, and Enos himself has been constantly adapting the business since he took over in the 2000s.

“In this industry, it's pretty much grow and change,” he said.