GEMCORE: ‘We want to surround the patient with product’

HUDSON, Ohio – GEMCORE marks its 30th year in business in 2022, celebrating everything from its humble beginnings to its diversification. 

The company, which was founded in the family home of Ed and Toni Edwards, has grown to comprise a group of businesses and that spans a 130,000-square-foot headquarters and seven branch locations. 

“My dad was a health care operations and logistics executive, and my mom was an ICU nurse,” said Matt Edwards, CEO. “I learned a great deal from them. We use the term win, win, win for the manufacturer, provider and patient. We don’t want it to be lopsided, and we always work toward that.” 

Here’s what Edwards had to say about GEMCORE’s growth path and why change “is a guarantee.” 

Fill that gap 

Edwards says the company has its roots in helping manufacturers of diabetes products get newer technologies into the hands of patients on a broader scale. 

“What we found was, diabetes products were not being offered in drug stores at the time, in the early 90s,” he said. “Manufacturers were going from patient to patient, setting them up one at a time. So, there was a great play here for mail-order supply to fill that gap in access. This way, the manufacturer could focus on products, and we were able to do fulfillment and patient education, and it grew from there.” 

Enter the CGM 

The company’s most recent push in the diabetes market is around continuous glucose monitors or CGMs. In May, it hosted a webcast with VGM & Associates, Dexcom and Tandem Diabetes Care to share strategies for growing the bottom line through the product category. 

“CGM was on our radar in 2009,” Edwards said. “It’s just becoming a major category now because the technology has gotten to a point where payers and prescribers are seeing significant value in the data that they can access. We’re getting a record number of providers looking to diversify their portfolio into diabetes.” 

Value diversification 

The company has diversified into, among other things, medical wholesale supply and third-party logistics or 3PL, as well respiratory products, positioning it to be able to  
“ship more into the same package” for the patient, Edwards says. 

“We’ve seen how sleep apnea and diabetes have common core co-morbidities,” he said. “We want to surround that patient with as much product as possible.” 

Have a common thread 

Four different companies may make up GEMCORE – Edwards Health Care Services, GEMCARE Wellness, GEMRX and GEMCO Medical – but they all share a common thread: “Investing back in the business,” Edwards says. 

“That’s the No. 1 thing really,” he said. “We’re trying to continue investing in expanding our reach and getting more efficient. We just think about how we can help ease the burden (for the provider and patient) and how we can help manage the disease in any way possible. That’s where the investment comes in.”