MedBridge builds regional provider of sleep therapy

GREENVILLE, S.C. - SleepWorks and MedBridge Home Medical got an especially strong book of business when it acquired the CPAP business of Active Healthcare and its IntegraSleep sleep lab business.
“They've been operating in the Raleigh market for years and we knew they were one of the stronger companies,” said Robert Miller, vice president of operations for SleepWorks. “”We felt that would strengthen our position in the market to offer a lower cost option for the patient and the physician, and with the locations we now have, we can service patients in any part of that area.”
MedBridge Healthcare already had IntegraSleep on its “target list” when it went into acquisition mode earlier this year, merging with Sleep Services of America, a subsidiary of the Johns Hopkins Health System, says Miller.
The provider plans to keep its eye open toward more acquisitions, and Miller says there's a lot of opportunity to take existing companies and make them stronger.
“We have found a lot of sleep companies—the way they do business is sort of antiquated,” he said. “We can bring in newer software and newer ways of monitoring. As one of the larger providers of sleep services in the country right now, we also (have) better buying power.”
The company now performs more than 60,000 sleep studies annually from 140 locations across 21 states and the District of Columbia.
MedBridge has focused on building a business on the three pillars of sleep— diagnostics, home respiratory and CPAP resupply—which combine to make a fourth: a hospital to home transition program for high-risk respiratory patients.
Although the provider was awarded CPAP contracts in Round 2 of competitive bidding, it failed to win any in the recent recompete. However, the low margins in the product category take away some of the sting, says Miller.“Our focus is on the private pay PAP business,” he said. “Maybe we'll put that book of business back in (some day).”
Lisa Feierstein, founder and president of Active Healthcare and IntegraSleep, says the time was right to sell and that, in SleepWorks and MedBridge, she had found a company that aligned with her vision of a successful sleep company of the future.
“We really felt that our goals had been reached to build a nationally recognized, award-winning sleep program,” said Feierstein who co-founded the company with her husband Steve. “We felt they had the bandwidth to really look into the future in a much larger way then we were positioned to.”