Provider 'sleeps better at night'
By HME News Staff
Updated Sun December 31, 2006
IRVINE, Calif. - In a little over one year, Source One Medical has gone from depending on power mobility devices for 100% of its business to depending on them for about 60% of its business. Considering the year the rehab industry has had, President Dennis Kline now "sleeps better at night."
"We got nervous, being a power wheelchair provider and nothing else," he said. "We're still very much a rehab concentrated company, but we're successful in other product lines, too."
Respiratory and sleep products now make up about 40% of Source One's product mix. This year, it's looking to diversify even further, into enteral nutrition.
When Source One jumped into respiratory and sleep in July 2005, it had about 40 employees. It now has about 140 employees in 11 locations--everywhere from Tempe, Ariz., to Marietta, Ga.
The transition hasn't been easy. Diversifying into respiratory and sleep has meant a crash course on private payers. Source One has had to fight its way into networks, and it has had to beef up its collections department, because in private-pay, "the squeaky wheel gets the oil," Kline said.
"Medicare pays in three weeks--or never," he said.
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