StateServ, Hospicelink join forces

TEMPE, Ariz., and BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - After several years of fierce competition, a merger between StateServ Holdings and Hospicelink allows the combined DME benefit manager to “dominate” in the hospice market.

Combined, StateServ and Hospicelink will serve more than 100,000 patients daily through a network of more than 1,300 DME providers and 21 distribution centers.

“We looked at StateServ as a highly regarded peer in the market,” said Chad Trull, founder and CEO of Hospicelink and president of the newly combined company. “Either we were awarded the business or they were, so we felt like, together, we could do something special.”

StateServ and Hospicelink, which will operate as a portfolio company of Blue Wolf Capital Partners, which provided investment capital to StateServe in September, offer a full spectrum of technology-driven management services, from automated orders to billing and collections to sales and marketing.

The model lowers some barriers to entry DME providers might face in serving the hospice market, says Paul DiCosmo, co-founder and CEO of StateServ and CEO of the combined company.

“There's some operational efficiencies to be gained there, and the operating model itself can require a pretty significant investment in labor,” he said.

One of the combined company's first plans: leverage their offerings to get more DME providers to serve the growing hospice market, says DiCosmo.

“I think as pricing pressure continues from Medicare, more DME providers will be looking for alternative sources of revenue, potentially in hospice,” he said. “I think it lends itself to our current market position and where we want to take the company in the future.”

For now, StateServe and Hospicelink will keep their respective names, but eventually they'll explore creating a common brand.

“We've doubled our team so now we are going to have bandwidth to focus on some of new endeavors that we've both had sitting on the shelf,” said Trull. “We're looking forward to making headway in new markets and we want to dominate in our core market.”