Meeting California’s Medical Equipment Needs – One Rental at a Time

Written By: Mike Daniels

In April 2015, Med One Group had a small, 3,000 sq. ft. warehouse located in Corona, California. The warehouse seemed to be packed with equipment from top to bottom with ventilators, bipaps, infusion pumps, syringe pumps and incubators. I had just started with Med One after resigning from a rental competitor I had worked with for years—Med One seemed different to me. I worked with multiple medical equipment rental and sales companies in my nearly 30 year career but Med One’s synergy confirmed I made the right choice. Our Northern California office was gaining more and more rental business every day. Scott Wooster and Benny Tran started the Hayward office from scratch, getting the word out that there was a new rental company in town. Hospitals were looking to partner with a rental company who could provide exceptional and individualized service. Our 3,000 sq. ft. was growing.

Med One was already known in the industry for our exceptional Leasing and Financing services. For over two and a half decades we have been helping hospitals, subacute units, surgical centers and more to acquire medical equipment through our vast manufacturing network. Facilities that were interested in leasing equipment or financing purchases were working with Med One. It was in 2009 that Med One entered the medical equipment rental business; it wasn’t long before our rental business in California began to soar.

As the demand for our rental equipment grew, it wasn’t long before we realized our small Corona warehouse wasn’t going to be big enough. Dathan Calvert, Southern California Operations Manager began to look for a larger warehouse to store our multiplying inventory. “As more hospitals began using Med One for their rental needs, we knew that we would need more equipment and that new equipment was going to take a lot more warehouse space,” said Dathan. Our company met that rental demand with even more equipment purchases and in January 2016, Med One moved into a new 8,000 sq. ft. warehouse. Still located in Corona, the much larger warehouse also included new delivery trucks and service personnel. “We were growing at a fast rate,” says Bill Varley, Sales Director with Med One Group. Med One also expanded our support surface portfolio, including low air loss mattresses, bed frames, low beds, bariatrics, enclosure beds and specialty products.

We were becoming a “one stop shop” for facilities to order equipment from. We now had products available for the Central Supply, OB GYN, Neonatal Unit, Respiratory Therapy, and Wound Care departments. “Not only could we provide the needed rental products for all of these departments, but we could also help hospitals finance/lease the equipment if that’s a direction they wanted to go. Our service doesn’t stop there, we offer asset tracking management, biomedical repair, and the list goes on. Med One is a solutions partner for healthcare facilities,” says Tom Lindsey, Senior Sales Vice President. Med One recently added local financing representatives in California and other key markets; if any hospital is looking to purchase equipment, we can help.

By May 2016, California hospitals were calling Med One in record numbers. Our northern office steadily added new hospitals and subacute units to our rental customer base. Southern California was experiencing tremendous growth as well—not long after moving into our new Corona warehouse, three IDN’s converted over to Med One for their rental needs. Each hospital group had 7 facilities within them. Dathan Calvert recalls, “With so many new facilities coming on board, it was again time look at another warehouse to manage all of the equipment we were going to purchase.” In July 2016, Med One Group moved into a 10,000 sq. ft warehouse in Los Angeles. Opening a new warehouse in the La Mirada area better enabled Med One to be very responsive to our LA customers. “It just made sense to be in the heart of LA,” says Bill Varley.

Now, with two warehouses for a total of 18,000 square feet of space, a fleet of delivery trucks, and a team of service and sales people, Med One can easily service all of Southern California. Our new Corona office services the Inland Empire, Orange County and San Diego area while our LA office covers the western area of Orange County and the greater LA area including north of Los Angeles.

I think about my start with Med One back in 2015 and the amazing growth we have had in all of California. Our success has been through hard work and great service. We see hospitals and healthcare facilities as individuals, understanding that each facility is different with specific needs. “Hospitals want flexibility from their rental company,” says Scott Wooster. California hospitals and subacute units often need custom details on their invoices, accurate and easy to read billing, substitute equipment options, long term rental discounts and special rental options. Our flexibility has allowed us to earn trust with our customers and to attract new customers. In only 4 years we have grown to serving over 180 hospitals in California and Med One is expecting to nearly double that number in the next few years.

Med One truly has a “one call, does it all” approach for California hospitals. We are excited about our rental footprint in California (and the rest of the country) and look forward to continuing our relationships with our customers.