Hart Medical Equipment Merges With Northwest Ohio Medical Equipment

FINDLAY, Ohio (July 1, 2021)—Hart Medical Equipment, a durable medical equipment provider headquartered in Michigan is pleased to announce its merger with Northwest Ohio Medical Equipment (NOME), a division of Blanchard Valley Health System (BVHS), in partnership with Wood County Hospital and the Bellevue Hospital. NOME will be rebranded as Hart Medical Equipment. The official merger date is July 1, 2021.

“As a unique durable medical equipment provider with a specialized focus serving health care systems, Hart Medical Equipment is excited to expand its robust services and distinctive value by merging with NOME,” said Bart Buxton, PhD, chair of Hart’s Board of Directors and president and CEO of McLaren Health Management Group. “This merger marks Hart’s third in 18 months as part of our active merger and acquisition strategy towards expanded market growth in the Midwest.”

The merger will build on collective strengths and unique offerings to enhance business operations and patient care within both organizations. 

“This is a well-planned merger that reflects Hart’s vision to expand its health system partnerships and focus on continuity of care, reduced readmissions, and long-term patient outcomes,” said Allen Hunt, president of Hart Medical Equipment.

“This is an incredible opportunity to broaden home medical equipment services for our community. Hart Medical Equipment brings years of experience, ecommerce opportunities, and new product and service offerings to customers,” said Myron D. Lewis, president and CEO for BVHS. “This decision was made after a great deal of research, discussion and strategic planning. We truly believe this is a win-win situation for everyone involved.”

Hart is uniquely skilled at working with health systems, streamlining processes to create consistent deliverables, while respecting individual cultures and needs. Hart also works with numerous accountable care organizations, physician-hospital organizations and other physician groups. With increasing documentation requirements by payers, Hart continues to implement process improvements for ease of referral, working closely with clinicians with open communication and welcomed feedback.

“Hart continues to bend the cost curve, while providing high levels of quality on a very specialized, but important segment of the healthcare spend,” said Hunt.

Faced with healthcare challenges from the pandemic, Hart implemented innovative technologies to meet those challenges, namely TeleHart®, its telehealth platform for educating customers remotely on CPAP/BiPAP, oxygen, glucometers, and nebulizers and looks forward to expanding the platform throughout their Ohio partner health systems, including McLaren St. Luke’s in Maumee.

“Having worked with NOME for years, it was a special endeavor for me to assist in the development of this opportunity,” explained Bob Westphal, president of Vantage Healthcare of Ohio, LLC. “This type of merger exemplifies the missions of each organization.”

NOME partners, including BVHS, will maintain an ownership interest in Hart as well as a seat on the board of trustees. All hospitals collaborating on the merger are members of Vantage Healthcare of Ohio, LLC, a coalition of community hospitals in Northwest Ohio that focuses on improving efficiencies, enhancing quality and improving access to healthcare services. BVHS has been a member of Vantage Healthcare of Ohio, LLC since its inception in 2015.

Headquartered in Grand Blanc, Michigan, Hart employs a team of over 315 employees to serve Michigan and Ohio communities as well as throughout the United States via its ecommerce platform.