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Cape Medical Supply 'chooses' sleep

Cape Medical Supply 'chooses' sleep Provider buys another sleep business, after selling hospice business

SANDWICH, Mass. - Gary Sheehan knows some of his fellow providers think he's crazy for pursuing the sleep market as hard as he is, but he sees nothing but opportunity.

“It's about finding your strengths and advantages, and leveraging them,” said Sheehan, CEO of Cape Medical Supply.  “We've chosen sleep.”

On July 29, Cape Medical closed on its acquisition of Auburn, Mass.-based New England Medical Homecare, a 31-year-old pure-play sleep company. The move expands Cape Medical's territory further into central Massachusetts, the second largest market in the state.

There were a lot of synergies between the two organizations that made it an attractive deal, said Sheehan.

“It's a small, local company focused on serving the community, and we felt like we could marry our processes and technology and really provide a significant lift to patient volume,” he said. “It's also a real nice location with room to expand.”

For the past five years, Cape Medical has actively sought to scale its sleep business, converting retail showrooms into sleep centers, launching new sleep programs, and divesting itself of other business lines, including the sale of its hospice business in June to New Bedford, Mass.-based Enos Home Medical.

“We feel like there's a real opportunity over the next 12 to 18 months for some strong organic growth but also selective acquisitions,” said Sheehan. “We know what the next two-and-a-half years are going to look like and we expect people will want to get in the business; others will throw in the towel.”

The family-owned Cape Medical got its start in 1977 as an oxygen therapy company. Today, the provider has more than 100 employees and reaches into four states. It has begun upgrading the technology at New England Medical, and has already folded the company and its employees under the Cape Medical name, said Sheehan.

“We're excited; the employees are excited,” he said. “And there's just a lot of positive changes for patient population.”

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