No shirt, no shoes, no Medicare

DORAL, Fla. - In the last six months, mobility provider Angel Pardo has visited Curacao, Grand Cayman and St. Barts. Not for pleasure—for business.

For nearly two decades, Pardo, owner of DMR in Doral, Fla., has been evaluating manual, power and complex rehab wheelchair users in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Located just 10 miles from Miami International Airport, Pardo also services repeat customers from Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil.

“The affluent clients love to come to Miami, which makes it easy for us,” he said. “When you're dealing with some of the other populations that don't have those resources, that's when we try to go to them. We do that in coordination with the payer.”

Pardo estimates that last year 40% of his business came from outside the United States—20% from Latin America and 20% from the Caribbean.

“We're doing a lot more business internationally, because things are less desirable in the states,” said Pardo, who accepts government-run health insurance and third-party payers from the countries and islands he services.

The best part: no red tape.

“You can sit down with people who can make decisions,” he said. “You can say this is what the person needs and these are the costs. They wire transfer the money and then you do what you said you would do.”

Due to smaller populations and limited resources, particularly in the Caribbean, Pardo says islands often have to share physicians and medical specialists. Complex rehab providers are also in short supply.

“Most of the providers on these islands are DME—they don't do rehab,” he said, which is why payers are so willing to enlist his services.

They also share referrals.

“The good thing is, if one island is happy with the results, they refer you to another one,” he said. “So word gets around.”