Event Coverage
ATG Rehab: Growing Bigger, Getting Better
DENVER — A friendly word of warning to any seating or mobility consultant looking to address the rehab technology suppliers (RTS) of ATG Rehab: Bring your "A" game. You'll need it.
That was quite evident at ATG Rehab's national meeting at the Omni Interlocken hotel in May, as highly experienced RTS's from ATG's seven offices gathered to exchange ideas, view mobility and rehab equipment, and learn from guest speakers talking about everything from posterior pelvic tilt to performing like a champion.
ATG itself is ramping up its performance visibility after focusing on what President Paul Bergantino called three years of internal development.
Now with offices in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Oregon, Massachusetts and Washington, ATG has grown via acquisition. That's led to offices with different names: AAA Medical, Connecticut Rehab, Design-Able, Designing Mobility, Rehab Specialists, Wheelchair Center and Wheelchair Works. In addition to centralizing operations such as software systems during the past few years, ATG has also worked on sharpening brand recognition by, for instance, creating a unifying logo for all seven offices (check it out at www.atgrehab.com). In that way, offices and staffs — each ATG Rehab RTS has his or her own dedicated support team — retain their own individual identities and local relationships, but also are recognized as part of a larger, highly specialized organization.
Bergantino said centralizing certain operations was necessary "to survive in our industry, to be the best, to take costs out and increase service." With the centralization tasks finished, Bergantino added, "Now we're in growth mode." Asked what he looks for when seeking businesses to potentially add to ATG, Bergantino described rehab as a "relationship business."
"It's about the right people in the right seats," he said. "People with local-level relationships."
This article originally appeared in the July 2006 issue of Mobility Management.