Carter Fuller: Higley a "Perfect" Fit for Fuller Rehab

• By Laurie Watanabe
• May 17, 2010

Carter Fuller, president of Fuller Rehabilitation, said Scott Higley is the "perfect" choice as the company's new senior VP.

"Scott's coming on board, it's a perfect puzzle piece for Fuller Rehabilitation," Fuller said during a phone interview today.

Higley formerly served as the VP of Alliance Seating & Mobility, the rehab division of The SCOOTER Store. He started with Fuller Rehab on May 12.

"I'm just kind of getting my feet wet with their business, to understand it and look at how we can improve it as a whole," Higley said. "It's important to grow not only our standard power business, but also complex rehab and full-line HME. We think that as a provider, there's a lot we can offer to the people that we help."

Fuller cited leadership and industry expertise in explaining why he brought Higley on board. "He brings a lot of experience in DME, the entire spectrum," Fuller said. "We're trying to help folks live the 'Fuller' life. Through Fuller Rehabilitation, we want you to be able to live at home and spend time with your family. We want to continue to help folks, and do it the right way and be a leader in the industry. That's what Scott brings."

Both Fuller and Higley emphasized the importance of being able to provide a range of services and assistive technology.

"A lot of these (patients) go home with support surfaces and stuff like that, and traditionally, rehab providers don't focus on that end of the business," Higley said. "We need to be able to provide those solutions also."

Higley pointed out that budget cuts have made the job more difficult not just for providers, but also for other professionals such as case managers, and suggests that providers can help out by broadening the range of DME products and services they offer. "It also helps balance us out," he said.

Fuller added that this kind of provider diversification is also helpful to funding sources. "We've got to show throughout the home care industry how we're creating value for the third-party payor system," he said. "That's something we've got to do a good job on, and we've got to show what a difference we're making, the positives. That's a big responsibility and something we take very seriously."

Fuller Rehabilitation (fullermobility.com) has 15 offices in the United States, mostly concentrated in the Southeast. The company provides consumer and complex rehab products and services.