Two of the industry’s biggest names in rehab — National Seating & Mobility (NSM) and United Seating & Mobility (USM) — have “traded” a total of four branch offices in a realignment meant to strengthen both businesses in regions that have been their traditional strongholds.
United Seating & Mobility has gained branch offices in Kansas City, Kan., and Columbus, Ohio, that used to belong to NSM. In exchange, National Seating & Mobility gains former USM offices in Orlando, Fla., and Dallas.
The official transition date was July 1, following a June 21 announcement in which USM President Bob Gouy said, “We’ve always been strong in the Midwest. It makes great sense to align our strengths in areas where we can do the most good. Our companies are very much alike, and we expect few or no problems during the transition period.”
United Seating is based in Earth City, Mo. National Seating & Mobility is headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., but President Mike Ballard said, “We already have two strong branches in Texas, and we’ve had a presence in Florida for many years. These strategic additions will broaden our ability to satisfy our clients and our referral sources.”
NSM’s VP of Marketing, Bill Noelting, said of the branch transfer, “Staffing will not be affected. The same people will continue to serve the same clients and clinicians… seamless transition, or as seamless as we can make it. But the good news for the end-users and therapists is that there is basically no change except the sign on the front of the buildings. I’ve been telling our people that it also presents an opportunity to make some new inroads or dust off some older relationships.”
Asked if NSM had any similar plans in the works, Noelting replied, “We really aren’t contemplating any additional moves like this, but we really didn’t contemplate this one, either. It was one of those serendipitous situations that sort of fell out of the sky. We’re just trying to make it all work in the face of a trying and turbulent landscape…the threat of competitive bidding, new allowables, new HCPCS codes, increased fuel costs, etc. We think it can all be done better, so we’re not ruling out anything.”
