April, 2010
MEDmarketplace.com Virtual Showcase
by Barbara R. Fallon
South Florida Hospital News, April 2010
Turns Dusty Storage Into Revenue Stream
(April 19) --- Hospitals, like every other industry, are not immune to the current economic distress. Belt tightening is the general rule in most hospitals surveyed. To that end, while hospitals operate like cities complete with a variety of administrative roles including mayors, police, firefighters, people relations, purchasing & warehouse personnel; obviously the ratio of clinicians to administrative folk must weigh heavily on those who save lives.
The kicker is that those same clinicians—using the most technologically current systems and services—can deem equipment obsolete quickly. Doctor preference, pace of technology, and broken machinery make disposing of surplus medical and hospital equipment a common problem with less manpower to solve it.
Enter MEDmarketplace.com, the leader in providing information and a streamlined centralized website to sell excess or out-of-use equipment quickly.
Simply put, the service can be likened to spring cleaning ... everyone knows it is the smart thing to do, but it often falls to the bottom of a busy schedule for a variety of reasons and just gathers dust. Those who can, seek to outsource this task. Entrepreneurial businessman Vincent Baratta has developed the virtual showcase, MEDmarketplace.com, to connect buyers with sellers.
CEO Baratta, along with his world-class IT staff, designed an easy-to-navigate website that accommodates the needs of hospitals, nursing homes, medical equipment retailers, physicians, and even individual sellers burdened with excess equipment or in need of additional supplies at low cost.
"If a hospital wants to sell its unused medical equipment or supplies," said Baratta, "it simply contacts MEDmarketplace.com and pays a modest annual subscription fee for a complete turn-key service. Once that's done a hospital's medical equipment and supplies are showcased on the website, which also features the hospital's logo and contact information, and usually within 3-10 days a buyer is located."
"The idea started five years ago with the eBay-like sale of an unused piece of medical equipment for a single hospital. Now the company has grown to providing ongoing consulting services that ‘push’ inventory information out to clients on a daily basis allowing hospitals and health care organizations to cut costs by not only moving equipment out of dusty warehouse storage but aggressively reducing excess warehouse real estate while creating a new revenue stream," explained Pat Kelly, COO.
With more than 200,000 monthly page views and more than 2,000 daily visitors, MEDmarketplace.com has established a major market presence. It is organically ranked – no sponsorships - at the top of major search engines for medical equipment & hospital equipment sales. Over 1 million products have been listed by sellers and thousands of leads are passed to sellers every month for sale opportunities. This high volume creates an expertise that solo hospital personnel could not hope to achieve in the current multi-tasking, downsized environment. CFO’s and materiel managers flock to the site.
Angelo Pirozzi, Partner Charles A. Barragato & Co LLP who consults with many CFO’s agrees, "CFO’s recognize that MEDmarketplace.com addresses the missing link in the supply chain offering a methodical process and protocol for equipment disposal which also generates a revenue stream."
Additionally, CFO’s value added role MEDmarketplace.com takes in hospitals’ planning of capital expenditures. When major renovations or remodernizations call for replacement equipment, hospitals can often find gently used equipment and save dollars or pre-sell existing equipment on a timeframe that provides initial cash flow and a schedule to move equipment out for the new in a timely fashion.
According to Kelly, this proactive asset visability platform helps sellers manage retired inventories, prevent and reduce theft, research fair market value and validate manufacturer’s trade-in allowances. As a result of an initial comprehensive review, the service typically provides their 400+ clients with a 200-300% ROI by this specialized niche of asset disposition.
Another area of increased benefits for hospital systems is not only the brisk and highly profitable sales of unused medical equipment and supplies yielding increased cash flow and elimination of unnecessary storage space; but also enhances internal transfers with the initiation of standardized systems which provide first right of purchase to system members prior to going online to all buyers. Systems have up-to-date information regarding assets and can respond quickly to individual program needs.
Finally, a welcome and timely outcome of MEDmarketplace.com is the contribution to our green-minded society. Thanks to its successful matching of unused biomedical equipment to re-processors, recyclers and refurbishers in need of parts for outdated equipment there is far less waste and landfill refuse.
In fact, following the Haitian earthquake, many clients tried to donate equipment but found it unusable because of the Haitian rudimentary facilities and lack of utilities like electricity to make it useable. Instead, through MEDmarketplace.com, they sold the equipment and donated the proceeds in addition to sending disposable medical goods to aid the relief program.
About MEDmarketplace.com
MEDmarketplace.com—the world’s largest on-line marketplace for selling hospital equipment—provides innovative, cost effective and revenue generating services to hospitals and alternative care facilities. MEDmarketplace.com is ranked number 1 in hospital equipment, medical equipment, and medical supplies, among other related terms, on all major search engines. These rankings have helped to solidify the Company’s status as the leading global medical marketplace for healthcare facilities, providers and consumers searching for medical equipment and supplies. Ziegler HealthVest Partners, LP is the lead institutional investor in MEDmarketplace.com.
About Ziegler HealthVest Partners, LP
Ziegler HealthVest Partners, LP, based in Milwaukee, WI, is a venture capital fund that invests in early-to-middle stage healthcare services, healthcare information technology and wellness companies. They are the lead institutional investor in MEDmarketplace.com. The Ziegler Companies, Inc. (symbol: ZGCO) is a growth-oriented boutique investment banking and investment services firm.
Press Contact:
Contact: Tom Armor
Company: MEDmarketplace.com
Phone: 954-491-5111
Email: tom.armor@medmarketplace.com
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