Sometimes one business leads to another. Luis Ramos runs a company that handles case management for medical insurance claims and that led him to start to another company to sell medical equipment. The whole thing started because I was doing an analysis of what my clients were paying especially for the durable medical equipment, wheelchairs and things of that nature. When I realized how much markup was being put on these products, I said we have to do something to start passing those savings on to our clients.

A new business, Managed Medical Equipment, was born in 1999 to provide medical equipment and services in the U.S. and Central America.


We work with the major distributors and manufacturers. We sell new, used and refurbished. We have a relationship with a number of companies that refurbish X-rays and other major equipment for hospitals and clinics. We do imaging and a lot of orthopedic soft goods and other equipment.

Customers include clinics, hospitals and charitable organizations. For example the company is with working on a project to equip a small hospital in El Salvador.

In the Central American market because of the limited financial availability in some of these organizations, theyre looking to the U.S. market to supply equipment. We are finding in those markets nobody has the capital to go in and invest millions of dollars and have equipment sitting around.

The answer of course is to broker used and refurbished equipment. A lot of this equipment can be compared to commercial buses. They may have a life expectancy of a million miles. You have equipment that, properly refurbished and properly maintained, will last a long time. When new technology comes into play the [earlier] equipment can be used in Third World countries.

On the business side, Ramos focuses on the long-term rather than trying to make a killing. Everything we do is really through referrals so that puts us in a good position to market our service. We are going to deliver quality products at a reasonable price. Thats our goal. I can base it on value and it will make up for what I lose on any particular product. I am not trying to make a ton of money on one product. But I want to create a relationship and deliver this in a reasonable manner and Ill make it up on a volume basis.

Being DOTmed Certified can help him build his reputation and business relationships both for buying and selling equipmenthe finds the need to network on both ends of the sale. I want to make sure I can develop a relationship with a half-dozen organizations so if one doesnt have a piece of equipment I need, I can go to another to get the equipment within a reasonable time frame at the best available cost.

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