Since 1994, AC-Med has been a trusted source for medical equipment and supplies at discount prices, buying and selling on both the wholesale and retail levels.

"I find a lot of equipment for the other dealers. I spend my day calling hospitals and they give me their list of items. It might be a particular part or piece of equipment that somebody asked me to find them," said DOTmed Certified founder Ann Cummins. "Probably my largest market is for hospital beds. I've got people out of the country requesting beds including South America and Mexico. I get container loads, not just onesy, twosy. It would have to be a whole 53-foot truckload or container."

Located in Salt Lake City, Utah, AC-Med can provide quality equipment on an international scale due to their proximity to world-class freight and export carriers. As far as international trends, Cummins said, "I notice [markets abroad] want more modern, up-to-date things. They just don't want the old stuff anymore because it's too costly to repair and they can't find parts."

The company is also a manufacturers' representative for several trusted brands. These include Burton Lights for OR surgical lights, exam and minor procedure lights, ultra-cool and spot, ceiling or wall mount, and others. For Barton Medical, the company sells patient-safe transfer systems, chairs, lifts and stretchers, and bariatric beds. For Brewer Medical it's exam tables, stools, power chairs waiting room furniture, and specialized seating such as blood-draw chairs. And AC-Med is a rep for Mac Medical blanket warmers for ER, and other specialized equipment.

In terms of used equipment, AC-Med bids on surplus at hospital auctions, then sells to dealers or refurbishers. Hospitals often prefer this process to donating used equipment. "Charities say, well we'll be in your area on such and such a day...but hospitals can't wait and AC-Med will get things out right away."

One interesting sideline is that the company sometimes gets calls from TV and movie producers locally or in California in search of props for medical shows or horror films. AC-Med supplied some props for the popular TV show Everwood and for a film school project with a horror plot. "Sometimes movie sets call and say we need some really unusual, really old equipment....I might have anesthesia machines and things that are ancient and look really scary."

Cummins has the dual distinction of being DOTmed Certified and a DOTmed 100 company. "I love DOTmed.... [The website] is so simple and so easy and I get people contacting me all the time when I put my equipment on that. So it's really fast," Cummins said. "As soon as somebody calls me that I don't know, I immediately go to the directory and look them up and see if they're on DOTmed. And if they have five stars, I know I probably don't have to worry about them because I've been burned so many times."

Now that would be a horror story.

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