Liberty Medical Supply, Inc. ("Liberty Medical") is a home delivery service that sells diabetes testing supplies, prescription drugs, urology supplies, and

ostomy In anatomy, a stoma (plural stomata or stomas) is any opening in the body. For example, a mouth, a nose, and an anus are natural stomata. Any hollow organ can be manipulated into an artificial stoma as necessary. This includes the esophagus, stom ...

supplies directly to consumers. The company was a subsidiary of Medco Health Solutions, Inc., which purchased Liberty Medical and its parent company, PolyMedica, in 2007. After

Express Scripts Express Scripts Holding Company is a pharmacy benefit management (PBM) organization. In 2017 it was the 22nd-largest company in the United States by total revenue as well as the largest pharmacy benefit management (PBM) organization in the Unit ...

acquired Medco, they sold Liberty Medical in December 2012 to members of its management team, and it now operates again as an independent company. Liberty Medical's corporate headquarters is located in

Port St. Lucie Port St. Lucie is a city in St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. It is the most populous municipality in the county with a population of 204,851 at the 2020 census. It is located southeast of Orlando and north of Miami. The Port St. L ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

. The company was one of the city's largest employers with as many as 2,432 employees in 2012. By the end of 2013, the company headquarters employed as few as 940 employees, adding to the community's jobless rate of over 9%, and implemented 20% pay cuts for all employees.

Liberty Medical Services

Liberty Medical provides services to hundreds of thousands of patients through home delivery of their diabetes testing supplies, prescription medications, and other healthcare products that they need to manage their diabetes and related conditions.PolyMedica 2007 Annual Report Since Liberty Medical offers free shipping, a free meter, and files insurance claims on the patient's behalf, in many cases the service results in no charge to the patient. Liberty Medical has been expanding its product lines, offering a number of medical services and supplies in addition to diabetes testing supplies, such as prescription drugs, a personal emergency response system, sleep apnea equipment including CPAP masks, and ostomy and incontinence diabetes testing supplies.

Advertising

Liberty Medical television commercials air frequently during the CBS TV Show ''The Price is Right'' and other daytime TV programs in the United States. They have featured veteran character actor

Wilford Brimley Anthony Wilford Brimley (September 27, 1934 – August 1, 2020) was an American actor. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and working odd jobs in the 1950s, Brimley started working as an extra and stuntman in Western films in the l ...

, who had been the spokesman since 1999 (and a diabetic since 1979). He was famously known for the slogan "Call Liberty, they can help you live a better life", as well as telling diabetics to "check your blood sugar, and check it often". Brimley's uncommon pronunciation of the word "diabetes" (''"diabeetus"'') has been the subject of several parodies and

internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

s. Other celebrity diabetics who have done at least one commercial for the company include

Nell Carter Nell Carter (born Nell Ruth Hardy; September 13, 1948 – January 23, 2003) was an American singer and actress. Carter began her career in 1970, singing in the theater, and later crossed over to television. She was best known for her role as Ne ...

Phylicia Rashad Phylicia Rashad ( ) (née Ayers-Allen; born June 19, 1948) is an American actress, singer and director who is dean of the College of Fine Arts at Howard University. She is best known for her role as Clair Huxtable on the NBC sitcom '' The Cosby ...

, and

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In popular culture

Liberty Medical TV commercials have been parodied on ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their ch ...

'' and ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...

''. Since those parodies, YouTube users have created "mash-ups" of Liberty TV commercials featuring

, garnering hundreds of thousands of views and creating an

. Internet users have also posted pictures captioned "Diabeetus" in reference to Brimley's pronunciation of diabetes.

American Diabetes Association

Liberty Medical is a major contributor and National Strategic Partner of the

American Diabetes Association The American Diabetes Association (ADA) is a United States-based nonprofit that seeks to educate the public about diabetes and to help those affected by it through funding research to manage, cure and prevent diabetes (including type 1 diabetes, ...

(ADA), supporting the organization and its mission, "to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes." The company and the ADA collaborate in providing educational information to patients, including a campaign and series of articles called "I decide" that are published in Liberty's ''Health Matters'' magazine. On December 19, 2008, Liberty Medical spokesman Wilford Brimley was recognized by the ADA for his advocacy efforts on behalf of diabetes awareness and education. The actor received the ADA's "Lifetime of Service" award during a ceremony at Liberty Medical headquarters in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

Awards

Liberty Medical's former parent company, PolyMedica, was ranked sixth in the Boston Globe's "Globe 100" (Best of Massachusetts' Business) in May 2006. 4

Regulatory Affairs and Compliance

In 2001–2003, Polymedica Corp. and its subsidiary Liberty Medical Supply agreed to pay $35 million to resolve allegations that they submitted improper claims to Medicare for various diabetic and nebulizer products. Claims were allegedly submitted without a required doctor's order or prescription, and the companies failed to obtain and maintain documentation verifying the necessity of the level of treatment rendered. Under terms of the settlement, Polymedica agreed to comply with a

corporate integrity agreement A corporate integrity agreement (CIA) is a document outlining the obligations that a company involved in health care in the United States makes with a federal government agency or a state government as part of a civil settlement. On the federal lev ...

negotiated by HHS/OIG.

Bankruptcy

On February 15, 2013, it was announced that Liberty Medical Supply had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing assets and liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million in the

United States Bankruptcy Court United States bankruptcy courts are courts created under Article I of the United States Constitution. The current system of bankruptcy courts was created by the United States Congress in 1978, effective April 1, 1984. United States bankruptcy c ...

for the District of Delaware.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.libertymedical.com/ Companies based in Florida Port St. Lucie, Florida Internet memes Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2013