Henleys Forced To Close Mobility Supply Business After Losing Major Insurance Reimbursement

A McCallie Avenue firm that has been helping special needs children and adults to be outfitted with wheelchairs and other special mobility devices has had to close its doors after 37 years.

Tom Henley, who operated Henley Medical with his wife, Ave., said it was due to the firm’s largest insuror reimburser, BlueCross, ending the contract in a recent letter.

Mr. Henley said, “I only have good things to say about BlueCross during all the time that we worked with them.”

He added, “Our nation’s medical system, as a rule, is broken.

Many insurance companies are struggling as well. At the end of the day, it’s about money.”

Mr. Henley said BlueCross apparently was persuaded to go with a Connecticut firm that offered a discount rate for their mobility coverage.

He also said, “It was heart-breaking to receive the letter – having worked with all these customers through the years and getting to know their special needs. But there was no way to survive without BlueCross.

Mr. Henley said the firm at one time had 12 employees. It was down to four workers.

He said Henley Medical had worked with about 50 manufacturers of specialized mobility equipment.

The Henleys sold their 6,000-square-foot building at 1090 McCallie to their next door neighbor, the Montesorri School. He said the school had wanted the property for a long time.

A longtime customer had this Facebook post:

I’m so upset.

Our lifelong DME supplier, Henley Medical in Chattanooga, is closing its doors as of this week. Every single wheelchair that my son has ever owned has came from this place.

Tom Henley, the owner has been helping him to be fitted for his wheelchairs since he was only four years old. They’ve always been great to fix things that were broken, help us to pick out a new chair, and answer my calls if I was in panic mode and out of town with an issue with the wheelchair. They’ve always felt like family and welcomed us in since day one. Tom even sent my son a graduation gift when he graduated from college and once even took me for a ride on his Harley, as he did several customers.

And I will always be grateful to Henley Medical for giving me a wheelchair lift for my very first adapted van. Someone had donated it to them, and they had seen me struggling to drive my son’s power chair in and out of my van on 2×4’s, because I was too poor to purchase a lift on my own. I was so excited that day when they asked me if I wanted it, saying that they thought of me and my struggles when they received it. I think I cried tears of joy all the way home that day.

Henley Medical will certainly be missed by many families who have frequented those doors for a lot of years, but for me and my son, we definitely shed a tear when we opened the letter from them saying that they were closing.