Med-Mizer Doubles Its Batesville Workforce on a VA Contract It Doesn't Directly Hold

Med-Mizer is investing $9 million to upgrade its 40,000-square-foot plant at 80 Commerce Drive in Batesville, adding a second shift and up to 73 jobs at wages 134 percent of the Ripley County average. The expansion supports a new five-year, sole-source Department of Veterans Affairs contract to supply at-home hospital beds and support surfaces to veterans nationwide. "This investment marks a transformational chapter in our company's history," said Brian Roth, CEO of Med-Mizer, in the governor's office announcement on October 13.

Records on USASpending.gov list Philadelphia-based DiSorb Systems, not Med-Mizer, as the actual VA contract holder. Med-Mizer is manufacturing under that arrangement, which means its new revenue runs through an intermediary it does not control, with no direct cure-notice relationship to the VA itself. The opening exists because incumbent Joerns Healthcare lost a bid protest over a technical specification, the kind of narrow procurement window that can close just as fast on the next re-compete.