Now I Lay Me Down To Succeed

Competitive bidding is dampening the profitability of bedding and support surface products for some HME providers, but experts see opportunities in cash sale categories, especially related to the expanding baby boomer population. So it’s important for providers to understand bed quality and price.

“A mattress isn’t just a mattress,” said Mark Hudson of Hudson Medical. Providers should become more educated about the various types of mattresses, such as inner-spring, foam, fiber and air, he said.

Most providers understand the cost considerations. Medicare allowables for hospital beds dropped 32 percent in the Round 1 Rebid, going from $127.12 to $80.35. And, Hudson sees a deeper problem—Medicare reimbursements do not accurately reflect the levels of care related to the sleep surfaces category.

“We should do a better job of categorizing patients according to needs,” he said. “There is a big difference between the lower-end model and the higher-end products.”

Since Medicare reimburses for a bed package, providers have often migrated toward lower-cost inner-spring mattresses. Nonetheless, a few years ago, foam and fiber mattresses became more common and they offer pressure-reduction benefits.

For example, among Hudson Medical’s products is the Serenity Mattress. It provides a “sculptured” foam surface and pressure redistribution in the head and shoulders, torso and lower extremities area as well as support, ventilation and comfort. Hudson is well known for its support surfaces and gel overlays (Pressure-eez).

Hudson said that despite the trend toward lower-cost products, he also sees a counter-trend toward more expensive support surfaces that are more efficacious. They can bring better medical outcomes that more than offset their higher cost, he says.

In some cases, dealers are even providing a higher quality mattress at a loss to build good will among patients and referral sources, Hudson said.

“It’s a tough business for these DME dealers, being squeezed from all sorts of angles,’’ he said. “In the long run, higher-quality mattresses minimize costs by providing a better medical outcome.”

Judging Mattress Quality

It can be difficult to compare bed quality, Hudson said. “Two pieces of foam can look and feel the same and one may be five times the cost. When you make mattresses, I can make it very expensive or very inexpensive, but the difference may not be obvious.”