Invacare Enters Portable Concentrator Market

ELYRIA, Ohio–While its HomeFill oxygen system has gained 12
percent of the transfilling sector, according to Invacare
officials, the company plans to launch an alternative this fall
with its first portable oxygen concentrator.

Acknowledging that it is coming late to the market, Nancy Smoot,
product manager, said the new Invacare Portable will be attractive
to users because “it is small, lightweight and inconspicuous.”

Providers may take to the product, she said, because of its
clinical performance and reliability. The new Portable has a
five-year warranty, and its compressor is designed to last 15,000
hours.

Pricing for the unit will be similar to that of the HomeFill,
Smoot said. While the new POC can be sold for cash, Invacare will
apply for both portable and stationary coding. “It was devised so
providers can use it as they want,” Smoot told reporters during a
press briefing last week.

At six pounds, the unit has a pulse dose delivery system with an
integrated conserver that will keep patients saturated at all
settings, Smoot said. The company decided not to incorporate
continuous flow delivery in order to keep the unit’s size small, an
important feature to patients. But “there’s more bolus at each
setting,” Smoot explained, which means the concentrator should keep
up with oxygen demand at any setting or activity level. Simple
operation, which patients want, and minimal components, which
providers want, should also boost the product’s appeal, she
added.

Invacare plans to conduct a study comparing its new portable to
others already on the market, including AirSep’s FreeStyle,
Inogen’s Inogen One and Respironics’ EverGo. The company will also
conduct a study to determine whether the unit is appropriate for
nighttime use.

Because clinical profiles for patients choosing a transfilling
system or a POC may be similar, Smoot said, it could come down to a
lifestyle decision for the patient or a business decision for the
provider. Classified as “oxygen-generating portable equipment,”
both products would be exempt should either President Bush’s
proposal for a 13-month rental cap on traditional oxygen
technology, or the House proposal for an 18-month cap, make it
through Congress.

Once the new portable receives 510(k) clearance, Smoot said, the
company will begin taking orders and shipping could start before
year’s end. Invacare will also apply to the FAA and airlines for
clearance of the unit in flight.

Joe Lewarski, Invacare’s vice president, respiratory products,
said consumerism is playing a definite role in development of all
the company’s new products. In the case of the Invacare Portable,
for example, “we still have a large … COPD population moving into
the Medicare ranks,” he said, noting that patients or family
members might buy a POC simply “to make life a little easier.”

At its annual Media Day Aug. 15, Invacare also unveiled a raft
of other new products, including additions to its TDX line of power
wheelchairs, along with its new marketing campaign: “Impossible
Stops Here.”

According to Lou Slangen, senior vice president of worldwide
market development, the campaign highlights the company’s newest
products and programs, which are designed to help providers survive
HME’s trying times. “You hear a lot of times from providers that
‘This is impossible’ and ‘I can’t get through any more under the
new reimbursement,” he said, but “to survive requires action.”