Care Medical: Super CPAP Power from One Provider to Another

PORTLAND, Ore. — The folks at Care Medical
Equipment in Portland, Ore., know a good idea when they see one
— and they know how to run with it.

The course they are running these days took them right to
Medtrade
(held Oct. 12-15 in Atlanta) not just as a provider but as an
exhibitor. The company’s alter ego, Battery Power
Solutions, had a station in the Nova Ortho-Med booth.

How did Care Medical, aka Battery Power Solutions, get
there?

The story starts about a year ago when one of Care Medical’s
respiratory therapists showed the rest of the staff a novel
product, a battery pack for a CPAP. The light bulb that went on had
the power of a Klieg light.

“Being from the Northwest, we get a lot of people who want to go
hunting or fishing,” said Pamela Bowman, marketing coordinator for
Battery Power Solutions, adding that having to use a CPAP at night
made such activities difficult at best.

Bowman said her own grandfather, diagnosed with sleep apnea 20
years ago, tried taking along a generator on his hunting and
fishing trips, but it was so cumbersome he finally gave up.

“We saw the need [for a battery pack] and thought it would be
great to offer it to our patients,” Bowman said.

The tidy black box (think a laptop cut in half) quickly caught
on with CPAP users. It was so well received, in fact, that Care
Medical decided to form a company that would act as a distributor
of the product to other providers, and Battery Power Solutions was
born.

“We have a direct relationship with the manufacturer and they
only sell to us,” explained Bowman. She said Battery Power
Solutions has partnered with ERAC International, a wholesale
distributor of home medical equipment, to provide Super CPAP Power
Packs to resellers. Battery Power Solutions then connects the
consumers to the authorized resellers.

So far, there are resellers in New Jersey and California in
addition to Oregon, and feedback has been positive, Bowman said,
adding that the battery packs are cash sales — a relief for
those trying to wean themselves off Medicare — and are in the
$500 range.

The power packs come in three sizes ranging from 3.8 pounds to 9
pounds, with the 3.8- and 5-pound models being the most popular.
Powered by a lithium ion battery, the power packs last from 15 to
20 hours for the small model, 20 to 30 hours for the medium size
and about 50 hours for the largest size.

Bowman said the company is considering dropping the 9-pound
model, however. Many CPAP users want to travel with their battery
packs, she said, “and that would never be allowed on the
plane.”

In addition to tourists and outdoor folk, the power packs are
proving popular with another population: truckers.

The trucking industry is concerned about sleep apnea among its
members, Bowman said. “Truckers wanted to find a way to power [the
CPAP] without using the vehicle’s battery.”

Hearing that, a company team journeyed to Las Vegas recently to
market the Super CPAP Power Packs at the trucking industry’s annual
conference. “I think we will do a lot of business [in that
industry],” she said.

Bowman added that her fledgling company has so far been pleased
at the response to the Super CPAP Power Pack and expects the demand
to increase. The company has spoken with representatives from major
CPAP manufacturers, who have been supportive by passing on the
product information to their customers.

And a new accessory product is already on the horizon, Bowman
said. “The CPAP heated humidifiers eat a lot of juice, so we are
developing a jacket for the humidifier,” she said. “We’re hoping
with quality material we can up the run time 20 percent or so.”