Form and Function

In today’s patient aids market, looks can be everything. According to manufacturers of ADLs (aids to daily living), ambulatory aids and bath safety products, a new focus on product and packaging appearance is the result of a market that is crowded with inexpensive imports, driving prices down and slowing innovation.

“The patient aids market is one of the most sensitive to price,” says Michael DiFranco, product manager, personal care, for Invacare. “In the last 18 months, there has been a literal race to the bottom with pricing.”

Manufacturers call the situation a Catch 22. With low prices and a reimbursement system that is unresponsive to quality and service, experts say there’s little incentive for investing in product development.

“There’s no product development because there’s no reimbursement,” states Doug Francis, executive vice president of Drive Medical.

Packaging Appeal

In light of the challenge, industry leaders say efforts have shifted to retail packaging as an important tool in making sales and aiding the patients and therapists who use these products.

“The cash sales opportunity has made the look more important,” according to Heather DeRosier, senior global product manager for Sunrise Medical.

“There is always a level of training and service [expected with a product],” adds Bradley Gale, senior product manager for Cosco Product’s Ability Care Essentials line. “We try to answer this with retail packaging so [consumers] can see [how the product is used] in the home. We want it to be familiar emotionally with users, so the features are obvious … and there’s not much of a learning curve,” he explains.

The look of patient aids reflects the population being served, experts say. Past the rehab market, where such products can make the difference between a patient returning home or living in a care facility, users now include an aging population concerned with looking and living younger. Baby boomers in particular, fast becoming a big part of the segment’s target audience, are leading active lifestyles and want to keep doing so.

“Old people are getting younger every day,” says Gale, creating the need for manufacturers to approach product design and marketing as being “not about the end of life, but being a part of life.”

“[End-users] don’t want to concede the issue that they’re getting older and sicker,” agrees Francis. In talking to therapists and patients, manufacturers have learned that customers want to see “more attractive” products, he says.

A more basic concern for most manufacturers, however, is that their products help patients live more independent lives. “There’s a trend of seniors preferring to live their golden years with dignity and pride in their own homes,” says DiFranco of Invacare. “We always keep in mind the extent with which our products change people’s lives in positive ways and enable them to live safely and independently.”

In addition, patient aids can help avert injuries and prevent recurring ones. Bath safety products like grab bars and tub seats can keep the bathroom from being one of the most dangerous rooms in the home, and walkers or canes can help keep patients with unsteady balance from falling.

But experts say aging baby boomers are often reluctant to admit their need for such products, so consumer education about how the products can help has become more important than ever. “People are not going to wake up one morning and say, ‘I’m getting older. I’m getting sicker. I may need these products’,” says Francis. “We need to shift the focus [from] the sick and old to how these products can contribute to a more independent lifestyle.”

The clinical feel of patient aids can be diluted through product design tailored for image-conscious consumers, say product-makers. According to Kevin Jones, senior product and brand manager for Moen subsidiary Creative Specialties’ Home Care by Moen line, “We think particularly with the aging demographic, and the subdynamic of the boomers moving into that older segment … they will not only want the functional value of the product but also the aesthetic value.

“Take grab bars. When you walk into an average HME dealer, you see white paint and stainless steel. If baby boomers are [shopping for themselves or their parents], they don’t want to stick that institutional, hotel-looking grab bar in their bathroom.”

Jones says good looks and product function aren’t necessarily exclusive. A bath seat, for example, can be designed “with contours to make it more comfortable, ergonomic handles, colors that are aesthetically pleasing and basket organizers to hold lotions or shower attachments. Little details can make it more user-friendly.”

Aid-ing Sales

Ease of use is another product factor being influenced by today’s consumers. In the past, a pre-assembled product meant it was easy to set up and use — but that also meant it could take up too much shelf space. A product in a small box meant more items could be stocked, but the product could be tough to assemble. Manufacturers now say they’re aiming for the best of both worlds, offering compact and attractive packaging while keeping the product user-friendly.

“Shelf space is very precious,” explains Eric Chen, national sales manager for LifeCare. “If a provider only puts two products on display, then sells them both, the restocking time can equate to lost sales. The challenge for the marketer is to use the shelf space efficiently while at the same time have a user-friendly product.” He adds that lightweight, easy-to-assemble products are important factors to the growing elderly population.

“Products like bath chairs seem to be so simple, you would think there’s a limited amount of things to do to them to make them easier to use,” explains Brent Yamamoto, assistant marketing manager for Eagle Health Supplies. “The product has four legs and a seat; how much innovation can be integrated into that? But people are thinking of innovative ways to make the product easier to use and put together.” Now, he says, some bath safety and other aid products may have as few as three parts that snap together. “It saves a lot of headache for the dealer and end-user as well.”

To increase revenues in patient aids, providers can better serve their customers and their business by networking with local hospitals and rehab facilities, and by cross-selling patient aids with other home care products. “For example, a wheelchair user is probably an ideal candidate for bath safety products,” says DeRosier of Sunrise.

Cross-sales can be achieved, in part, with a well-mapped showroom that draws products together, according to DiFranco. But having “value-added product specialists on staff to help customers with key product decisions” can also spur sales. “These products are pieces of medical equipment and require an interface with a salesperson who can guide, recommend, train and size the client for the right products,” he notes.

Along with educating therapists about available products, “providers need to educate consumers on how bathroom safety can be seen as preventative medicine,” Francis believes.

“The trend toward independent home living with seniors is growing,” says DiFranco, “and will not recede.”

Experts interviewed

Eric Chen, national sales manager, LifeCare, El Monte, Calif.; Heather DeRosier, senior global product manager for standard HME, Sunrise Medical, Longmont, Colo.; Michael DiFranco, product manager, personal care, Invacare, Elyria, Ohio; Doug Francis, executive vice president, Drive Medical, Port Washington, N.Y.; Bradley Gale, senior product manager, Cosco Products, Columbus, Ind.; Kevin Jones, senior product and brand manager, Moen, North Olmsted, Ohio; and Brent Yamamoto, assistant marketing manager, Eagle Health Supplies, Orange, Calif.

Bariatric Patients Increase User Base

The patient aids market is growing in part because of new baby boomer customers. But there is another growing base of end-users: bariatric patients.

Traditionally, manufacturers of ADLs, ambulatory aids and bath safety products have targeted geriatric users, rehab patients and — to a certain extent — patients with high-level disabilities. “These types of clients have dominated our focus for years,” says Michael DiFranco, product manager of personal care for Invacare.

But with recognition of bariatrics as a disease state, manufacturers in this market segment have been drawn to answer the needs of bariatrics patients as well. “Tub benches, grab bars, walkers and commodes can now be utilized by an entirely new user group,” says DiFranco. “These products enhance their everyday lives by providing safer ways to interact in their home and outdoor environments. This is the confidence we want these clients to have at all times.”