Mood Swings at Medtrade Spring

When Chris Kinard asked Medtrade Spring attendees to describe the HME industry’s current condition in one word, some of the responses he got were “catastrophe,” “chaos,” “uncertainty,” “change” and “craziness.”

Those answers, said Kinard, market analyst for software vendor QS1, reminded him of the old “Hee Haw” TV show song:

“Gloom, despair, and agony on me, Deep, dark depression, excessive misery. If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all, Gloom, despair, and agony on me.”

“When I think about the HME industry, this is the song we’re all singing, and for the life of me I can’t figure out why,” Kinard told his audience in a conference session on retail technology. “You can choose to speak an absolute curse over yourself and your business by walking around with this black cloud, but there are ways to overcome it.

“I’ve never been more convinced about the opportunities in our industry,” Kinard continued. It’s just that working through exactly which opportunities fit your business will take some effort, he said, whether it’s committing to HME retail or through some other avenue.

That’s what attendees at the annual spring trade show, held April 12-14 in Las Vegas, were trying to figure out. More than 320 exhibitors, including some 70 first-timers, were there to help.

In only a few examples from the Expo floor — 3,500 square feet bigger than last year’s, according to show officials — VirtuOx introduced its Freedom wireless oximetry platform, which company officials say could shave up to $75 off a provider’s cost per test by lessening the number of visits to a patient’s home.

Pride Mobility rolled out its Rental Ready program to help providers transition to the rental environment post-elimination of the first-month purchase option for power wheelchairs. The company’s Jazzy Select Elite, for example, includes a color-through shroud that won’t show scratches, a black seat with replaceable foam and vinyl and controller guards to protect the chair from daily wear and tear. “It’s all the features that can make it easier for the provider to put the chair back out if it comes back in,” said the company’s Joe Chesna, national sales director, standard power.

Numerous software makers offered new features to help providers fix their weak spots, pick up speed, increase efficiency and generally manage better.

“We’re finally starting as business owners to see that if we are going to continue not only to survive but to thrive in this industry, we’re going to have to go back to the drawing board and ask, ‘What are we doing and why are we doing it?’” said Kinard.

Most show-goers were considering that question from the perspective of competitive bidding, the topic that drew the most interest on the conference schedule. Some providers said the January implementation of Round 1 shocked them into coming to grips with the program, although they were still dreading its effects.

“Honestly, it is a much darker picture than what I anticipated,” said Jon Mayfield, regional sales manager of Central Health Services, Shawnee, Okla. “There are lots of fears in our area because Oklahoma has not experienced any Round 1 bidding, so the horror stories that we’ve heard have mainly been from publications. Hearing some first-hand experience, it hits it home a little bit harder as far as what we have to do as a company to prepare.”

While the introduction of H.R. 1041 has reenergized the industry’s grassroots effort to repeal the bidding system, providers who have already moved into retail or moved away from Medicare had a more upbeat take on the future.

“My philosophy on retail is that it’s something you can use to leverage whatever else you do. Our plan is to perhaps take minimal Medicare reimbursement just to get in contact with that consumer and introduce them to all the new technology that’s out there,” said Jim Greatorex, president and CEO of Black Bear Medical, Portland, Maine.

“At Medtrade, every year it’s exciting because we see nothing but opportunity. When we shop, we get to look at all these new entrepreneurs that have new technology that could be in categories we feel people are willing to pay for. The one thing our industry has that we’ve got to remember is that we have demand,” Greatorex said. “It’s nevernding. We’ve got to figure out how to capitalize on that.”

“Providers need to see that they can plan not to be in the Medicare business,” said Rose Schafhauser, executive director of the Midwest Association for Medical Equipment Services (MAMES). “Even if they do get a contract [under competitive bidding], life is going to be different, so they need to start planning now.

“There are so many things to look at,” Schafhauser said. “Could you go into home modification? Retail? Internet sales? Too many providers are making the basic assumption that they will get a contract, but if you do that, you’re still putting all of your eggs in the Medicare basket.”

The lesson, said long-time industry champion and eternal optimist Sheldon “Shelly” Prial, who has attended Medtrade with bride Thelma for 30 years, is that “the time has come to forget how you did business in the past and learn how to do business today.

“There are ideas here that you can use,” said Prial. “It’s time to get up off your derriere and go to work to maintain your business, maintain your customers and maintain your sanity.”

• Read the “Tough Numbers under Competitive Bidding” sidebar to learn about the advice given during a Medtrade Spring session called “Round 1 Lessons Learned.”

Don’t miss

Medtrade 2011

Oct. 24-27, 2011
Georgia World Congress Center
Atlanta

For information: www.Medtrade.com