Medtrade 2006 Sneak Peek

To say these are changing times in the home medical equipment industry is a huge understatement. Fortunately, along with the changing environment, better, more efficient ways to operate your business are emerging. And that will be the focus of Medtrade 2006. Exhibitors are prepared not only to showcase their new products — and as usual, there are a lot of them at about 250,000 — but also to offer programs and services that target the challenges providers now face.

“In light of all the challenges we as caregivers, as health care professionals and as mobility specialists have, we need to continue to deliver high-level, quality products and care even when resources are limited,” says Dan Meuser, president of Pride USA, Exeter, Pa. “So that is what we have to be focused on and that’s what Medtrade is going to be about: finding new ways of doing business.”

First, though, it’s time to celebrate.

This year marks the 10th birthday of Pride’s Jazzy power chair, so attendees can expect a festive time at the company’s “Birthday Bash,” Meuser says. “This 10-year birthday celebration of the Jazzy is also a 10-year birthday celebration of Jazzy providers,” he notes. “They have been with us developing this product, taking care of people who really couldn’t be taken care of before and giving us the input for the evolution of the Jazzy to what it is today.”

In addition to displaying its newest products, Pride will also provide a retrospective on the Jazzy. “We’ll have the first Jazzy that we ever built and our new Jazzy Select model,” adds Annmarie Poslock, Pride’s general manager of merchandising and trade shows. “We will also focus on the birthday theme with a video that includes well wishes for the Jazzy and a big celebration atmosphere of how far we’ve come over the last 10 years and the impact the Jazzy has had on the industry.”

Meuser says there will be “a big birthday party with cake, candles and party hats,” but there will also be a look toward the future for providers. “It’s nice for us that on the 10-year birthday of the Jazzy we are introducing what we consider to be the best Jazzy ever, the Jazzy Select. It has all of the features and benefits of Jazzy at a very great value, which is what providers should be looking for at Medtrade.”

Another big celebration is underway at VGM & Associates. For 20 years, the Waterloo, Iowa-based buying group has helped members increase profitability. This year, the company will commemorate its 20th anniversary with a number of new programs developed to increase revenues and create new opportunities, according to President Ron Bendell.

The theme of VGM’s exhibit and member gala this year will be “Flashback to 1986.” And as much fun as it will be for the company to look back at the last two decades, the excitement appears to be about the future. VGM and its sister companies will launch the following programs at Medtrade:

• Nationwide Respiratory will introduce a ventilation start-up program and a traveling portable concentrator rental program.
• VGM will introduce new marketing programs for providers working in wound care and bariatrics, and will showcase its new online catalog.
• VGM Forbin will debut VGM Pro, an Internet- and e-mail-based patient follow-up program that allows providers to keep in contact with their patients for service and re-orders.
• U.S. Rehab will announce that it is the administrator for the Certified Environmental Access Consultant (CEAC) credential.

New business practices also will be a top focus at Invacare Corp. Of course the Elyria, Ohio-based manufacturer will introduce numerous new products — this time around 30 — but the emphasis will be on new provider support programs, according to Lou Slangen, senior vice president of global sales and marketing.

“We will offer different programs to help providers in the area of non-delivery, in the area of creating a product formulary and in the area of service,” he says. “We are offering all these programs to help the provider be more efficient.”

Slangen stresses that the variety of programs will complement providers’ current practices. “We are not telling the provider how to do every part of this — each knows his local market better than we do,” he explains.

But Invacare wants to make sure providers understand they have to make operational changes — and make them now — to survive.

“If they keep driving trucks, having people out there setting up equipment and delivering it and servicing it on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, they will go out of business even if we give them products for free,” says Slangen. “What we are offering are programs and products that help the provider eliminate or reduce the delivery part of their operating model.”

Slangen points out that providers need to look for a product formulary that works in their best interests. “This does not mean that you will not service the consumer or the patient properly — you can service them, but you cannot pick 60 power wheelchairs and expect to carry parts and be able to service them when you can service your patient base with only 10 or 12 power wheelchairs,” he says.

“Providers will also have to cut down their number of suppliers in order to have a more efficient operating model. So it is not just [about] the delivery components, it is also your product offering and the supporting structure that goes with that.”

Attendees who visit The Med Group’s booth will discover a new look and new business methods.

“It’s an updated look for Med,” says Bill Elliott, president and CEO of the Lubbock, Texas-based member services group. “We think our business solutions are getting better, and we are going to profile them properly. The booth also has new functionality; we will have a theater set up so we can have live demonstrations of our business services and solutions, as well as a private meeting area for our members.

“We are all about helping our members be better at business, and that is the orientation of the new booth … what we are doing will help our members improve margins and cash flow and show them specifically how we can work even better together to get that accomplished.”

Authentidate, a Berkeley Heights, N.J.-based workflow management company, also plans on making a statement at the show with its new booth and new products that emphasize improving providers’ revenues and cash flow.

Paul Skinner, the company’s vice president of sales, says Authentidate has “invested heavily in the new booth to show we mean business. We are not going to look like we just thought this was a cool idea. The new booth has the facility to engage customers at six different work stations so they can talk privately and get a good sense of what this would mean to their business.”

Providers should come prepared to learn about new products — and to discover how they can improve their specific companies. The workstations in the booth will allow providers to participate in workflow and return-on-investment activities that will give them a sense of what a “customer-centric set of solutions” would look like, according to Skinner.

At Sunrise Medical, the company says it will introduce products that have been designed to improve end-users’ lives as well as providing innovative business solutions for clinicians and providers.

Genevieve Dubuc, vice president of marketing for the Longmont, Colo.-based manufacturer, says the new product lineup represents some great technological advances. “A few of our new products include the Quickie Rhythm and Groove, the DeVilbiss iFill Personal Oxygen Station, the DeVilbiss Traveler Portable Compressor Nebulizer System and the Jay Focus Point Back,” she says.

Throughout the booth, show attendees will see evidence of the Sunrise theme: “Celebrate Improving People’s Lives.”

“In this climate of reimbursement uncertainty, we don’t want to forget that as a manufacturer we impact the lives of many — providers, clinicians and end-users,” says Dubuc. “We believe our commitment and ability to provide the best solution — not just the most cost-effective — to each of these stakeholders is something we should be proud of and celebrate. Therefore, we will be hosting a ‘Peach Party,’ in honor of our host city Atlanta, at the end of each day for attendees.”

The Drive Medical booth — which will mimic a lounge in its entirety, from comfy sofas to finger foods — has been designed to encourage providers to consider the retail side of HME as well as stimulate a dialog about current industry issues.

According to Harvey Diamond, president and CEO, it is all about the “new” way of doing business. “The booth will be very retail-oriented. It will have a relaxed atmosphere where we can chat about doing business and how we can help each other’s bottom line,” he says. “Just like we are changing the look of our booth, providers need to change the look of their store and the way they do business.”

Providers will also see a noticeable difference in the number of products Drive presents this year. The Port Washington, N.Y.-based manufacturer will focus solely on showcasing its newest offerings.

The Michael Graves’ Solutions with Drive line, designed by world-renowned architect and product designer Michael Graves, will premiere at Medtrade. In design and production for little over a year, until now the Solutions line has been kept under wraps — covered in its signature bright orange hue. At Medtrade, providers will finally see its bath safety equipment and mobility products designed to appeal to consumers’ tastes.

Attendees will also find the company’s new Ready, Set, Go line that includes items designed for travel that can be assembled without tools; an expanded offering of respiratory products; a broadened line of long-term and acute care products; and a newly published catalog.

Diamond says the company’s focus solely on new products and business solutions at its booth is an approach that is right for the industry’s current circumstances. “Rather than displaying every item that we make and focusing on ‘show specials,’ we want to work with our customers to show them our newest products, how to reduce their inventory, how to work smarter and discuss what is happening in the industry today,” he explains.

Carla Laureano, marketing manager for Chad Therapeutics, Chatsworth, Calif., says the company has focused on improving its products and will be showing a new model of its Lotus electronic oxygen conserver this year. “The swivel yoke design allows attachment to cylinders with gauges,” she says. “It also gives more flexibility in the carrying bags that providers can use since the conserver angle can be adjusted to fit multiple viewing windows and different bag designs.”

Laureano notes that Chad, which introduced its Total O2 home-filling oxygen system nine years ago, “will have some wonderful tools at the booth” to help providers figure out whether their current oxygen business models are profitable. And Chad also will be running a promotion in the booth for its customers. “For every $1,000 that a customer spends on the show floor, they will get an entry for our drawing for $1,000 in gift cards of their choice,” Laureano says.

In spite of current reimbursement rigors, for the HME providers who attend Medtrade 2006 with an open mind and the business acumen to succeed, the outlook is optimistic, these exhibitors say.

“I’m very excited about the future of this industry,” concludes The Med Group’s Elliott. “This is an industry that is sorely needed by our society, and there will be many of these HME companies providing better service at a better value going forward.”

Pack Your Bags and Prepare for the Show

As you get ready to comb the aisles at Medtrade 2006 looking for new products that can keep your business on track, keep these suggestions from exhibitors — ranging from practical advice to strategic recommendations — in mind.

“Most of the folks in this industry have typically done it all themselves. We design our own operating systems, we negotiate all of our own deals, we do all of our own marketing, we do all of our own service and so forth. With tightening margins, I don’t think that’s going to work going forward.

“My counsel to anyone preparing for Medtrade would be to look at a different operating model than you have historically had and do a critical analysis of your business to identify where you think your areas of need are. Then, come prepared to see who can help you be more effective in these areas — who you can collaborate with to find best practices and improve the operations of your business and who the suppliers are you can work with not only to help get a good price but to improve your margins.

“As a provider, you need to determine what can improve your business. You need to be measuring every aspect of your business and knowing that you are getting efficiency and productivity out of everything you do. If you can’t do it in a world-class way, then you ought to find someone to partner with who can do it for you.”
— Bill Elliott, president and CEO, The Med Group

“There is a lot of good that will come out of all of [the government’s] new rules — a new level of professionalism, a more clinical focus.

“But we need to come together to practice more cost-effective marketing programs and programs for gaining and generating referrals. Referral-based marketing is very physician-based. Under the new rules, the physicians are the gatekeepers, much more so now than in the past. We must educate physicians and enhance our relationships with them.”
— Dan Meuser, president, Pride USA

“Providers should take advantage of relevant seminars and ask good questions of the exhibitors. This is a great chance for providers to take some one-on-one time to talk about their businesses and find out how we can help them operate profitably … providers [need to] take an objective look at how they are providing oxygen and find alternatives that will save them time and money.”
— Carla Laureano, marketing manager, Chad Therapeutics

“The big difference between this show and past shows is that the thought of reimbursement and both surviving and prospering in this business is foremost on [providers’] minds. If the provider does not change his or her operating model, then he or she will be out of business.

“This industry is now due for a major consolidation. We don’t have 25 car companies. We don’t have 25 TV companies. What’s going to happen is we will no longer have 10 or 15 power wheelchair companies. There is going to be a consolidation, and providers need to hook up with the right supplier, the right company.”
— Lou Slangen, senior vice president of global sales and marketing, Invacare Corp.

“To prepare for Medtrade, I would make sure I was aware of what is going on legislatively in the industry. I would look at ways to diversify my business, not only from new product offerings or new areas of the industry to move into but also from a payer standpoint.

“I would also examine how I diversify who I am doing business with. I would look at ways to improve and streamline my business and remove as much overhead cost as I can with things such as billing and paperwork costs … Some of the new choices for doing business will require an investment on the provider’s part, but many of these can pay that investment back in a very short amount of time, and then it becomes bottom-line revenue after that.”
— Ron Bendell, president, VGM & Associates

“Providers should stay focused and schedule their time as much as possible. There’s so much to see and do that it’s really easy to get sidetracked. Set up a schedule for yourself each day by pre-scheduling meetings with manufacturers and identifying all the education seminars you want to attend.

“Remember to make time to walk the exhibit hall floor and attend critical seminars that keep you updated on reimbursement and accreditation.”
— Genevieve Dubuc, vice president of marketing, Sunrise Medical

“Providers are under pressure, but they have had a chance to operate these businesses for some time. So, it is most important for them to find intelligent ways to drive those changes in their businesses, and we share that responsibility as a solution provider.”
— Paul Skinner, vice president of sales, Authentidate