Sounding the Charge

It’s a busy time for Sunrise Medical Products chairman and chief executive officer Mike Hammes. The company has been busy rolling out new products in its mobility, respiratory and standard products divisions, as well as sponsoring a grassroots campaign about the dangers of drowsy driving (for more about this campaign, see HomeCare‘s annual Sleep Supplement in the March 2003 issue). But Hammes was eager to share his predictions for the upcoming year, which he says will be one of continued growth for the durable medical equipment industry.

Hammes on the economy:

“The direct effect of the weak economy has not affected [the industry] significantly. However, if the economic stagnation continues for an extended period of time, it will clearly affect our industry, especially the Medicaid and Medicare programs. This, frankly, is one issue that, as an individual manufacturer or provider, you can’t do much about. All you can do is try to provide innovative, high-quality products at a reasonable price and hope the economy gets better.”

On manufacturer duties:

“As manufacturers, we must continue to be challenged on two fronts. One, how can we assist the [durable medical equipment] dealers with their businesses, with helping them make a profit? There’s a lot of profit pressure on the dealer body base, which is the very cornerstone of our industry. We need to find ways to have a win-win situation for both the dealer base and manufacturers.

“Two, from a quality and technology point of view, this industry — across the board and in all sectors — has significant opportunities ahead of it. As manufacturers, we should take on the challenge to go into the world-class league on quality and technology standards. I don’t think any of us have. The first one who does that will be a big winner as a company and will help the industry. The HME industry has been a very insular industry, and hasn’t faced significant external pressure from foreign companies. That international competition really does make one lean, mean and hungry. Take, for example, the electronics industry. If you can’t meet quality standards [in that industry], you’ll go out of business.”

On product initiatives at Sunrise:

“If you look at mobility right now, we are obviously the 800-pound gorilla in the custom manual wheelchair market. That business is growing for us significantly. We finally have got a great K0011 chair entry — the P220 — that is the Ferrari of the K0011 industry. It’s a superb base for seating applications.

“Beyond mobility, the really exciting thing in respiratory is what’s happening in sleep apnea. We’re the number three player [in this market] — and we’re a distant number three. This year, it all came together. We have finally completed an across-the-board product line in sleep and CPAP products, and we’ve established a specialized sales force for sleep products. The big guys hear us coming.

“Finally, we have entered into the standard steel wheelchair market — a market that historically has been dominated by our main competitor. We have just introduced a complete line of products there, and we can, for the first time, compete face to face, and toe to toe.”