OXFORD, Mich. (April 11, 2014)—Essentially Women, a member services organization for women’s health care products, hosted their 14th annual conference and trade show, Focus on the Future, in Reno, Nev. March 16-18.
The event was well attended as educational courses energized members to become politically active; armed with valuable and successful sales, merchandizing and marketing techniques; and tackled tough Medicare billing issues and an audit update. All courses were approved for American Board for Certification and Board of Certification/Accreditation continuing education credits.
Educational sessions included Dr. Souzan El-Eid, MD, FACS presented “Up to the Minute Breast Care Trends” which covered screening and detection, including imaging diagnostics and clinical signs. Attendees learned how doctors are identifying high risk patients including the latest in genetic testing. New developments offering those with high risk conservative management versus prophylactic mastectomies were also included. Dr. El-Eid discussed surgical techniques that incorporate how the tumor behaves, tailoring individual systemic treatments, and how plastic surgical techniques are improving cosmetic outcomes.
Jennifer Baker presented “Engagement Marketing” covered topics such as building lasting relationships with existing customers and members drives business success. Leveraging your online marketing efforts to make that happen is called engagement marketing. Having an engagement marketing strategy is the key to inspiring the most passionate customers to promote your business. Participants of this workshop discovered the components that lead to engagement marketing success. The workshop also covered best practices for email marketing, plus how to turn social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter into powerful business tools.
Donna Hartley shared an amazing story in her presentation, “Fire Up Your Life” She is proof that one woman can walk through fire and deliver a message powerful enough to impact millions of lives. This was an empowering survival story. Drawing on her three life-threatening events she ignited attendees with firepower for personal leadership through proven strategies to master change in their lives. Donna is a graduate of the University of Hawaii and former Miss Hawaii. Donna has been featured on PBS, NBC, ABC and in The New York Times. She is the author of “Fire Up Your Life!” “Fire Up Your Intuition!” and “Fire Up Your Healing!”
Colleen Harryman from Noridian Healthcare Solutions, and Zita Upchurch from CGS Administrators, LLC presented “Everything You Wanted to Know about Billing Medicare for External Breast Prostheses.” The session focused on providing attendees with documentation case studies for review, as well as in-depth policy review. Experienced staff, found the presentation to be especially useful regarding the responsibility of training others in their organization.
The tradeshow was busy from start to finish while exhibitors wrote orders and members capitalized on show specials. Exhibits covered many different product categories including but not limited to: post-breast surgery, compression, lingerie, orthopedics, wigs and other hair loss solutions, lymphedema, accreditation, billing outsourcing, breast cancer awareness products and other medical equipment and supplies. Visit essentiallywomen.com for more information.
