Resmed's software schedules sleep

SAN DIEGO — Count Resmed as another manufacturer that's making the transition from a company that simply makes product to one that develops support products to help customers manage the business its products generate. Resmed's Boomerang software automates tasks, such as tracking and compliance, that previously had been managed manually. The software comes loaded with HCPCS; an inventory tool forecasts stock demands. At heart, the software fulfills the same sort of business functions as a Microsoft Outlook or Access, except that it was written with the sleep provider in mind. "Oftentimes, when we were talking to dealers, they weren't really following up and calling patients. They were waiting for patients to call them," said Ron Richard, Resmed's vice president of marketing. "This is more pro-active." Resmed has targeted HME providers, sleep labs and physicians with the product. HMEs who work with sleep labs that use Boomerang can trade formatted patient information. Otherwise, providers can print reports that track eligible replacement dates, follow-up calls, patient demographics, provider/referral lists and compliance data. Mike Riley, a neurodiagnostic specialist at the Providence Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan., said he was able to download information out of the three leading polysomnographic machines and populate Boomerang with the 2,000 patients he's served in his two-bed sleep lab. Boomerang lets him sort patients a number of ways: chronologically, numerically, by CPAP mask, or machine, by doctor or DME. "It cuts my follow-up time by 100%," said Riley. "Where I would set aside two days to do follow-ups, now I'm down to two hours." HME