Archive: April 2008
Marketing
April 30, 2008HME News Staff
Q. Should I tailor our marketing material differently for referral sources and customers?
A. Yes. And no. From a pure bottom-line viewpoint, it makes sense to design materials that can serve multiple audiences. But there are major differences between the two groups.
Patients are usually older and obviously have a health condition that requires your services. They need large print, bright colors and don't burden them with flowing, redundant text. Use bullet points and photos of people using product....
Incontinence, skin care: A match made in heaven
April 30, 2008HME News Staff
If synergy between compatible products is the key to retail success, then HME providers need to look hard at the incontinence-skin care tandem. The pairing has synergies galore, vendors say.
Perhaps the biggest advantage to carrying and bundling incontinence and skin care items is that they are primarily sold through over-the-counter cash channels directly to consumers. Another plus is their versatility-they can be sold to consumers with any number of conditions. Smart retailers will recognize these...
Attendees -thirsty' for diabetes info
April 30, 2008HME News Staff
ERIE, Pa. - Nearly 2,000 people "from all over" attended a diabetes expo sponsored by the Great Lakes Diabetes Institute March 24 in conjunction with Diabetes Alert Day.
There's a growing audience for diabetes health fairs, said Diane Harbaugh, vice president of clinical services for parent company Great Lakes Home Healthcare Services.
"I think that whole stigma of people having diabetes and sticking their heads in the sand is gone," she said. "Part of that is because insurance companies are requiring...
Breathe Tech. eyes ventilator market
April 30, 2008HME News Staff
FREMONT, Calif. - Breathe Technologies, a manufacturer of medical devices to treat COPD, cystic fibrosis and influenza, closed last week on $15 million in its second round of venture funding. The investment was led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Breathe is developing "a unique family of compact, ultra-lightweight, ambulatory respiratory ventilator systems for the hospital, homecare and pandemic markets," according to a release. The company believes it could enhance or replace $2 billion in...
Getting brilliant results
April 30, 2008HME News Staff
An old saying by Japanese quality experts goes something like this: "We get brilliant results from average people managing brilliant processes while our competitors get average results from brilliant people managing broken processes." Brilliant process management is part art and part science-results cannot always be certain and outcomes vary from provider to provider. Nonetheless, when certain process traits are built in to daily workflow, improvement gains will be more likely to occur. Given the...
Bidding blunders?
April 30, 2008HME News Staff
WASHINGTON - In the week after providers learned whether they had won contracts with CMS, Round 1 bidders swamped the phone lines of industry associations in March and April with complaints of improperly disqualified bids.
And on March 26, AAHomecare urged CMS to push back the deadlines for accepting contracts (April 3) and for kicking off the national competitive program (July 1).
"We want to ensure that suppliers are treated fairly, but that the education window isn't squeezed to such an extent...
'Doing our part'
April 30, 2008HME News Staff
NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas -The Scooter Store hosted U.S. Reps. John Carter, R-Texas, and Ted Poe, R-Texas, at its corporate headquarters in February and March. The congressmen spent time visiting with employees and viewing different products. They also talked about issues concerning the home medical equipment industry, including the recent spate of negative coverage in the national media. "The industry's trying to gain legitimacy, but it's hard when there are negative stories running on NBC and other...
News flash: 'Great cash item, retention tool'
April 30, 2008HME News Staff
PALM CITY, Fla. - Connectyx CEO Ronn Schuman believes his company's upgraded MedFlash medical record storage system has "the sizzle" to cook up some major business for HME providers.
Until recently, MedFlash was a simple flash drive (a device slightly smaller than a cigarette lighter) that contained a person's healthcare information (prescriptions and allergies, for example). The device, which caters to the baby boomers' desire to manage their own healthcare information, hangs on a keychain and the...
Untangling the Web
April 30, 2008HME News Staff
From a commercial standpoint, the Internet has proved to be a tremendous success for some enterprising companies while profits have been elusive for others. That begs the question about how HME companies can best harness the Internet's tremendous power: E-commerce? Online information? Marketing? Advertising? Business-to-business communication? Consumer-oriented portals? And how necessary is the Internet as a business tool?
Industry observers contend that providers shouldn't limit themselves when...
CMS reveals pricing
April 30, 2008HME News Staff
BALTIMORE - CMS plans to slash prices for HME, on average, by 26% in the first round of national competitive bidding, a move agency officials say will save millions of dollars. CMS announced the news at a March 20 press conference.
Under competitive bidding, which kicks off July 1, CMS will pay, on average, $140.82 per month for oxygen equipment instead of $199.28. For standard power wheelchairs: $3,072.65 instead of $4,063.96. For mail-order diabetes supplies: $47.53 per month instead of $82.68.
CMS...