Briefs

Joe Lewarski joins Inogen SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Joseph Lewarski, RRT, a longtime respiratory provider and five-year leader of the AARC's home care section, has accepted a new position as vice president of clinical affairs at Inogen. Lewarski said the combination of people and product at Inogen lured him away from his job as president of Hytech Homecare in Mentor, Ohio, where he's worked since 1991 except for a two-year stint at the MED Group. “[Inogen] came in with no former bias, no engineering bias, no conceptual bias and went with an almost naïve approach toward designing an oxygen concentrator, and I think that approach was incredibly refreshing,” said Lewarski. “I wouldn't call the end-result a paradigm shift, but it's clearly the beginning of something like that.” Invacare's respiratory sales jump 56% ELYRIA, Ohio - Invacare's respiratory product sales in the third quarter jumped 56% over last year, largely driven by sales of the company's HomeFill II oxygen system product line. At the same time, sales of rehab products declined by 23%, exlcuding the impact of acquisitions. Invacare blamed ongoing reimbursement problems for the rehab drop. SecureCare wins docs ALEXANDRIA, Va. - The American Medical Group Association, a trade group for integrated healthcare delivery systems, has designated e-CMN purveyor SecureCare Technologies as the preferred provider of Internet-based electronic document exchange technology for AMGA members. According to SecureCare, the average AMGA multispecialty medical group can gain an estimated $1-2 million of additional revenue each year through the use of the SecureCare solution. Incontinence users buy on quality EDDYSTONE, Pa. - A survey by incontinence manufacturer SCA Personal Care has found that 72% of the decision makers surveyed stated that quality was the top consideration when making purchasing decisions. Only 24% said product cost was their top consideration. The study surveyed more than 200 randomly selected long-term care professionals in the U.S.