Building Summit seeks to ‘disrupt’ home access market

KANSAS CITY – VGM Live at Home's Building Opportunities Summit in November will help take the home accessibility market to the next level with presentations and breakout sessions on how to leverage the latest in technology, says Jim Greatorex. 

Among those technologies: a physician-owned company with a mobile application that brings a clinical aspect to home assessments, says Jim Greatorex, vice president of VGM Live at Home, who was in the process of finalizing a partnership with the company prior to the event. 

“It will be launched at the Summit, and it will be disruptive,” he said. 

VGM Live at Home, a nationwide network of providers focused on home modifications and independent living solutions, expects to draw more than 120 executives to the Building Opportunities Summit on Nov. 7-9 at the Kansas City Marriott Downtown. 

Getting physicians and other clinicians to play a larger role in the home access market has been a long-time goal of Greatorex’s. He believes it can make a big difference in helping reluctant seniors move forward with home modifications and independent living solutions. 

“What you have many times is adult children noticing issues in the homes of their elderly parents, and the elderly parents not agreeing with what needs to be done or not wanting to spend the money,” he said. “When you have a technology that brings into context all the clinical aspects of the home – what to use for mobility equipment, what meds are being taken, what the primary diagnosis is – and makes it simple to scan rooms, what you end up with is a clinically adjusted reasoning for these things. Instead of a guy trying to sell a stair lift, it’s an invited guest who can help them fix their home so they can stay there. It changes everything.” 

Presentations and breakout sessions will also address how to up your digital marketing through the latest social media and search engine optimization strategies, and how to implement artificial intelligence into your business. 

“The world has changed,” Greatorex said. “What you did last year doesn’t work this year.” 

The Summit will also serve as a platform to continue raising awareness of a newer apprenticeship program, in partnership with COR Freedom, a home access company in Flushing, Mich., that has been approved in that state but needs traction in other states, Greatorex says. 

“We’ve sent in for national approval through the U.S. Bureau of Labor,” he said. “After we get that, we’ll have a process in place where we can help other companies put similar programs in their states.”