IMCO Home Care dives into digital marketing services

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Members of Independent Medical Co-Op (IMCO) can now build a skill set in digital marketing thanks to a new partnership with Get Social Consulting.

The 30-year-old group purchasing organization targeted independent HME providers about two years ago when it launched IMCO Home Care and announced in December that it now offers discounted services from industry consultant Lisa Wells, president of Get Social Consulting.

“Really, the opportunity we've brought to our members so far is some great pricing on retail products,” said Pam Wedow, vice president and general manager of IMCO Home Care. “Now we want to help them market those products to beneficiaries through search engine optimization, online stores and other efforts.”

In the past two years, IMCO Home Care has attracted about 100 HME, independent pharmacy and hospice members.

IMCO Home Care and Get Social Consulting will kick off their partnership with a series of free webinars presented by Wells. During the first webinar in February, she will show providers how to jump start their online sales in the first quarter (“It's co-pay deductible season,” she says) and how to nurture those sales throughout the year.

“The way providers go to market has changed significantly with the advent of competitive bidding,” she said. “More providers are sticking their toes in the online cash market, but there's a knowledge gap there.”

With a number of established membership groups already in the HME industry (think The VGM Group and The MED Group), IMCO Home Care has a marketing challenge of its own. But Wedow says IMCO Home Care has a unique value proposition: a network of about 140 wholesalers.

“Rather than making providers go into it blind, buying direct through a manufacturer or from a static PDF brochure, we connect them with a local wholesaler and the wholesaler takes them through the opportunities for contracting,” she said.