ResMed tests blended model for POC

SAN DIEGO - ResMed in late March quietly launched a pilot program, Oxyensure, to sell portable oxygen concentrators by the same name directly to cash customers and through providers to insurance customers.

Oxyensure, and its accompanying website, www.oxyensure.com, uses a similar business model to one launched by Invacare and Philips last year.

“Oxyensure is a ResMed pilot program connecting patients who are searching for a portable oxygen concentrator with providers who are willing and able to support them,” said Steven Lubke, vice president of North American Respiratory Care Marketing for ResMed. “If providers are not willing or able to service a particular patient, or that patient opts for a direct purchase option, Oxyensure can offer purchase via the pilot program.”

ResMed made its first POC, the Mobi, widely available in January. The Oxyensure and Mobi POCs are the same devices, with different branding.

ResMed launched the pilot program after “extensive market research,” Lubke says.

“A large number of HMEs reported wanting a better model for identifying and serving patients seeking a portable oxygen concentrator, while profitably growing their business,” he said.

ResMed opted to form a separate company—Expedite, dba Oxyensure—and to use a different branded device for the pilot program to “ensure that we get a clear and unbiased view of the patient experience, and a deep understanding of the pain points that patients and customers experience,” Lunke says.

Despite having an NPI number filed for Expedite, “Oxyensure is not contracting with Medicare, Medicaid or any commercial payers,” Lubke says.

“In the research we conducted, providers indicated specific services that they deemed valuable and, to provide these services, an NPI is required,” he said. “One example is a check of eligibility and benefits coverage before a patient is directed to a provider.”