VirtuOx helps providers ‘cut cord’ on deliveries 

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla – VirtuOx has launched a new oximetry program called EzOx, reshaping the process of qualifying patients for home oxygen therapy, and making it more efficient and cost effective for HME providers, says Kyle Miko. 

Under the program, VirtuOx drop ships a disposable oximeter to patients in their homes, eliminating the need for providers to drop off and pick up a traditional oximeter, saving about $70 in activity based costs, and reducing the time to qualify patients from 10 to five days, he says. 

“We are cutting that umbilical cord,” said Miko, founder and chief marketing officer at VirtuOx. “This is my baby. I’m an RT and I owned a DME company for 15-plus years. I understand what the DME is doing and how to come up with programs to help patients and providers and physicians. We’re excited.” 

VirtuOx also calls patients to help them pair the disposable oximeter with their smart device and review instructions. Patients wear the oximeter while they’re sleeping, allowing the device to transmit data from their finger to their phone. When the patient hits a button on his phone to end the study, the results are sent to VirtuOx’s application in the cloud, and then to providers and physicians. 

VirtuOx charges $59.99 for the disposable oximeter, which lasts up to 100 hours or five years, and ships them to patients in one or two days. 

“We’re integrated with Amazon for fulfillment,” Miko said, “so we can scale the country.” 

Because the disposable oximeter stays with the patient, it can be re-used to answers questions like, is a patient ready to be discharged from therapy or is a patient benefiting from 2 liters of oxygen? 

“The provider doesn’t do just one test for each patient,” Miko says. “It would be naïve to think that. We think testing happens quite often for each patient. We think it costs, on average, about $200 to keep a patient on service for the duration (using the traditional model).”