Page 20 - HME Business, December 2017

SIMPLY
THE BEST
The winners of the 2017 HME Business New Product of the Year Awards embody qualities that can make a difference in patients’ lives and providers’ businesses. By David Kopf
Today’s HME providers
and HME end users expect a lot — the best, in fact. And there’s good reason for that. Home medical equipment doesn’t just help patients live with a medical condition, it helps them live beyond that medical condition. It improves their quality
of life and, if it is a stand-out example, raises their expectations of what HME should be.
And from the providers’ side of the equation, top-tier HME offerings help them run better busi- nesses and provide the kind of care that will make a demonstrable positive improvement in their patients’ lives. Such equipment not only helps improve care, but raises the provider’s pro le among its referral partners.
That’s why we created the HME Business New Products of The Year. We wanted to recognize outstanding offerings across a broad range of product categories that include not only HME offerings, but also services and offerings that providers can user to run their business.
And, now in its fourth edition, the New 20 HMEBusiness | December 2017 | hme-business.com
Products of The Year continues to heat up. This year we received multiple entries that generated 11 winners across 11 categories:
• Beds & Support Surfaces
• Business Services
• Business Technology - Complete HME
Management Solutions
• Business Technology – Specialized Solutions • Home Access
• Mobility – Power & Manual Wheelchairs
• Mobility – Scooters
• Respiratory – In-Home Equipment
• Seating and Positioning
• Sleep – Resupply Items & Related Sleep
Products
• Sleep – Therapy Systems
But talking about the intent of the award program is only half the story. The process is equally important. It’d be one thing if the staff of HME Business or a group of third-party experts from the industry judged the entries, but this awards program seeks to go right to the profes-
sionals that will be using these products: the providers themselves.
To judge the entries, a panel of anonymous HME providers across a variety of disciplines volunteered scored the entries. This year saw incredible support from the providers who shared their greatly appreciated expertise and experi- ence with the program. They have our gratitude.
The resulting winners represent a compelling array of products across a wide variety of catego- ries. The year’s competition was particularly hot
in the software and in the sleep categories, where the margin of victory was narrow and re ected the continued innovation in those categories. Also, a solid turnout in the mobility products categories showed that despite all the dif culties in funding for that category, that manufacturers continue striving to meet and exceed provider and patient demands.
So, bearing all that in mind, let’s take a look at the 2017 New Product of the Year Award winners and see how they help HME providers be simply the best:
Management Solutions | Technology | Products