Page 24 - HME Business, May 2018

OPENING ORTHOPEDIC OPPORTUNITIES
THE NAME OF TODAY’S MODERN HME PROVIDER GAME IS REVENUE diversification, and particularly through items that let them reach new and existing patients with a mix of funded and retail revenue. Providers must strive to find new business opportunities and markets in which they can leverage their product and patient care expertise in order to reach new patient segments, as well as expand their relationships with existing patients.
As a service, orthopedics offers serious potential because of its diverse customer base and because most orthopedic patients need more than
one item. There are a wide variety of patient groups that are served by orthopedic goods: rehab patients, customers who are recovering from injuries, people suffering from sports injuries, athletic clients that need special support, post-surgery patients, maternity patients, and the senior population. Each of these clients needs specific items. For instance, athletic patients could need wrist, ankle, and knee braces, back supports, or, if they’ve suffered an injury, they could need ice packs, or slings.
When it comes to funded items, orthopedic goods often meet the criteria for reimbursement and are more often covered than not when prescribed as medically necessary. Also, when orthopedics are prescribed, there are many complementary items providers can sell on a retail basis along with the funded products to increase their profits. For instance, when a patient
is prescribed a knee brace, the provider can suggest custom orthotic shoe inserts, heating pads, analgesics and knee wedges, and then sell those items on a cash basis.
Understanding the Market
There’s a solid case for HME providers to double-down on orthopedic products as part of their revenue expansion strategies. How can they get started?
By David Kopf
But if anything, it’s the numbers that really sell orthopedic as a revenue generator for HME providers. There is a thriving customer base: Seniors are living longer; young adults and baby boomers aren’t slowing down, continuing to engage in sports and other challenging physical activity; and children and teenagers are participating in club and high school sports, as well as so-called action sports, such as skateboarding and snowboarding.
Those groups have fostered a growing orthopedic soft goods market. Look at these statistics:
• According to American Academy of Family Physicians, acute ankle injuries
are one of the most common musculoskeletal injuries in athletes and sedentary people, accounting for 2 million injuries per year. Nearly half of all ankle sprains occur during athletic activity. And once you sprain an ankle, you are more susceptible for repeat injuries.
• The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in 2015 that sprains and strains from overextension in lifting accounted for 31 percent of worker injury claims.
• U.S. construction workers are at high risk for on-the-job injuries to muscles, tendons, joints, and nerves, according to a report in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
• The New York Times reported that Baby boomers are staying active and getting the sprains and strains to prove it. Sports-related injuries in this age group went up 33 percent over a seven-year period while boomers come to the realization that the older they get, the longer it takes to heal.
24 HMEBusiness | May 2018 | hme-business.com Management Solutions | Technology | Products