Page 10 - Mobility Management, September 2017

mm beat
Invacare Corp.
Moves Forward
Chairman Matt Monaghan Announces
End of Injunctive Phase of Consent Decree Matt Monaghan
The morning of July 25 started with a drum line for the employees of Invacare Corp. in Elyria, Ohio.
As employees gathered on the front lawn of the manu- facturer’s headquarters, company executives made the announcement: Invacare had officially emerged from the injunctive phase of a U.S. Food & Drug Administration consent decree that started more than four years ago. While the manufacturer will still be subject to regular third-party audits for the next five years to confirm sustainable compliance, Invacare can sell products freely from its Taylor Street facility. And the verification of medical necessity requirement for equipment is over.
Invacare employees got emotional as they heard the news and listened to the band play.
Matt Monaghan, Invacare’s chairman/CEO/president, said of the event, “It’s been so much hard work; we deserved a little drum line.”
“It’s Not a Paperwork Exercise”
For employees who weathered the consent decree that began in December 2012, as well as those like Monaghan who joined Invacare while the consent decree was in place, the announcement was a long time coming.
While the consent decree sharply restricted Invacare’s production and sales — and, for a while, its product development — Monaghan made clear that the manu- facturer used the time to also think about how it wanted to operate going forward.
In an interview with Mobility Management on the after- noon of the announcement, Monaghan said, “When I came here in 2015, the company took the opportunity
of the consent decree to think about a different strategy, and I certainly came with a different perspective of what to do. The founder before me did a wonderful thing to bring as many [products] as possible to this industry. But I see this as an interesting opportunity, and that was to do more with the technologies we have in our portfolio for the benefit of end-user clients and providers and clinicians and non-professional caretakers, the family members who do so much.
8 SEPTEMBER 2017 | MOBILITY MANAGEMENT
“We did a few things in parallel. We certainly had a vision for solving the consent decree: Let’s get all the right people dealing with that, and let’s make sure the culture pervades the whole company. It’s not a paper- work exercise, it’s a culture exercise. Then in parallel: We have to get back to being great. That consent decree can’t be an excuse for everything.”
More Meaningful Products & Greater Efficiencies
Monaghan enthusiastically pointed to the launch this summer of Invacare’s TDX SP2 power wheelchair, “which has even a better ride. For people with great and not
so great trunk control, you can do a lot. For people who want to climb unbelievable obstacles to make the outside world very amenable to their abilities, it does even more.”
He also mentioned the reintroduction of high- performance Küschall ultralightweight manual wheel- chairs to the United States, and the fact that Invacare wheelchairs can now be sold without the previously required verification of medical necessity.
But Monaghan also talked about the significance of quality over quantity, and of making the entire technology acquisition process more efficient for
all stakeholders.
“One big theme that has emerged in the last two years is moving away from ‘More products for our customers
is better’ to ‘More meaningful products for everyone
is better,’” he said. “I view the provider as incredibly important, I think underappreciated in our industry. Because, with the clinicians, [providers] are out there doing their best to match millions of possible combina- tions of parts to very specific clinical needs of a person. There’s always a person at the end of this, and I want to focus on that person at the end and help our providers have the easiest way to make those products available.
“And then I pull back and say, “How do I make the clinicians’ time most productive?’ It’s a balance of a compassion for the end user and the frustration over the practical issues of paperwork and bureaucracy that are really getting in the way of doing more with
Continued on page 10
MobilityMgmt.com