Mobility

Betting on Bariatrics

Take a stroll through any mall in America and you will see an HME market segment in the making. Nearly two-thirds of American adults are either overweight
by Susanne Hopkins

Take a stroll through any mall in America and you will see an HME market segment in the making.

Nearly two-thirds of American adults are either overweight or obese, according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for 2003-2004, the most recent available. (The survey defines “overweight” as poundage in excess of ideal body weight; “obese” is weighing more than 20 percent over ideal body weight.) And most of those people still want to be active. They want to go to the mall, go to the movies, visit friends, travel.

But often, they can't do it without help. Enter bariatric mobility. It's an unsung sector that could expand a provider's bottom line, say those working in the field.

“It's growing rapidly,” says Michael DiFranco, bariatric product manager for Elyria, Ohio-based Invacare. He estimates the demand for bariatric products could grow between 10 and 15 percent in the calendar year. “It does represent new business for the provider.”

Both manufacturers and providers point to three reasons HME companies might consider establishing a presence in the bariatric mobility market:

  1. The prevalence of obesity in America — and its growing numbers;

  2. The fact that many in the obese category are baby boomers and therefore are not Medicare-reliant, which could mean more cash sales;

  3. An increasing availability not just of bariatric mobility items but also other bariatric equipment.

Could it be a market for you?

BARIATRIC BENEFITS

If you've been in the HME business a while, it's likely that when someone mentions bariatrics, you envision a limited selection of product, the need for a warehouse to store oversized equipment and waits of up to six weeks for many products. Indeed, that's the way it was not too many years ago.

Then, says DiFranco, there weren't many manufacturers developing bariatric products. “Products cost a lot, oftentimes above the Medicare allowable,” he points out.

Providers shied away from the market.

“In the old days when people came in for bariatric products, dealers weren't as familiar with them or [didn't know] how to get them,” says Harvey Diamond, executive president and CEO for Drive Medical Design & Manufacturing.

The Port Washington, N.Y., manufacturer began making a big push into the bariatric sector about five years ago. “We try to get [providers] not to say no to those people, to realize [that the products] are available, they are in stock, they're available for quick shipment.”

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