Get Informed, then Get Going!

Whether you're looking for networking, advice, new products — or a shoulder to lean on, Medtrade officials say you can find it at this year's fall show.

While the 31-year-old event will again offer components including the New Products Pavilion, Accreditation Central and an Expo floor crammed with 550 exhibitors (sold out at full capacity), next month's trade show has been designed to aim attendees toward the reality of HME's new world.

To be held Nov. 15-18 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Medtrade 2010 will offer 140 sessions in 11 educational tracks ranging from operations and information technology to human resources and staff development. While some sessions will focus on emerging opportunities in retail sales, others will concentrate on Medicare business strategies under the strain of changing regulatory policies and continuing reimbursement cuts.

Medtrade organizer Nielsen Expositions fashioned the mix with the help of an Educational Advisory Board looking at each session and a Blue Ribbon Task Force of providers and manufacturers from throughout the industry to generate ideas.

As a result, a 12-session track on competitive bidding has been added, an accessible lifestyle home will be built on the Expo floor and officials have turned 2009's panel discussion on consumer advocacy into an entire "Consumer Advocacy Day," extending invitations to attend to more than 100 area advocacy organizations.

Colette Weil, managing director of Summit Marketing and a member of Medtrade's Educational Advisory Board, believes the competitive bidding sessions are "critical" for every provider. "Competitive bidding is the primary force changing the industry's structure, service and beneficiary views," says Weil. "It was imperative that we develop programs by and for providers to evaluate and learn about the far-reaching impacts."

The NextGen Medtrade Accessible Home will be a 1,650-square-foot house, complete with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, built directly on the Expo floor. The house will showcase both accessible design and an array of products in a series of typical home health scenarios that demonstrate how people can remain independent as they "age in place" or face chronic illness or disability.

The ambitious display should help providers identify possible expansion areas for their businesses, according to Medtrade Group Show Director Kevin Gaffney. "Hopefully, providers will see new business opportunities that can help distinguish them from their competitors and provide additional services for their customers," he says.