Shopping for Success

Chris Rice is looking at the value of Medtrade through the prism of competitive bidding. Like any other home medical equipment provider, the director of marketing at Diamond Respiratory Care in Riverside, Calif., is closely monitoring his expenses.

"I questioned as to whether or not to go [to Medtrade]," he said truthfully. After all, flying across the country, from California to Atlanta, Ga., takes a day coming and going, there are hotel and meal expenses and time away from his company.

Still, he decided this was a year he didn't want to miss. With a new round of competitive bidding in the offing, not to mention the constant upheaval in just about every sector of HME, Rice decided a trip to Medtrade in Atlanta could be very helpful.

"Aside from the seminars, I am actually going there to shop," he said. "I want to start comparing prices and see who is going to give us the absolute best prices that we can do a bid on."

Rice said he expects the new round of CMS' competitive bidding project, which is set to be implemented in January 2011, to be worse than last year's aborted round. He needs his bids to be competitive and something he can live with.

"We've done as much as we possibly can do efficiency-wise and cutting our costs in that respect, and now I've got to look at the cost of goods," he said. "So I'm jumping on a plane and I'm going to Medtrade."

Darren Tarleton, president and CEO of Mobility Warehouse in Stockbridge, Ga., doesn't have to go across country — he's only 20 minutes away from the Atlanta show — but he is also going to investigate manufacturers' products and pricing.

"You've constantly got to be looking at those kinds of items and find ways to cut costs," he said. The difference in price might be only $5, he said, but in a reduced reimbursement environment, every $5 counts.

Tarleton said he will also check out the educational tracks for innovative ideas on how to stay in business. "With competitive bidding coming back around, you may not be able to do Medicare in three or five years. It's going to cause me to make some changes around here," he said, noting that 35 to 40 percent of his business is Medicare.

BUILDING A BETTER MEDTRADE

Organizers believe Rice and Tarleton, as well as the thousands of other providers coming to the show, won't be disappointed in what this year's Medtrade — the 30th one — has to offer.