A Sleeper Hit

As Americans grow older and increasingly choose to stay in their homes to receive care, the demand for special beds and support surfaces will continue to flourish, sector experts say.

“I think it's a phenomenal marketplace to be in right now,” says Jim Acker, vice president of sales and marketing for Blue Chip Medical Products. “There's always going to be a need for preventive and treatment products, and it's an ever-growing marketplace with the graying of America.”

Today the demand for beds and support surfaces is stronger than ever, agrees Mike Sedlak, group product manager for Invacare. And many of today's patients are willing to pay out-of-pocket for higher-quality products.

“Not only is there a larger population of people entering into that fray of needing services or care at home but there's more disposable income out there as well,” Sedlak says. “We're starting to see higher-end products becoming more in demand than in the past.”

Providers can remain viable with this equipment, manufacturers believe, although many are taking a wait-and-see attitude about competitive bidding's effects on the beds category, where Medicare payment reductions across the 10 round one CBAs average 29 percent.

The scenario is brighter on the support surfaces side.

“Support surfaces are a good place for providers to maintain profitability and stay in business,” states Dikran Tourian, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Anodyne Medical Devices, which includes SenTech Medical Systems, AMF Support Surfaces and Anatomic Concepts. “With some other products, it doesn't even make sense to do the product anymore because people aren't making any money.”

Tourian says he has seen new interest in support surfaces from providers who have never sold these products before. “With competitive bidding, people are looking for ways to replace lost revenue from other products,” Tourian says. “Every day we've got people looking to replace lost revenue from oxygen cuts or a bid they lost on a product area that was a key product line for them.”

Reimbursement Rewards

While reimbursements for Group 1 surfaces — which focus primarily on prevention of pressure ulcers — are “a little tight,” Sedlak says providers can do well in Group 2, which provides treatment of existing pressure ulcers.