CONCORD, N.C. — A 23-year-old home medical equipment provider that now also manufactures Group 3 hospital beds is hoping to offer a new lease on life to both patients and beleaguered HME suppliers.

Medical Modalities, a Concord, N.C.-based company that specializes in support surfaces and rehabilitation equipment, is looking to partner with other HME providers in distributing its new HydroAire Generation II air fluidized therapy beds to hospitals and long-term-care facilities. The beds have been used primarily in home settings, but now have safety certification to be used in hospitals and nursing homes, as well.

"We're setting up distribution with companies that want to provide service to nursing homes or hospitals," said Howie Morrison, president of Medical Modalities. The company has already contracted with Global Medical in Elkridge, Md., and New York Home Health Care Equipment in New York City, Morrison said.

Morrison and two partners started Aurora Manufacturing in 2005 to research and create a new Group 3 therapy bed to treat Stage 3 and Stage 4 pressure ulcers. The company began distributing its HydroAire bed in 2008.

The beds, which weigh about 1,100 pounds but have a footprint not much larger than a traditional hospital bed frame, according to Morrison, contain ceramic beads that look like sand. "When air is forced under it … it allows the patient to really immerse into the beads," explained Morrison, noting that the patient is protected by two special sheets. "When the bed is turned on, it allows patients to float on the surface."

For optimum outcomes, patients must stay in the bed for 18 hours a day, but for many, the results are worth it. For example, company case studies show that a 58-year-old man with four Stage 4 pressure ulcers, two of which involved undermining, and four Stage 2 pressure ulcers was treated at home with an AFT bed and healed of all wounds in about 11 months.

"Home health agencies have been excited about the outcomes we are getting for patients with multiple Stage 3 and 4 pressure wounds," Morrison said. "There is no shortage of those types of patients, both in home care or long-term care."

Which is why Morrison believes the Group 3 bed offers providers, who are getting hammered by reimbursement cuts, caps and unrelenting audits, a good opportunity to expand.

"There is a huge concern about re-hospitalizations, and these beds assist in healing ulcers at a rate three to four times over conventional surfaces," Morrison asserts. "All levels of care, from hospitals, long-term care to home care providers, are looking for ways to manage patients that have these types of pressure wounds more successfully."

Morrison said allowables for the Group 3 bed, which falls under Medicare code E0194, are between $2,900 and $3,400.

"They are kind of the last bastion of high allowables," he said. But because the beds are so specialized — patients are only eligible for them under Medicare if they have State 3 or Stage 4 pressure ulcers and have been in a Stage 2 bed for 30 days without improvement — the benefit "hasn't been bastardized," Morrison said.

Medical Modalities offers training on the beds that includes proper documentation and billing, Morrison said, adding, "If you don't qualify people properly up front, then you're going to get yourself in trouble." In some states, Medicaid also reimburses for the AFT bed, he said.

The company also trains on how to set up the beds, which are essentially built in the patient's room. "We do a home dwelling inspection to make sure the floor is sound and the electrical is adequate," Morrison said.

Providers that distribute the bed must have "a very high level of service and logistical skills," Morrison said. "The therapy requires a company that is capable of meeting the specialized needs of wound patients and one that has the infrastructure to support those patients."

He emphasized it is also important for providers to get buy-in from the patient and the caregiver. The bed is more difficult than a regular hospital bed to get in and out of (although it is compatible with various patient lifts), "but we tell them that if you're serious about getting better, we can get you healed in a relatively short time."

For most patients, that time is two to three months, Morrison said.

"This is really doing something for patients that have hit a dead end in therapy and gives them somewhere to go. It gives you a good feeling," he said.