Use Incontinence & Skin Care Products to Boost Your Business

Medline

Jennifer Hart, Senior Product Manager, Advanced Skin Care medline.com

What is your company's specialty?

HART: Medline carries a full line of advanced skin care solutions and incontinence products to help protect the skin from moisture-associated skin damage, as well as other skin issues and breakdown. Our line contains products to cleanse, moisturize and treat the skin, while also nourishing it with a gentle formulation that combines the best of science and nature.

What trends do you see on the horizon in your market?

HART: Across the market, many health care providers are looking for ways to simplify their skin care regimen with effective products that have good value propositions and will help them achieve their clinical and financial goals.

Do you anticipate any challenges?

HART: In a complex health care world where facilities are constantly trying to reduce costs while simultaneously improving care delivery, medical supplies distributors such as Medline are being challenged to come out with innovative product solutions that are still within our customers' tight budgets.

How does Medline look to meet those challenges?

HART: The Medline Remedy Phytoplex line uses an innovative blend of plant-based ingredients and no perfume to nourish and soothe skin, provide moisture and help to protect skin from damage. The line provides an arsenal of products to meet the ongoing demand for more effective skin care solutions. Sometimes we forget that skin is our largest organ. It is a remarkably durable and self-sustaining system, but like every part of the human body, the skin faces considerable health challenges at different stages of life.

How can HME providers improve their businesses this year?

HART: They must provide education for caregivers to help them to perform at their very best. Most people do not understand that the skin has many roles. From the thinnest skin (around the eyes) to the thickest skin (on the hands and soles of the feet), skin provides protection, temperature regulation and helps with metabolism. Caregivers need to have an understanding of why skin is so important and how to properly care for it. There are many courses offered online that can help health care workers perform at their very best. For example, Medline University offers free educational opportunities. With more than 250 CE courses, more than 680,000 registered users across the continuum of care utilize the platform to help to improve the clinician-patient relationship, empowerment and career growth.

Any other words of wisdom for the HME provider?

HART: Customer education is key. Most often the customer is unfamiliar with what types of products are needed for their condition and they are embarrassed to ask. As a result, they do not know where to find solutions to their problems and they end up suffering. Providing education on the types of products available on the market will provide comfort and can help them prevent a problem ahead of time.

Unique Wellness

Steve Goelman, CEO wellnessbriefs.com

Tell us about your product line. What makes your products different?

GOELMAN: At Unique Wellness, we make specialty adult absorbent underwear that is designed to last up to eight hours using NASA-inspired, multilayered InconTek technology, which is very similar to designs used by astronauts in space for long missions. This means that unlike briefs from a big-box store, which must be changed every few hours, the user has the convenience of only three changes per day, allowing the user to change based on their schedule. This significantly, positively impacts the user's day-to-day life.

What kind of trends do you see in your market?

GOELMAN: The market has definitely shifted to a cash market, and some HME providers are struggling to keep up with that change. We are not Medicare reimbursable, so we offer specialty medical stores the opportunity to sell our products to dedicated customers, and we give them a market of consumables to increase foot traffic.

What challenges does your company face?

GOELMAN: It can often be a challenge to educate the public on price and usage costs. Overall, the upfront cost of our products is more than what you would pay at the average big-box store, but our products offer a far better value and better quality-of-life factor. Baby boomers are starting to enter the age where they are becoming incontinent, and they are looking for better, higher-quality solutions to these issues, as well as solutions—like ours—that allow them to go about their normal, active lifestyles with ease and comfort. To help meet this challenge, we offer free samples and marketing materials to our sellers.

What product from your line are you most excited about?

GOELMAN: One of our most recent products is the Superio series, which we offer in addition to our normal product lines. Superio is a top-of-the-line brief that incorporates our NASA-inspired InconTek system and provides unprecedented protection; it is designed for more active use so that it won't tear, despite constant movement. The plastic backing is quieter and does not make the usual crinkle sound that other briefs make, and it also features a wider core to help those with bowel incontinence.

How can struggling HME providers increase their revenue streams?

GOELMAN: The key to increased traffic is to carry a consumable product; this will keep customers coming back monthly. Carrying products like ours—specialty cash-only products—that is how you get the dedicated customer coming in month after month.