Home Monitoring/PERS

Connect America

Howard Teicher, VP New Business Development connectamerica.com

Tell us about your company.

TEICHER: Connect America offers a broad line of PERS products, from standard landline products to mobile GPS solutions that include caregiver interaction tools via the Web and smartphone apps. We are introducing a new technology that will allow caregivers to send real-time messages to the end user, no matter where they may be.

How is new technology responding to demands in the market?

TEICHER: People want to have more connectivity to their smartphones. Currently, protection is compromised based on smartphone capabilities. People think an app on a smartphone that calls 911 or friends and family members will substitute for a PERS unit, but it simply serves a different purpose.

Where are the biggest challenges?

TEICHER: Keeping prices competitive for the services that are offered. Just like any other industry, the PERS market has entrants that try to deeply discount services. Unfortunately, service also diminishes with this.

How will your company respond?

TEICHER: By offering products to customers that can perform additional functions they desire and that will help them to live independently longer. We are introducing a new product that allows a unique method of communication between the caregiver and end user.

What areas will HMEs struggle the most with this year?

TEICHER: Margins and profitability. Offering PERS to their customers makes sense for many reasons, but—from a business standpoint—it allows them to offer a service and make nothing but profitable, incremental revenue.

How can HMEs mitigate the struggles?

TEICHER: Cross-market products and services that customers can use, and look for alternative services to offer.

Evermind, Inc.

Dawn White, Director of Business Development evermind.us

What are Evermind's specialties?

WHITE: Evermind for Family Caregiving can help caregivers detect changes in routine that can indicate distress or decline. Evermind for Providers, on the other hand, enables real-time management-by-exception of powered medical equipment used at home or in a skilled nursing facility.

What new technologies are important to your customers?

WHITE: Families are looking for technologies that are simple to use and don't require modifications to the home or ongoing upkeep, which the Evermind system provides. There are more and more technologies being developed each year in this space, but nonintrusive will always be a priority for families.

What challenges does the PERS market face with new technologies outside your field?

WHITE: One challenge companies face in marketing these devices to baby boomers is finding the right messaging, branding and product design to meet the needs of tech-savvy and style-conscious customers.

How is your company evolving to meet these challenges?

WHITE: We are constantly adding features to our dashboard based on feedback from our families and providers. We also continue to test new appliances and powered medical equipment to ensure optimal compatibility.

How do your products help HMEs meet challenges?

WHITE: Evermind helps HMEs become data driven, empowering outcomes-based decision making and helping them to be viewed as partners in patient care, recognized for the quality care provided.

How can Evermind help HMEs improve their businesses?

WHITE: With Evermind, HMEs can: (1) Provide better care to more patients without additional labor costs; (2) increase referrals by helping reduce readmissions and demonstrating the quality of care they provide through reporting; and (3) create new revenue models by enabling population health.

Smart Caregiver

Heather Hennes, Sales and Marketing Director smartcaregiver.com

Tell us about your company and its product lines.

HENNES: Smart Caregiver Corporation has been an industry leader in personal safety devices for the past 20 years and manufactures a complete line of fall prevention solutions for in-home and facility use.

What trends do you see on the horizon, and what new technologies are you excited about?

HENNES: The introduction of new technologies will continue to drive the home monitoring and PERS marketplace in 2016. This includes quiet and cord-free options, increasing consumer demand for non pay-for-service PERS technology (i.e. auto-dialers), and more technology going to tablets and smartphones.

Will any changes in the market present challenges for companies in your market area?

HENNES: The paradigm shift towards aging in place means bringing the services and security of facility living into the home. Big players in the market will need to increase brand and product awareness, and find new avenues to educate and capture the home market.

How is your company keeping pace with and exceeding its competition?

HENNES: Smart Caregiver is introducing a new retail division for rollout during Q1 of 2016. This retail drive will encompass a core set of our product lines packaged as simple, easy-to-use solutions. We're providing off-the-shelf and out-of-the-box solutions for our customers, so that they can buy what they need at the store and immediately start using it at home. What

challenges are impacting HME and other health care providers?

HENNES: Overall, there is a lack of unified best practices for fall prevention, and cost is of paramount concern as well. Smart Caregiver strives to provide superior quality with unmatched affordability. We do not want those in need to go without appropriate tools.

What is the single most important thing that providers can do to remain competitive this year?

HENNES: HME products are not one-size-fits-all scenarios and companies need to focus in on customer service as the solution if they expect to remain competitive.