LAS VEGAS (April 1, 2015)—The voting is in, and the top prize in the biannual Innovative HME Retail Product Awards, sponsored by HomeCare magazine, has been selected. It came down to 12 products and 11 companies.
The first place winner is the iWALK 2.0 Hands Free Crutch from iWalkFree Inc.
The second place winner is the OrthoSleeve FS6 Compression Foot Sleeve from ING Source.
The third place winner is the Foot Gym from ING Source.
Finalists made their 3-minute cases for the top prize at a session called The Best New Retail/Cash Opportunities, moderated by Jim Greatorex, on Tuesday, March 31, at Medtrade Spring. The awards honor HME products that are particularly suited for retail sale. The purpose of the competition is to promote and recognize products that contribute to providers' bottom lines though cash sales.
Attendees at the session voted on their favorites, as did judges Rob Baumhover, VGM Retail; Danielle Garabiles, Avenue Medical; and Tonja Adams, CornerStone Medical Services. All scores were combined to determine the top three winners.
Finishing just out of the top three were:
Fourth Place: The LC-358 Lift Chair with FirstUp Technology from Pride Mobility
Fifth Place: The PainAway Wireless TENS from Drive Medical
Sixth Place: The Viverity Pain Relief Pad from Roscoe Medical
“When we launched at Medtrade last year, we won this award, so we were reluctant to enter again,” said Brad Hunter, director of business development, iWalkFree Inc. “Bias against a previous winner is natural. At our launch, we believed we had a product that would give the HME/DME strong retail sales, provide excellent value to the customer, and serve a strong need/demand with a truly innovative product.
“Now, a year later, we’ve proven it,” continued Hunter. “In just over a year, we’ve picked up hundreds of dealers, which is more impressive when you consider we started with zero, and introduced an entirely new concept in mobility. We went from three dealers selling this product to more than 400 as a direct result of participating at Medtrade shows.” —Greg Thompson
