The Greater Cleveland Council of the Boy Scouts of America last month awarded A. Malachi Mixon III, chairman and CEO of Invacare Corp, Elyria, Ohio, its Distinguished Citizen Award for his service to scouting and leadership in the community. n Drew Shoe Corporation, Lancaster, Ohio, has named Rick Elliott as its new vice president of sales. Elliott has more than 22 years’ experience in building and leading integrated sales and marketing operations for prominent apparel manufacturers. He will oversee Drew’s North American sales force and other specialized markets. n Kimberly-Clark Professional, Roswell, Ga, a manufacturer of tissue and towel health care products, including Depend® undergarments, has launched a new Web site for its global business at www.kcprofessional.com.

Despite news of stricter oxygen retesting requirements and cuts in Medicare funding, demographics, new technology, and improved diagnostic methods for many respiratory illnesses make home respiratory care a growing niche, says Joseph L. Priest, president and COO, AirSep, Buffalo, NY. Dealer/Provider asked him to elaborate on the state of the respiratory care industry.

Q What do you think the future of home respiratory care will look like?
A One of the things we talk about internally in our company is the great opportunity in home respiratory care.... The demographics—both the aging population and the Baby Boomers—and the identification of more respiratory illnesses in the adult, senior, child, and infant populations, from a market standpoint, [make] the respiratory market a wonderful market to be in. The challenge for us is to develop and manufacture the right products that meet the customers’ needs and expectations, as well as the needs of our direct customers, the home care providers.

Q Will profits in home respiratory care increase?
A The size of the market will grow as well as the profits. I don’t think that margins will necessarily grow. [Instead] some of this will be a volume business as more and more patients are identified who can benefit from home respiratory care. I also think there are niche markets that either are yet to be identified or will be identified with new product developments or new service offerings.... Now it is a more competitive market, which is good for the consumer. It also makes manufacturers and providers sharper because they have to work harder to meet needs in an economical matter.

Q How can companies position themselves to take advantage of niches opened up by changes in technology and demographics?
A The key is education. Being involved in this industry for two decades, I know that if someone in my family were to require home care services, I am fairly knowledgeable on the products out there. Given my knowledge, I would purchase more products than what the standard [insurance reimbursement] mix might make available. I view [this desire to purchase more than insurance allows] as an opportunity for both manufacturers and home care providers. Finding the vehicles, the processes by which you can educate the patients and the caregivers involved, is what is important.

Q What do you consider the most exciting work AirSep is doing in the home care field and why?
A AirSep has always been the pioneer in pressure swing adsorption oxygen (PSA) concentration technology. We do more with oxygen concentrators than anyone else in the world, in varieties, in size, in capabilities, purity, and sound. For just about every criterion, we have a concentrator that can meet that need. Over the past 5 years, we have diversified in home respiratory care. We became involved with nebulizers, sleep, diagnostics, and a range of other products. Over the last couple of years, we have invested a substantial amount of time in a new concentrator technology. We are probably more excited than we have ever been on some of the offerings we have coming in concentrator technology. Over the past 10 years, there has been somewhat of an evolution in concentrators and we think we are on the brink of a revolution in what we will be offering. We will provide substantial lifestyle changes and opportunities for patients. At Medtrade in New Orleans, we will be showing a new portable oxygen concentrator that I know will be exciting for providers and patients.

Q What is the process of introducing new products like at AirSep?
A The first things we identify are our customers’ needs. We have two tiers of customers, the home care providers and the patients. Each product must meet the needs of patients and the needs of home care providers.... Second, we marry [those needs] up with our current technology as well as where we think we can take the technology. We ask ourselves: “What are some of the changes? What are some of the enhancements? What are some of the developments that can occur in this technology?” We consider ourselves an application-oriented development company. We do not get into basic research.... We try to take technology as it is today, examine where advances might come from, and try to identify those that are possible in the next 1 to 2 years.

Q What impact will Medicare reform and other federal legislative changes have on the home respiratory care industry?
A Where the baby gets thrown out with the bath water is when you have the government trying to practice medicine and control reimbursement in a way that is no longer helping people but limiting access. A prime example is the potential recertification of home oxygen.... This is where organizations such as the American Association for Homecare have a tremendous value in being able to articulate what the problem with that policy is and pull in not only the home care providers, but the physicians and respiratory therapists as well, in the debate to explain either that this is unnecessary, given the disease state, or, to the extent that there is a need for additional testing, that [the government] must provide a reasonable reimbursement to allow people to get this recertification.

Q Where does AirSep see the market going?
A We plan on remaining a home respiratory therapy company. That is our niche. We like to position our company on both the diagnostic and therapeutic side. For each therapeutic product, we usually have a diagnostic tool that goes along with that. This enables us to advance in understanding not only what the therapy is but also how we might be able to use the diagnosis to provide a better therapeutic product. There is some interesting development work that is being done on how to integrate the diagnostic and therapy tools together so that when you diagnose the problem, you can match the therapy product as precisely as possible.

Q What does the future hold for Airsep?
A Because we are focused on a particular aspect of home respiratory care, we can continue to provide more innovative products in this area. Since we have limited product offerings, from all levels of the organization, we have good visibility for every product. When we see an opportunity, it is an extremely focused effort for us to put the resources and the time necessary together to develop those opportunities.... Given the fact that we are dealing with health care, which I think is one of the highest priorities for most consumers, I think [consumers] are always looking and willing to pay for those premium products that are genuinely innovative and that bring true value to the marketplace, frequently they do not look for the highly diversified provider or manufacturer of home care products.

For more information, contact AirSep at (888) 874-0202; www.airsep.com.