When a major mobility product manufacturer needed someone to test its latest prototype—someone who would tax the chair’s limits, analyze it with a critical eye, and report back in unflinching detail—David Kreutz, a physical therapist at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, knew the perfect man for the job: Stephen Groot, development director at the Georgia Hospitality and Travel Association.

“I’m a C5-C6 quadriplegic, and I’ve been working since I got out of the hospital 10 years ago,” Groot says. “I’m in my chair in the morning, I’m out of the door, and I’m usually gone 8 to 10 hours. I’m in an office environment, I’m out on the road, and my wife and I are out to dinner two, three nights a week. We are really on the go. I put an awful lot of wear and tear on these chairs. I am very careful with them, but they get used to their fullest.”

Which is exactly what the manufacturer wanted. As carefully as manufacturers try to create real-world situations in laboratory product testing, there is no substitute for the use—and sometimes abuse—real consumers can put a product through in a field test. However, while matching the right user to the right product plays an important part in field testing, it can lead to tough choices for a participating health care or HME provider.

“Sometimes patients who didn’t get the opportunity find out about the field test and they are very upset that they were not chosen as the one to try it,” Kreutz says. “Patients have cornered me asking why they weren’t chosen.”

To get out of such awkward situations, the provider must have a good rationale for his or her decision. “I base it on who’s going to be the most appropriate candidate,” Kreutz says. “Who’s going to get out and use this thing? Who is it going to fit? Who needs it the most? And who will give it the kind of workout it probably needs to get? If it is a chair with a suspension system or a chair that is used for outdoor activity, I don’t want somebody who is primarily just going to use it in the house. They won’t learn anything and we won’t learn anything.”

Getting Things Right
Although finding out about a product flaw undetected by laboratory testing can be a blow to the manufacturer and set back the launch of a new product, in the end the learning process benefits all involved.

“I’ve seen manufacturers come up with a great idea and rush it to market before it is tested and they end up with a big dud on their hands,” says Paul Stewart, a former auto mechanic in Denver who became involved in mobility field testing after meeting a mobility company’s representatives through the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition. “[Rushing a product out without field testing] wastes people’s money, it wastes their time, and it takes away from the quality of their lives. Being an activist and a disability-rights advocate, I feel I do represent at least some of the disabled community, and I want the best for us.”

Getting involved in field testing can be challenging since manufacturers often prefer to work through select dealers and rehabilitation facilities that they have a strong relationship with. However, approaching manufacturers’ sales representatives and letting them know of your interest is a good place to start. Be prepared to explain how your company can put the manufacturer in touch with the types of users (active power chair users, seniors, manual wheelchair users, children, etc) it is seeking to test its product on.

It may be no picnic to break into the product testing field and it certainly will not make you rich, but it can be an exciting adjunct to your business for both employees and customers. As Stewart puts it, “I just have a need to know what’s on the cutting edge.”

Keith Bush is a contributing writer for Dealer/Provider.

Mobility Insider

Quantum Rehab, the rehabilitation division of Pride Mobility Products Corp, Exeter, Pa, developed out of the recognition that the needs of providers and clients in that field were uniquely different and needed to be addressed. Dealer/Provider spoke with Scott Higley, vice president, sales, Quantum Rehab, about how the division handles customer service and how it is braced for the future of the mobility industry. Q What differentiates Quantum’s products from those of other manufacturers? A Quantum is truly focused on rehabilitation professionals. We have a separate sales force, both inside and outside. Most of our field people have rehabilitation experience; a lot of them are therapists, and a lot of them have clinical backgrounds. Also much of our inside sales force have clinical backgrounds. Because of their clinical background, they are able to speak in the same language and terminology as the rehabilitation providers. This better serves the providers by eliminating mistakes. We want to make sure that working with Quantum Rehab is easy and efficient. Q What is an example of how your company provides excellent customer service? A We are trying to increase customer support and constantly make ourselves an easier company to deal with. The new My Quantum Web site [www.myquantum.com] provides online quotes and even online ordering. Another way we serve providers is through the Quantum Custom Group, which is an area of the company that goes above and beyond what a provider would expect from a manufacturer by making ideas and dreams come true. For instance, our engineers took a joystick and made it work so a young client could play video games. Now this kid is able to join his brothers and friends and play games instead of just watching. It is hard to measure how valuable that is, but it is. It is just amazing to affect someone’s life in that manner. Q What new and exciting innovations do you foresee in the mobility industry? A I see a lot of things changing. One area that we are consistently addressing is making more cost-efficient products to meet the ever-changing reimbursement landscape. One way we are doing this is through product design. For example, the Vibe chair is elegantly simple in design and includes a lot more features than most products in its price range. It is a big rear-wheel-drive chair with a supercompact frame that still would be considered full-size. Small chairs can limit outdoor capabilities, but the Vibe will not. It also will benefit clients who drive from their chair because its compactness will allow them to get up into a vehicle more easily. We are also moving into electronics, including Q Controls™, a new environmental control system that combines radio-controlled and infrared technology. It can be programmed separately for every room in the house to control everything from computers to TVs through pop-up menus. It can turn the air conditioning or heater to a certain setting, close the garage door, lock a gate out front, open a blind, open windows in the bedroom, and turn on the ceiling fan—all instantaneously. It does anything that we normally take for granted and gives clients a level of independence beyond anything people have seen in the past. We will provide extensive training for providers because the only complicated part of Q Controls is setting it up and customizing it for clients. Once it is set, there is nothing that needs to be done to it.