Industry’s No. 2 Show Continues to Grow
Compared to last year, Medtrade Spring attendance increased 13%, according to preliminary post-show data, and the standing-room-only crowds in many of the educational seminars attested to that fact. The annual conference, held March 16-18 this year at the Las Vegas Convention Center, drew more than 4,200 HME providers and home health care professionals. Total attendance reached close to 7,000, according to the show organizer, VNU Expositions, Atlanta.

“Attendance at Medtrade Spring continues to grow, which demonstrates the industry’s need for increased opportunities for product information and educational offerings,” says Zuzette Estevez, who recently accepted the position of group show director for VNU Expositions. “HME providers and manufacturers remain dedicated to improving their role in providing products and services to patients and customers across the country. Attendees came with questions and went home with answers.”

Despite the jump in attendance, attendees were, as promised, greeted with shorter lines for registration badge pickup than last year.

This year’s Medtrade Spring also offered attendees a few new events, including the Accreditation Summit; Trading Spaces, HME Style, an interactive seminar on designing retail showrooms; and the Advocates Corner, an area on the trade show floor where attendees could gather information about their state associations and learn about the variety of online lobbying resources available to them.

Exhibitors were pleased with the turnout as well. With arguably one of the best positions on the showroom floor, just inside the entrance doors, Drive Medical/Dr. K reported excellent booth traffic the first day.

“Overall, I thought the show was improving in the last few years, and it was a good group of people and a wide variety, and we were happy with it,” says Harvey Diamond, president of Drive Medical/Dr. K, headquartered in Port Washington, NY.

But even Bradley Pivar, COO of Trac Medical Solutions Inc of Schenectady, NY, an eCMN software company whose booth was located at the end of the aisle farthest from the enterance, reported good traffic.

Next year, Medtrade Spring will return to the Las Vegas Convention Center on April 4-6.

Attendees Find Strength in Numbers During Educational Sessions
While the casinos next door offered visitors numerous ways to lose money, Medtrade Spring provided attendees with the opportunity to learn better methods of making money.

Many of Medtrade Spring’s regular educational sessions focused on billing and reimbursement issues, which seemed to be on the top of many providers’ agendas.

Denise Fletcher of the law firm Brown & Fortunato PC, Amarillo, Tex, lectures to Continuum of Care participants on March 16 about how to expand their respiratory business.

“My goal in coming here was to find out about Medicare regulations, and I got some information by talking face-to-face with manufacturers and class speakers about their perception,” said attendee Theresa Reed, general manager at National Medical Respiratory & Diabetic Supplies in Mt Pleasant, SC. “I feel better knowing that I’m not in this alone.”

The sessions opened on Tuesday, March 16, with the Continuum of Care workshops sponsored by the American Association for Homecare (AAHomecare). Terri Judd, the association’s education and meetings assistant, said attendance for the seminars exceeded expectations, especially for the new prosthetics and orthotics track.

“Peggy Walker [billing/reimbursement advisor at US Rehab/VGM] is very good at explaining why Medicare will or will not cover something and what to do to get patients qualified,” said Re/hab and Assistive Technology Track attendee Cynthia Panzer of Enloe Home Medical Equipment in Chico, Calif. “It was absolutely worth it to take this course.”

One of the newest programs at the show was the Accreditation Summit, which was open to all attendees. During “Dueling Accreditation,” the first part of the 3-hour-long program, representatives from the Accreditation Commission for Health Care Inc, the Community Health Accreditation Program, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, and The Compliance Team Inc gave brief descriptions of their accreditation services, including their accreditation process, benefits, and costs. Then, for the latter part of the summit, accrediting body panelists discussed how their programs could best meet the accreditation requirements of HME companies under the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003.

Another new Medtrade Spring offering was Trading Spaces, HME Style, a hands-on seminar in which attendees worked in groups to redesign mock HME showrooms. Jack Evans, president of Global Media Marketing and one of the leaders of the specialized session, says he was thrilled with the turnout and at how all the groups got so involved in the redesigning efforts. He also says the specialized workshop provided an excellent opportunity for “pure networking,” with many of the teams exchanging business cards and ideas.

Las Vegas Loves a Party Attendees mingle and grab a bite to eat as the sun goes down at Medtrade Spring’s Party by the Pool at the Las Vegas Hilton on March 16. The annual event was held the day before the exhibit hall opened this year to avoid contending with receptions held by providers, exhibitors, and other organizations.

Not Without a Fight
Members of AAHomecare, state association representatives, and Medtrade Spring attendees met during a reception in the Advocates Corner, a special area in the exhibit hall that offered lobbying resources.

Keynote Speaker Paints Cynical Picture of Medicare’s Future
“Nothing ever saves Medicare any money except reducing provider rates,” said keynote speaker Bruce C. Vladeck, PhD, to a large, early-morning gathering on March 17 at Medtrade Spring.

The former administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration (the organization that is now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) and professor of health policy at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York explained that Medicare is in trouble, and the federal government is going to have to do something about it between now and 2010 when Medicare’s “growth in revenue will be swamped by growth of beneficiaries.”

Vladeck attributed the cause of Medicare’s woes to the retiring and soon-to-be-retiring wave of aging baby boomers that is “not only the best-looking and most charming generation,” but also the largest. That is to say, compared with seniors 20 years ago, this generation is staying healthier and living longer, further straining the only insurance program that cares for beneficiaries until they die.

While Vladeck said that increased life expectancy is “a good problem to have,” cuts have to be made somewhere to accommodate that longevity, and DME is “next in the queue.”

In terms of fixes for the budgetary dilemma, Vladeck rejected cutting beneficiary benefits since Medicare, he said, covers only about 53% to 58% of beneficiaries’ medical expenses anyway. He also shot down ideas of reducing costs through privatization, cost-shifting to beneficiaries—since “70% of Medicare payments go to people with incomes of $25,000 or less”—and providing preventive care, since early identification of diseases or conditions just decreases morbidity and increases the amount of time Medicare will have to provide health coverage for a person.

With rising HME payments and more and more beneficiaries demanding home health care adding to the program’s financial difficulties, Vladeck concluded that a great deal of uncertainty surrounded the future of the Medicare program and some of the only fixes were raising taxes or reducing payments to providers through what he called the “magic of competition.”

“Will Medicare be there for you and me?” he asked. “What it comes down to is how generously disposed my kids’ generation is.”