Medical Industries America Becomes evo, Signs Inogen Distribution Agreement
Are you willing to change everything about the way you do business? That’s the question Bryan Hansel asked when he joined the company formerly known as Medical Industries America (MIA) Inc as president and CEO. That also is what he is asking of the company’s customers.

Bryan Hansel

As part of what Hansel calls a “monumental shift in the whole core of the business,” the 17-year-old Adel, Iowa-based company recently changed its name to evo Medical Solutions. “[The shift] is going to require upper-management changes, and operationally, it’s going to change the way we sell, interact, produce, and select technologies,” Hansel says.

Taken from the Latin word evolvere, meaning “to unroll,” evo represents the new brand’s promise to launch an extensive portfolio of new products and programs for the home care market, according to MIA cofounders and principals Russell Bird and Marilyn Bird.

In conjunction with the new company formation, Bird, evo’s chairman of the board, added Hansel as president and CEO and Dan Bunting as CFO. Both executives come from ReyHan PGF, a management and product consulting firm specializing in process improvement for the printing and graphic arts industry, where Hansel was CEO and Bunting was COO.

The launch of evo and the executive additions herald an aggressive new product and services development initiative and direction within the home respiratory and sleep therapy markets, Bird says. evo’s philosophy is to position leading health care technologies to raise the standard of care for home care patients, while helping providers stay competitive. As part of this vision, the company recently partnered with Santa Barbara-based Inogen Inc to distribute the Inogen One, a lightweight, portable oxygen concentrator. “evo and Inogen are a great fit,” says Inogen CEO Kathy Odell. “We’re impressed with their approach and willingness to pursue new ideas in an industry that is poised to undergo dramatic changes. Like us, they see providers as partners, not just customers. We wanted a like-minded distribution partner, and we believe we have found it in evo.”

Both Inogen and evo will be attending the Medtrade trade show and exposition later this month in Orlando, Fla. “With reimbursement and everything else, I don’t think there could be better timing for a team like ours to show some completely out-of-the-box thinking on how [providers] can enhance their businesses and their performance,” Hansel says.

ResMed Global Under New Leadership
Kieran T. Gallahue of ResMed Inc, Poway, Calif, has been promoted from president and COO of the Americas to president of ResMed Global. In his new position, Gallahue, who joined the company in 2003, will assume responsibility for global operations, new business development, and product innovation. He will continue to report to Peter C. Farrell, PhD, ResMed chairman and CEO. Gallahue will temporarily relocate to ResMed’s Sydney, Australia, offices as he transitions into his new role.

Before coming to ResMed, Gallahue held a number of positions at San Diego-based Nanogen Inc; before that, he led the critical care business division for Instrumentation Laboratory in Lexington, Mass.

Altimate Medical’s Peter Wankelman (left) and Mark Schmitt

Medtrade Seminar Offers Strategies on Selling Into Schools
At Medtrade 2004, Morton, Minn-based Altimate Medical Inc will sponsor a seminar emphasizing the steps needed to break into the school market. Called “Selling Assistive Technology Into Schools,” the educational session will take place on October 26 from 8:30 am to 9:30 am.

Session leaders Peter Wankelman, Altimate Medical educational specialist, and Mark Schmitt, marketing director for the company, will provide information on how to identify and get in touch with the key contacts in schools and will explain the funding and budget issues associated with school systems. “Many suppliers don’t realize that schools can generate future sales through referrals. During this presentation, attendees will receive the tools and knowledge needed to enter the school market successfully,” says Wankelman.

Graham-Field Opens Direct-Ship Distribution Centers
In September, GF Health Products opened a brand-new 50,000-square-foot distribution center in mainland China, as well as three US distribution centers. Producing some home care products in the Orient gives the company a “competitive edge” due to lower labor costs and increasing product quality, says CEO Irwin Selinger.

The new US distribution centers, located in Atlanta, Los Angeles, and East Rutherford, NJ, will help the company provide product shipments the same day they are ordered, says Mike Norby, senior vice president of sales and marketing. “The distribution centers have been designed around our most popular products. We will be carrying inventory to support our distributors who may not have space to stock capital equipment. These distribution centers will be able to support our HME customers, distributors, and wholesalers,” says Norby.

Norby also recently announced the company’s new Direct-Ship Program, which will allow customers to custom configure 40-foot containers with not only manual wheelchairs but also the company’s line of patient aids. “Customers can make up the container in any configuration they want, and we can deliver that container right to their door,” Norby says. “While it is not suitable for every customer, many customers can and have taken advantage of the Direct-Ship Program and have seen their prices significantly lowered on their high volume products like folding walkers, commodes, and nebulizers.”

Invacare Debuts Products
Invacare Corp is in the process of introducing a series of “sustaining, compelling, and disruptive” products, said Louis Slangen, senior vice president, sales and marketing, at an August 25 press conference held at the company’s corporate headquarters in Elyria, Ohio.

According to Slangen, sustaining in this case means the products will build on an already successful model, compelling signifies the products’ improvement over the prior design, and disruptive indicates that the improvements to existing products are intended to be so groundbreaking as to make obsolete even Invacare’s old products.

A number of these products will be debuted at Medtrade 2004 in Orlando, Fla, at the end of the month.

These products include a bariatric catalog, the Platinum™ 10 oxygen concentrator, and the ProSPIN™ X4, a custom manual ultralightweight wheelchair. Other new items to look for at Medtrade include the At’m portable power wheelchair; the Compass™ XE ultra-lightweight folding wheelchair; Formula™ TRE and Formula™ PTO Plus Powered Seating; the HomeFill™ II Patient Convenience Pack ML4, a smaller, lighter version of the HomeFill II oxygen system; the IVC™ I-Fit (400-pound capacity) and Care-Guard™ (300-pound capacity) shower chairs; a Full Electric Low Bed; the Pronto® M61™ power wheelchair featuring a power elevating seat; the Solara® custom manual, tilt-in-space wheelchair and its pediatric counterpart, the Spree GT; a glide tip walker accessory; the WalkLite™ walker, featuring a flip seat; and the Zoom 220 Highly Maneuverable Vehicle (HMV), a compact, portable, lightweight, economical addition to the Zoom line of HMVs.

A. Malachi Mixon III

The company projects $2 billion in sales by 2006, according to Chairman of the Board and CEO A. Malachi Mixon III. Mixon says Invacare will drive market growth with new products, branding (of such items as the specialty wound care products from Invacare Supply Group), and making Invacare a one-stop shopping resource.

The board of directors recently declared a cash dividend of $.0125 per share on its common shares and $.011364 per share on its Class B common shares payable October 18, 2004, to shareholders of record on October 1, 2004.

VMI, Transit Plus Donate to Local Charity
From personal care items to meat products and canned foods, the grocery items Phoenix-based Vantage Mobility International (VMI) and Atlantic Beach, Fla-based Transit Plus donated in August to Beaches Emergency Assistance Ministry (BEAM) filled 10 grocery carts.

The two vehicle accessibility products providers’ donations together totaled $500. With contributions from the grocery store owner and savings from the store’s customer rewards card, the donation to BEAM—an organization that offers food and financial help to those in need in the Jacksonville Beach area and focuses its efforts on helping families stay together in their homes in times of financial crises—was more than $600.

“I am proud to be able to give back to the community and to BEAM who had helped my family in a time of crises when our infant son died,” says Transit Plus’ Kevin Rissmiller, who won a contest VMI held to determine on whose behalf the money would be donated. “It is nice to be on the other side and giving back. I thank VMI for giving handicapped-van dealers like my company, Transit Plus Inc, a chance to win such a valuable contest that gives us a chance to truly give back to the community.”