In brief: Medtrade standouts, Round 1 re-do

ATLANTA - Six manufacturers earned awards at Medtrade last week for their standout products and booths. The following manufacturers took home awards for their products: Drive Medical, Innovation award, for its Nitro Rollator; Triumph Mobility, Merit award, for its Panthera X Wheelchair; and Active Controls, Providers' Choice award, for its Center Drive System. The following manufacturers took home awards for their booths: Philips Respironics, best booth over 400 square feet; TeamDME, best booth less than 400 square feet. Medtrade had an additional award this year: the Creative Concept award, which went to Fisher & Paykel Healthcare for its wedding-related theme.

Another round of bidding set for Round 1 areas

WASHINGTON ¬- The bid window for the Round 1 recompete is now open. The deadline for bids, which must be submitted through DBidS, the online bidding system, is 9:00 p.m. EST on Dec. 14, 2012. The bid package must include all required hard copy documents as specified in the Request for Bids (RFB) instructions. The Round 1 contract period runs from Jan. 1, 2014, until Dec. 31, 2016.

Bid meeting scheduled for Salt Lake City

SALT LAKE CITY - Representatives of Utah's congressional delegation, Medicare beneficiaries, concerned citizens and healthcare professionals are gathering here Oct. 23 to discuss the negative impact of competitive bidding. Invited guests include U.S. Sens. Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee, as well as Reps. Rob Bishop, Jim Matheson and Jason Chaffetz. The even is sponsored by the Utah Medical Equipment Dealers Association, in conjunction with People for Quality Care and The VGM Group. FMI: Call Brent Gardner at 801-541-8719.

Invacare to release financial results

ELYRIA, Ohio - Invacare will release its financial results for the third quarter of 2012 before the market opens on Oct. 25. The company will sponsor a conference call for investors and other interested parties on that date at 8:30 a.m. EST. Call 888-498-8379 and use the ID 42810475.

RemitData launches Titan for HME

PLANO, Texas -RemitData has expanded the market for Titan, its reimbursement and utilization comparative analysis tool, to home medical equipment providers. Previously, it was available only to payers, Medicare and regulators. Titan offers real-time comparative analysis and custom benchmarking that providers can use to compare themselves against their peers based on specialty and geography.

Short takes

Philips Respironics gave a sneak peak of two upcoming new products at Medtrade: the Wisp minimal contact hybrid nasal mask and the SleepMapper self-management system for compliance. Respironics expects the Wisp to be available for sale in late 2012… Waterloo, Iowa-based VGM Education is celebrating its 10th anniversary. It has more than 50,000 student records from those who have completed its programs, which include instructor-led roadshows, webinars, teleconferences and the Heartland Conference…After debuting a retail-focused bed at Medtrade 20 years ago, Postville, Iowa-based Transfer Master introduced a redesigned product line at the show this year. The Hi-Low line features, among other things, tool-free assembly and the ability to split into two sections…Somnetics International, the Minneapolis-based maker of Transcend, has received approval to distribute its products in several global markets, including Australia, India, New Zealand, Columbia, Chile and Venezuela…Nonin Medical has released a special report on pulse oximetry for DME providers. The basis of the report, “Too Good to be True? Three Ways Cheap Pulse Oximeters May be Short-Changing Your Patients and Profits,” is 26 years worth of data findings, customer feedback and competitive comparison testing collected by the company.

People news

Strongsville, Ohio-based Roscoe Medical has announced that John Medina has joined the management team as vice president of sales for the company's homecare division. Medina will be responsible for overseeing sales, and implementing programs that focus on partnering with HME customers and helping them attain their profitability goals...SunTech Medical has made two appointments to its sales team for blood pressure cuffs: Tom Camp, director of national accounts; and Cynthia Long, senior product manager.