In brief: Remote monitoring spikes in 2016, CMS nominee faces Senate committee

GOTHENBURG, Sweden - The number of remotely monitored patients, including CPAP patients, grew by 44% to 7.1 million in 2016, according a new report from Berg Insight.

What's more, the number of remotely monitored patients will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 47.9% to reach 50.2 million by 2021, says the market research firm.

The two main applications in the market are monitoring patients with sleep therapy devices and monitoring patients with implantable cardiac rhythm management (CRM) devices. Berg Insight says these two verticals accounted for 80% of all connected home medical monitoring systems in 2016.

“The number of remotely monitored sleep therapy patients grew by 70% in 2016, mainly driven by ResMed, which has made connected healthcare a cornerstone of its strategy,” says Anders Frick, senior analyst at Berg Insight.

Other leading vendors in this segment are Philips Respironics and SRETT.

Telehealth is the third largest segment with half a million connections at the end of 2016, Berg Insight says. Leading telehealth vendors include Tunstall Healthcare, Honeywell, Cardiocom, Philips and Qualcomm Life.

All other device categories, including ECG, glucose level, medication adherence and others, stood for less than 1 million connections all together, the firm says.

Cellular connectivity has already replaced PSTN and LAN as the de-facto standard communication technology for most types of connected home medical monitoring devices, according to Berg Insight.

Nominee Verma faces Senate committee

WASHINGTON - Seema Verma, President Trump's pick to run CMS, appeared before the Senate Finance Committee Thursday. Verma has an extensive background in Medicaid health policy, and helped design Healthy Indiana Plan, the nation's first consumer-directed Medicaid program. Tom Price was confirmed as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services on Feb. 10.

MAMES adopts Wisconsin

STILLWATER, Minn. - The Midwest Association of Medical Equipment Suppliers will extend its geographical coverage to Wisconsin starting March 1. “The WAMES board of directors faced an emotional and difficult decision in deciding that moving to be part of MAMES was our strongest move forward,” said Rick Adamich, president of WAMES and president of Oxygen One in Waukesha, Wis. “As we evaluated the strengths and outstanding benefits being offered to our Wisconsin members, we realized it was without question the best avenue forward.”  MAMES is a regional association that serves Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. Ann Barrett, the executive director of WAMES, retired in September. She led the association for nearly 25 years. WAMES's decision to join MAMES follows other consolidation among state associations, including the recent decision by the Virginia Association of Durable Medical Equipment Companies and the North Carolina Association of Medical Equipment Services to form the Atlantic Coast Medical Equipment Suppliers.

Somnoware launches care management module

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Somnoware has launched a new care management module that sleep physicians can use to track and improve CPAP adherence for their patients. By using machine learning models, the module is able to classify patients who are at risk and on track for compliance. The module features a panel that displays those at risk, ranked by the severity of their sleep apnea. Physicians can engage with patients by clicking on their names to send them emails or text messages. When physicians double-click on a patient's name, a screen appears that provides them with detailed testing data, such as CPAP mask usage, leak and AHI. “Our platform arms physicians with critical tools that allow them to effectively monitor and manage CPAP adherence,” said Subath Kamalasan, CEO of Somnoware.

Parallax Health, TeliVita enter agreement

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Parallax Health Management, a provider of remote patient technology and services, has entered into a distribution and sales agreement with TeliVita, a DME provider, to cross-market and sell their products and services. Through the agreement, PHM will receive 14% of TeliVita's gross aggregate sales on DME and incontinence products. “TeliVita understands our business and how our remote patient monitoring systems generate the highest quality communication channels directly to patients in their homes,” said Nathan Bradley, president of PHM. PHM's systems have been integrated with TeliVita's Compliance 1^st Technology, enabling manufacturers and healthcare organizations to control, manage, track, sell and invoice consigned DME products directly to patients at hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

Caire now covers all of Florida

BALL GROUND, Ga. - Caire, a Chart Industries company, has opened a new authorized service center in Lake City, Fla. Through a partnership with Oxygen Sales & Service, the new 3,500-square-foot facility will have eight employees. Services at the new center include pick-up and delivery in select locations, fast turnaround, and factory-authorized warranty and out-of-warranty repairs for the Caire portfolio of oxygen concentrators, according to a press release. “Expanding our capabilities to cover all of Florida addresses a need many of our providers have desired for some time,” said Miguel Cervantes, a service manager at Caire, in the release. Oxygen Sales & Service is a well-known resource for respiratory equipment repair. In August, Caire opened a new service center in Corpus Christi, Texas, in partnership with ReOx Medical Services.

AAHomecare boosts corporate partnership

WASHINGTON - AAHomecare has added several new companies to its corporate partners program. They are: Acelity, AeroCare USA, Domtar Personal Care, Med-South, and Rotech Healthcare. The program, which launched in 2012, now has 23 members. “The generosity of these companies is reflected not only in their financial support of the association, but in their active and enthusiastic participation in AAHomecare councils and work groups,” said Tom Ryan, president and CEO in a bulletin. “These companies are leaders in our industry who are putting their resources to work in their national association for the benefit of HME suppliers of every shape and size—and we are proud to be working with them on many levels to lift up our entire industry.” AAHomecare ramped up its efforts to bring on board more corporate partners in 2014.

FODAC lights up…its mortgage

STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. - Friends of Disable Adults and Children surpassed its $1.5 million fundraising goal. The money was used to pay off the mortgage on its corporate headquarters, according to a press release. “This is a significant milestone for the organization,” said Chris Brand, president and CEO of FODAC. “Paying off the mortgage relieves us of a large financial burden and prepares us to meet the ever-growing needs of the disabled community. Recent cuts in Medicare and Medicaid funding have left more people needing more help with equipment costs, and now FODAC will have more resources to meet those needs.” The organization, which provides refurbished DME for people with injuries and disabilities, held a mortgage burning ceremony to celebrate.

Patients often don't get correct home nutrition, Option Care study finds

ORLANDO, Fla. - Orders upon discharge from the hospital for home parenteral (intravenous) nutrition (HPN) did not meet the needs of patients nearly one-quarter of the time, according to research from Option Care. If orders are not corrected, patients may be overfed or underfed, both of which put them at health risk, and in the case of overfeeding, adds unnecessary costs, the provider says. For 187 HPN patients, Option Care registered dieticians reviewed all orders; performed nutritional assessments when the patients were discharged to home care; and made recommended changes to the nutrition order if warranted, based on the patient's lab values, activity level and overall medical condition. They determined the original orders did not meet the patient's needs 23% of the time on average. They found 22% did not meet fluid needs; 26% did not meet amino acid needs; 21% did not meet dextrose needs; 18% did not meet lipid needs; and 27% did not meet total caloric needs. Option Care will present its data at the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (A.S.P.E.N.) Clinical Nutrition Week conference Feb. 18-21.

CPAP franchise goes national

LAS VEGAS - CPAP Store USA is expanding its franchise nationally, it announced Feb. 14. The company, which currently has franchise locations in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, says it has opportunities available in every state. Founded in 2011, CPAP Store USA is an online sleep supply store that sells the latest CPAP and BiPAP equipment and supplies direct to consumers. As of the end of January, the company's website, www.CPAPstoreUSA.com, was the most popular website devoted to sleep apnea, according to Alexa.com.

Short takes: Numotion, Binson's, Legacy Healthcare

Numotionhas expanded its offering of the popular Spinergy wheels at shopnumotion.com. The Rocky Hill, Conn.-based provider launched its online store in 2016 … Center Line, Mich.-based Binson's Medical Equipment and Supplies received the 2017 Corporate Citizen Award as part of the Macomb Business Awards. The Center Line, Mich.-based provider has a long history of supporting its community…Legacy Healthcare, a provider of home health, hospice and home medical equipment in New Mexico, has licensed CareTend software from Mediware Information Systems for its HME services. The software will allow the provider to automate its delivery process.