VGM goes nationwide with new O2 division
By HME News Staff
Updated Sun October 31, 2004
November 1, 2004
WATERLOO, Iowa - Marketing is a major challenge for independent respiratory providers, and the VGM Group has responded by forming Nationwide Respiratory, a new division that will operate at the group's headquarters here.Â
It will be set up similarly to VGM's U.S. Rehab division, said Jim Schaefer, Nationwide Respiratory's vice president. VGM unveiled Nationwide Respiratory last week at Medtrade.
"Respiratory providers have different needs, problems and issues and we're here to help them market themselves against the nationals," Schaefer said. "Through informal conversations over the years, members have told us they need help in this area."
Nationwide Respiratory will provide the marketing machinery for its members, developing television advertisements and other direct-to-consumer materials, strategies for marketing to physicians, access to new product lines, managed care priority referrals through VGM's Homelink network and disease state management programs for COPD, CHF and asthma.
Additionally, the division will offer instructional programs designed to teach clinicians how to sell products and Nationwide staff will represent members at AARC, the Pulmonology Association and Thoracic Society.
Criteria for membership include being an existing VGM member and focusing primarily on respiratory.
"We don't want those who are just dabbling," Davis said. "This is for those who are aggressively trying to build their respiratory business."
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