AvaCare Medical leans into PERS opportunity

LAKEWOOD, N.J. – AvaCare Medical’s expansion into the personal emergency response systems (PERS) market reinforces what CEO Steven Zeldes believes is a significant opportunity for HME providers willing to take a hands-on approach with customers.

“I don't think I realized how big the market is,” Zeldes said. “Our phone's been off the hook in terms of people inquiring about the features or how it works, what are the monthly fees, what's entailed, what happens if their loved one falls. It's been a tremendous interest for our customer base.”

Through a new partnership with Affiliated Monitoring, AvaCare, an online provider of medical equipment and supplies, is offering pendants and smart watches equipped with automatic fall detection, GPS location monitoring, 24-hour emergency response and other features.

Service remains central

Customers purchase the devices through AvaCare, while Affiliated Monitoring provides the monitoring service. When an alert is triggered, monitoring personnel can speak with the user through the device and determine whether to contact a loved one or emergency services, based on the situation and the customer’s preferences.

AvaCare, however, retains responsibility for the broader customer relationship, including questions, technical assistance and advice. The company also receives reports on monitoring activity.

“A customer that buys something from us is our customer,” Zeldes said. “We just don’t do the actual monitoring.”

Building out its PERS portfolio

The partnership with Affiliated Monitoring is only the beginning of a broader PERS expansion. AvaCare plans to add more companies, brands and device features over the next several months.

“We want to just make sure that we’re offering every possible solution to our customers,” Zeldes said.

AvaCare introduced the service to its existing customer base through email and is also using its website, search marketing, retargeting and other online outreach to generate interest.

Advice for other HME providers

For other HME providers considering the category, Zeldes says it’s a “tremendous market,” but each company must determine how it will reach customers and guide them through the purchase.

“It’s not an easy sell,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot of research, a lot of questions, a lot of handholding, but that’s what we do. We’ve been there for our customers over the years. We hold their hands, we find them the right items, and this is just an added benefit.”