HME News is the monthly business newspaper for home medical equipment providers. This controlled circulation publication reaches 17,100 home medical equipment services providers, including traditional HME dealers & suppliers, hospital- and pharmacy-o
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Vendors Briefs Permobil further expands custom seating business LEBANON, Tenn. – Permobil will acquire the business assets of OBSS and NUTEC, Ot- tobock's custom seating businesses, it an- nounced Jan. 10. The deal will further ex- pand Permobil's offering in the seating and positioning market in the U.S. and Canada, company officials say. Complementing the deal, Permobil has recently established a dedicated and clinically focused sales team in the U.S. to better support its seating and positioning business.This is the third acquisi- tion Permobil has made in the seating and positioning market in the past few years. Most recently, in October, the company an- nounced it had acquired Bozeman, Mont.- based Comfort Company. Philips NA gets new leader AMSTERDAM, the NETHERLANDS – Vitor Rocha, who previously led Philips' global ultrasound business, has succeeded Brent Shafer as CEO of Philips North America. Rocha is now part of Philips' executive committee and re- ports to Philips CEO Frans van Houten. Ro- cha joined Philips in 2010 as the leader of the Latin American market for Philips' healthcare sector. Through 2010-14, he drove strong comparable sales growth and market share gains for the business. Rocha subsequently led the EUR 1.5 billion ultrasound business, executing on its strategy to strengthen its leading position in cardiac ultrasound, while accelerating growth in services. Invacare confirms move ELYRIA, Ohio – Invacare will transfer produc- tion of Küschall manual wheelchairs from its facility in Witterswil, Switzerland, to its facil- ity in Fondettes, France, by the end of the third quarter of this year. The move, which will allow the company to better optimize its facility in France, is expected to generate an incremental$1.7 million in annualized pre-tax savings in the Europe business segment. The front office of the Swiss facility will remain open, continuing to serve as Invacare's Eu- ropean headquarters and research and de- velopment center, as well as its Swiss sales office. Invacare had made known its inten- tion to relocate in a Form 8-K but it first had to complete a "consultation procedure" with potentially affected employees per Swiss law. Invacare has already shifted production of its Rea manual wheelchairs to its facility in France. Mediware expands book LENEXA, Kan. – Mediware Information Systems has acquired MEDTranDirect, a provider of software solutions for healthcare revenue cy- cle management and an approved network service vendor for Medicare. The move ex- tends the capabilities in Mediware's Kinnser Software, which it acquired in 2017. People news: Merits Cape Coral, Fla.-based Merits Health Prod- ucts has promoted Kevin Liu to president and Chris Blackmore to vice president of sales and business development. www.h M e N ews.co M / MA rch 2018 / h M e N ews 21 ■ Permobil was among the sponsors of Go Baby Go in January. See photo page 1. Ki Mobility buys custom seating biz of Stealth Products 21 SoClean attracts new majority controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Trace Medical expands coverage nationwide . . . . . . . . . 21 ResMed reports earnings, highlights tax change . . . . 21,22 Cure Medical sponsors Rollettes Cure Medical is now a sponsor of the Rollettes, a wheelchair dance team that seeks to empower women with disabilities through dance. "The Rollettes consistently embody our shared values of support, strength and grace within the community we serve," said Lisa Wells, Cure Medical vice president of mar- keting. Cure's financial commitment includes sponsoring the Rollettes Experience National Camp in August. Ki Mobility packs one-two punch TRACE MEDICAL EXPANDS COVERAGE ResMed credits increased awareness rent vs. buy SoClean, so global By Liz Beau L ieu, e ditor SAN DIEGO – ResMed posted double-digit growth across the device and mask prod- uct categories for the second quarter of fiscal year 2018. Company officials report- ed 12% growth on a constant currency basis for both devic- es and masks in the United States, Canada and Latin America. They reported 5% and 16% growth, respectively, in Europe, Asia and other mar- kets. " T h e re is a bit of cyclicality in the mask busi- ness, especially in the U.S. because of deductibles and the end of the calendar year, but the underlying growth in the market is being driven by patient awareness, and the economy, obviously, has been a little bit stronger," said Jim Hollingshead, president, Sleep Business, during a conference call on Jan. 22. Overall, ResMed report- ed revenues of $601.3 mil- lion for the second quarter, a 13% increase compared to the same quarter the prior year. Revenues in the Unit- ed States, Canada and Latin America, excluding Brightree, were $329.2 million, a 12% increase; revenues in Europe, Asia and other markets were By Liz Beau L ieu, e ditor STEVENS POINT, Wis. – In less than a year, Ki Mobility has gone from no direct presence in the seating market, to covering two of three product categories. Ki Mobility has acquired the custom seating business of Bur- net, Texas-based Stealth Products and is transitioning the busi- ness to its headquarters, here, to streamline ordering and improve delivery time. "More and more customers are looking to get their seating and wheelchair from the same supplier," said Tom Whelan, vice president of product devel- opment for Ki Mobility, primar- ily a manufacturer of complex manual wheelchairs in the folding, rigid and tilt product categories. Previously, Ki Mobility launched its first offering in the s e a t i n g m a r- ket, the Axiom cushion line, in the summer of 2017. Now it has offerings in the config- ured (Stealth) and packaged (Axiom) prod- uct categories. With Stealth's seating business, Ki Mobility gets a mature prod- uct line with a loyal customer base. A big reason Ki Mobility decided to buy Stealth's seating business was the outcry from its customers when the company announced late last year that it would be exiting the market. "Rather than kill the product line, we decided to move it from them to us," Whelan said. "We have a good working relationship with Stealth." By Liz Beau L ieu, e ditor OXFORD, Mass. – SoClean and its CPAP cleaning and sanitiz- ing device have a new majority controller. DW Healthcare Partners, a healthcare-focused private equi- ty firm based in Toronto, now owns a little more than 50% of the company. "We went out looking for partners and it took almost a year, as there were several inter- ested parties and offers, and we decided on DWH," said Rob- ert Wilkins, who has been with SoClean since its inception and has been its full-time CEO since 2015. "They're going to help us navigate the next three years of growth." DWH's investment also allows SoClean to provide liquidity to several long-time investors and employees. The first thing on SoClean's to-do list with DWH's backing: expand outside of the United States, Wilkins says. "SoClean is currently sold and available in the U.K. and Austra- lia through distributors," he said. "We are continuing to expand our international reach by open- ing up direct Amazon market- places and new subdirectories in the U.K., Australia, Canada, France and Germany over the next six months. 2018 is all about international expansion." The second thing: SoClean plans to look at how it can use its technology in other applica- tions in health care, Wilkins said. "We're planning to have By Liz Beau L ieu, e ditor T R A C E M E D I C A L n o w re n t s v e n t i l a t o r s t o HME providers across the country. Previously, the company, which carries vents from all the major manufacturers, including the Trilogy from Philips and the Astral from ResMed, only served provid- ers east of the Mississippi. "With reimbursement and cash management difficulties, more and more providers are seeing that renting makes sense," said Elliot Camp- bell, senior vice president. "It allows them to have the financial flexibility to have assets when they need them and not to have them when they don't." Trace Medical, which has been in business since 2004, charges providers, at mini- mum, a one-month fee for a rental, and a daily fee beyond that. It works with an autho- rized service center to main- tain and repair its fleet of "thousands and thousands" of vents, Campbell says. Trace Medical has added sales personnel to support its expanded coverage and 'More and more customers are looking to get their seating and wheelchair from the same supplier' Company highlights tax change See page 22 Tom Whelan K I M o b i L i T y s E E p A g E 2 2 T R A c E M E d i C A L s E E p A g E 2 2 S O C L E A N s E E p A g E 2 2 R E S M E D E A R N s s E E p A g E 2 2