Trach / DME Supply House Question

FDeBaugh · #1 04-28-2011, 02:42 PM

Hello all,

We are continuing the national rollout of our Shikani Speaking Valve under The Airway Company. Part of this involves selection of DME supply houses to make our products available to the patient for re-order.

And we would welcome any input you could share on DME supply houses where you have experienced excellent customer service when ordering your tracheostomy supplies.

Our focus is to make our product available through select supply houses with excellent customer service.

Thank you for you time and reply,

-Fred DeBaugh
The Airway Company
www.TheAirwayCompany.com

kadiera · #2 04-28-2011, 04:34 PM

Do you want places we've had good experiences, or places we can actually get supplies? I'd say most of us have a so-so relationship with our DME at best.

Ainsley's Mom · #3 04-29-2011, 12:17 PM

Oh, great. This answers my question in the other thread. We use Children's Home Care Services, which is a division of Seattle Children's Hospital. They are great but only will carry certain products and probably won't carry your valve sorry to say. (Essentially they only carry the products that the hospital uses and because they are a big hospital they sign contracts with certain suppliers. For example I can't get the brand of sleeved suction catheters I want so I have to order those through Apria.) I get other valves (because the PMV can be difficult to tolerate at times) through Apria because they stock the most stuff and I can get "special order" items that aren't part of their regular inventory. (Really this stuff just comes from a distributor, but it's still not in Apria's regularly stocked inventory.) I think Apria is the best bet because they are national. And I can order just what I need from them (only non PMV valves and sx catheters). So I assume others can too. Meaning people shouldn't have to switch DME's just to get your valve. Good luck. I'd love to be able to try one of your valves (and it's been a few years) so I hope this happens soon.

Ainsley's Mom · #4 04-29-2011, 12:33 PM

P.S. Another consideration is that some of our kids have Medicaid secondary to their primary insurance. But I believe the DME has to be in the state of residence because the benefits are provided through the state. I just called Edgepark and they confirmed that they can only bill Federal Medicaid plans that "have names" not the state ones.

FDeBaugh · #5 05-02-2011, 11:40 AM

HI Janet,

I guess both. I'm in touch with several trach wearers on a regular basis and hear good and bad experiences with various DME houses. It does seem like many people have the same experience, mixed results.

But I want to make sure as we build the distribution of our products we concentrate more on those we consistently hear good things about from the patient's perspective.

So any time you have to relay your experiences is very much appreciated.

-Fred
The Airway Company
800.707.8458

So

JandD · #6 05-02-2011, 11:53 AM

Medi-Rents in Baltimore was awesome to us. In SE Virginia, we used Aggio Medical and they were very responsive to our needs. My son did not use a speaking valve so I have no idea what those companies routinely carry.

FDeBaugh · #7 05-02-2011, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ainsley's Mom

Oh, great. This answers my question in the other thread. We use Children's Home Care Services, which is a division of Seattle Children's Hospital. They are great but only will carry certain products and probably won't carry your valve sorry to say. (Essentially they only carry the products that the hospital uses and because they are a big hospital they sign contracts with certain suppliers. For example I can't get the brand of sleeved suction catheters I want so I have to order those through Apria.) I get other valves (because the PMV can be difficult to tolerate at times) through Apria because they stock the most stuff and I can get "special order" items that aren't part of their regular inventory. (Really this stuff just comes from a distributor, but it's still not in Apria's regularly stocked inventory.) I think Apria is the best bet because they are national. And I can order just what I need from them (only non PMV valves and sx catheters). So I assume others can too. Meaning people shouldn't have to switch DME's just to get your valve. Good luck. I'd love to be able to try one of your valves (and it's been a few years) so I hope this happens soon.

HI Susan,

First thanks for the reply and i just saw your other post about where to find us. Yes, Tracey was kind enough to allow Peyton on the site , her Hokey Pokey rendition makes everyone who sees it smile. As you did see we are in the Edgepark Medical catalog and we are also carried by Johns Hopkins Pharmaquip division. Although maybe similar to the Seattle situtation, Hopkins doesn't really try to serve mail order nationally, just their patients that use our valve.

With a national rollout of our valve to clinicians around the country happening now, we'll have the valve stocked in several more DME houses in the next few months. I'm just trying to get info. from the user perspective to make sure our products are represented in the best way in the market. Aside from the current Shikani Speaking Valve we have some unique products we are working on bringing to the market as well.

So your reply was great, thats the perspective we are looking for. Yes the Medicaid does get complicated sometimes particularly with regard to where you buy the products. It should be simpler but...

We are of course reimbursable under the same HCPCS code L8501 as with any speaking valve.

I will keep updating as we are available through more and more DME houses over the next few months. And thanks for the feedback.

-Fred
The Airway Company
800-707-8458

kadiera · #8 05-02-2011, 12:17 PM

Well, for what it's worth, we have few issues with our DME, but they're a very small, locally-owned sort of place (they've even been good about special ordering things we've needed that they don't normally carry). Pediatric Special Care, based in Michigan - most of what they do is trach kids.

That said, it seems like Apria is the biggest DME around who handles respiratory stuff. I did not personally have great luck with them in the past, and have avoided them now that they're not the only place my insurance allows.

FDeBaugh · #9 05-02-2011, 12:39 PM

Thanks JandD, Medi-Rents is actually right in our own backyard here in Maryland and I have followed up with them based on your recommendation, much appreciated.

-Fred DeBaugh
The Airway Company

bigalexe · #10 05-02-2011, 02:40 PM

Just a kind of generic comment here, you might want to investigate the opposite end of the supply chain. Ask other manufacturers what customers they have had luck dealing with. It might hurt your ability to distribute your product to the most end-users if you only supply to DME's that you like.

It would make sense that a company (Distributor) that has good relations with their customers (End users) would also have good relations with their suppliers (Manufacturers) but that isn't always the case.

I use Apria and really like them which kind of seems to be the exception on this board.

**sorry for the unsolicited business advice, I'm a Mechanical Engineering student and am trying to think about how to keep your business alive as well as get your product to the most end users.