Sneak Peek: Medtrade Fall 2011

Medtrade Fall 2011 is right around the corner, bringing a jam-packed conference schedule and new special exhibits to Atlanta.

• By David Kopf
• Sep 01, 2011

Once again, Medtrade Fall is around the corner and the 2011 edition promises to offer a broad array of educational opportunities and conference sessions for providers, as well as interesting product showcases on the expo floor. And, of course, there will be a number of entertaining networking opportunities, as well.

Slated for Oct. 24 through Oct. 27 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Ga., Medtrade Fall’s conference will serve up more than 120 conference sessions covering a variety of topics. Returning this year are sessions on:

• Business operations.
• Competitive bidding.
• Human resources, leadership and staff development.
• Industry updates.
• Information technology.
• Legislative and regulatory issues.
• Rehabilitation and assistive technology.
• Reimbursement.
• Retail.
• Sales and marketing.
• Sleep/oxygen and respiratory issues

Also, Medtrade’s educational advisory board has added two new tracks for this year: “audits — pre and post payment,” and “non-Medicare/Medicaid market,” to address key trends in provider funding. (To read more about these topics in this issue, turn to “Private Payor Private Party” and “Observation Deck.”)

Pre-Show Seminars

Monday will kick off with 11 pre-show education seminars sponsored by various vendors and organizations, including RemitDATA, Invacare, Pride Mobility, VGM Group, ResMed, Philips Respironics, Permobil, Sunrise Medical and Sigvaris.

The pre-show seminars offer attendees an opportunity to get a longer, more in-depth presentation than a regular conference session, as well as the chance to discuss the topic with the presenters and other attendees. They cover a variety of topics, such as respiratory, sleep, mobility, pediatric care, safety and accessibility and compression, and some offer continuing educational credits.

Additionally, Medtrade will be conducting its own pre-show seminar on audits called “performing self audits: a hands-on workshop.” This will feature various experts on both information systems and audits, including Wayne van Halem, president of the van Halem Group. (Wayne van Halem will also be presenting a Sept. 13 HME-Business.com webinar on how to prepare for audits, and also wrote a column on ZPIC audits found in this issue).

Unlike previous years, the pre-show seminars will only last four hours that Monday, instead of going all day. The reason for this is to make room for Medtrade’s conference schedule, which is bulging because of the two new conference tracks (audits and non-Medicare/Medicaid) as well as the sheer number of presentations Medtrade has this year. So the show will actually be starting a half day early this year.

Lunch and Learns

In between the pre-show seminars and the Monday kick-off of the conference sessions, Medtrade is bringing back its Lunch and Learn event from last Medtrade Spring. The highly interactive event proved very popular last show.

At the Lunch and Learn, attendees grab a lunch and sit down at a table with other attendees, as well as an on-hand expert speaker to discuss various topics. Then, after a while, attendees have a chance to move on to another table with another expert and ask some more questions.

The loose format keeps the conversation going not only between attendees and speakers, but among attendees, as well, providing not only expert insights, but peer-to-peer feedback, as well. There will be eight different topics, and attendees register for the Lunch and Learns separately.

Accessible Home

Turning to the expo, which runs from Oct. 25 to Oct. 27, Medtrade’s Accessible Home display will be back this year, to give attendees a chance to tour a full-scale home erected right on the show flow. The home features a variety of access products outside of and through the structure, showing providers how they can deliver safe and easy access to a variety of patients in a variety of rooms.

Last year’s Accessible Home exhibit featured everything from ramps, lifts, transfers, bath safety and even closet organizers designed to help patients lead independent lives in their own homes, and this year promises more of the same. Working with VGM Group’s Accessible Home Improvements of America (AHIA), Medtrade Fall will offer even more innovations. This year’s exhibit will also be more centrally located, so that attendees can get to the accessible home more easily and more often.

Retail Center

Another specialized exhibit on the show floor is the Retail Center. As cash sales has turned into an essential way for HME providers to drive more revenues in the wake of Medicare funding cuts, Medtrade has responded by creating a special retail exhibit that brings together offerings from various vendors to show providers how they can better develop their merchandising and retail display strategies.

The Retail Center is designed to look like actual retail displays, to give providers and idea of how they can attractively stock and organize items on their retail floors. In addition to shelving ideas and signage it will also show providers how they can position similar or complementary products alongside one another.

Additionally, there will be an educational component to the Retail Center. Experts will be on-hand to provide information and there will also be presentations on retail-oriented topics.

Key Networking Events

Once again, the American Association for Homecare is hosting its Stand up for Homecare fund-raising event Tuesday, Oct. 25, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Georgia World Congress Center’s Maple Point Room. Attendees, who make contributions to the event, can enjoy food, drinks, networking along with the opportunity to support the industry association’s efforts.

At the same time, MK Battery is hosting its Power for Funding event. Last year, the manufacturer hosted a virtual fund raiser in which, for each battery they sold, they would make a donation to AAHomecare, NCART and NRRTS. This year, MK Battery is celebrating its 25th anniversary of exhibiting at Medtrade, and will host a networking event for all attendees and exhibitors that will also drive funds for those three associations through $25 donations. The event runs from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25 at the Omni Hotel.

Also, Medtrade will be hosting its Beer Garden on both Tuesday, Oct. 25 and Wednesday, Oct. 26 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Exhibiting sponsors will hand out complimentary drink tickets to visitors of their booths. (Drinks are also available for purchase.)

Lastly, Thursday, Oct. 27 will feature Medtrade’s consumer advocacy day, which aims to help educate consumers the importance of the industry and the public policy threats to their access of homecare and HME, as well as how to fight to protect their access to quality care.

This article originally appeared in the September 2011 issue of HME Business.