As a brief follow - up to the post on this subject this week, we can now confirm that Invacare, Meyra and Handicare will not be attending this years Rehacare.

This is the first time in the history of this show that Invacare and Meyra have not attended.

No doubt the empty space will be used by others - most notably Asia manufacturers.

The reshaping of the industry continues…

Following shortly on the heels of Sunrise CEO Mike Hammes statement that Sunrise was focusing resources elsewhere in terms of the traditional Medtrade “Spring” show, significant rumor abounds in Europe this week that some “big” companies are seriously considering their options to exhibit at Rehacare - traditionally the largest rehab exhibition outside of the US.

Last year (2006) especially, as far as I can see, was the year where industry heavyweights invested heavily in Medtrade hoping to gain a competitive advantage in the looming reimbursement and NCB challenged marketplace. An additional observation however is that most of the companies chose to address the typical “new improved product” strategy instead of addressing the needs of the new order marketplace. There were of course some notable exceptions.

Then came RehaCare - same thing, except US companies flocked to the show either for the first time or with bigger exhibition booths, hoping for geographic sales (and profits..) expansion - not understanding that the rules of engagement in Europe have also changed. In fact the biggest market outside the US, Germany has announced changes that make the new order US look like a Sunday school picnic.

There are still great opportunities for the homecare / mobility /rehab industry - just don’t look at what has always worked in the past.

Reha has now come and gone again and I have decided to choose a winner.

Handicare is the winner, and this is the reason.

Less than a year after acquiring

Movingpeople , Handicare has done a great job of presenting one face to their European customer. Their booth was simple and clearly branded. In addition and probably most important was that their employees represented their newly merged company with passion.

Besides the people, Scandinavian and Dutch companies have a strong commitment to closely match product with “real” customer needs and add value.  Handicare is no exception. Customer (consumer, dealer, reimbursement agency etc) needs first - the China gold rush second - if you get what I mean.

I first wrote about this in November last year.

Here is also a related editorial

The Return Of The Homecare Vikings

Oh, I also wanted to mention Otto Bock who did a noteworthy job of presenting mobility and lifestyle enhancing products.

With all the reimbursement issues going on notably in the US right now, you cannot help wonder if these issues would have been at least partially mitigated if the manufacturers had focused (like Otto Bock) more on what these products really mean to consumers as opposed to the usual manufacturer/ dealer rhetoric.

It seems to be common sense that innovation is one of the most intelligent ways to flee the price war in the rehab industry. In two weeks we all will see a lot of innovative products at Europe’s biggest rehab show in Duesseldorf. But is the common sense also proven truth? I doubt as far as Germany is concerned.
Firstly, innovation is a brought term. I will use a pragmatic approach and take “any new product “ as an innovation. This includes also products which are only renewed in order to keep the pricelevel by adding additional features. Not very innovative from a technical point of view, but thecompanies have invested R&D capacity in these products. The goal was show something new to protect/enlarge the profitability.

On the German market the most innovative company over the last 7 years is without any doubt Invacare if you count newly launched products per year. There is also no doubt that it was not the most successful company. The lowest level of innovation during the same period showed Sunrise. Among the big players in Germany it is certainly the one which protected its position best.
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If you are in the homecare industry you will know that these two trade shows are “must attends”.

If you would like to know more about the worldwide home healthcare industry there is no better place than:

Medtrade (Atlanta USA - September 19 - 21 2006)
Rehacare (Düsseldorf Germany - October 18 - 21 2006)

See you there.

For “Marketplace” readers that are already in the homecare business they will know the two major events that it is obligatory to attend. For those wishing to learn more about this dynamic industry or are looking for business partners and opportunities the following two meetings are “must attends”. The only downside is that they are less than a week apart and on different continents.

1. Medtrade (link here) is the largest meeting of its type and is held in Atlanta from October 18 - 20 2005
2. Rehacare (link here) - click on the English tab if you don’t speak German- is the largest meeting in Europe and is held in D�sseldorf, Germany October 12 - 15 2005