In today’s highly competitive therapy product market, selecting the appropriate products for a facility may prove to be a daunting task for many managers. Nearly every month, the therapeutic field is abuzz with the next new product that boasts positive clinical trials and promises miraculous rehabilitation rates for its patients.

So, it is the responsibility of the manager to wade through the everyday hype to find the dependable products that will serve the needs of their facility without breaking the bank. 

While this ‘hesitant shopper’ mentality may work for more generalized therapy facilities, managers who run more specific rehabilitation clinics are hard-pressed to be so resistant to the prompt changes in product technology.

Managers are often called upon to make the tough choices in product purchasing: balancing the cost and effectiveness of an item with its patient demand and prominence among competing facilities. In today’s evolving technological rat race, managers must remain at the pulse of product technology or risk being an outdated, and eventually, out-competed facility.

From Novelty to Antique

The evolution of therapy products can often be a deceiving progression. For instance, a product that meets a very specific rehabilitation need may be out-competed by a more generalized product that does not address patient needs as well. 

This usually occurs because the generalized product is more financially viable, can be used on a wider range of ailments and, therefore, a variety of patients. While rehabilitation-specific products may aid a narrow margin of patients, managers risk investing in a specialized product that may not generate the financial return necessary to warrant its purchase.

While investing in such type-specific therapy products would not be advisable for smaller, financially constrained facilities, larger facilities and clinics also need to avoid falling into the slippery slope of therapy popularity contests. 

Investing in flashier therapy products that are used primarily for show is as problematic as dedicating a room at the facility entirely to a modern sculpture, without the aesthetic value.

Competition among facilities with larger budgets can lead to trendy purchases – products that are spread by word-of-mouth by the patients, who enjoy seeing that this innovative technology is on-hand at the facility, even if they will never actually use it. 

“Careful [business executives] keep tabs on competitors’ actions, analyze customer behavior patterns, and watch general economic trends,” says Adam Strong, CEO of Springfield, Ill.-based Strong Visuals, an Internet marketing-solutions company. “If it is your objective to build a successful [business], you will need to keep tabs on these trends. And it is important that your [strategy] is flexible enough to adapt to these trends.”

When adjusting to therapy trends, managers often face a double-edged sword of product-purchasing. If they succumb to the competitive drive to stay ahead of the current rehabilitation equipment, the novelty of the products may draw in more clients and boost word-of-mouth publicity.

However, staying ahead of the curve also leaves the facility vulnerable to ensuing upgrades or enhancements to the product that were not on the original version, and, due to high competition between manufacturers, the possibility that an equal-quality, less-costly product will emerge within the following year.

The 'Cs' of Smart Shopping

When buying for a facility or clinic, it is important to look beyond the immediate product appeal and popularity. Keep in mind the needs of the facility, both those of the therapists and the patients.

Adding a specialized product intended to expand the client base also entails therapists familiarizing themselves with the product, and being comfortable enough to advise it to incoming patients. A manager needs to take this into consideration before making a financial decision. 

Jerry Henderson, PT, founder of a Portland, Ore.-based software solutions company, notes four other distinct areas that managers should consider when developing their own facility and purchasing equipment:

1. Customers
Managers must consider whether the facility has a sufficient client base with the particular rehabilitation needs that require the specific equipment. By assessing the market and potential customers in the area, managers can gauge the necessity of the product.

This advice especially holds true in rural facilities – further removed from the competitive urban environment – where a manager can maximize their client base by expanding therapy services and specialty products without a competing facility in the immediate area. 

2. Competition
Especially crucial to managers in urban practices, competition with other therapy facilities is often a driving force in purchasing therapy products.

Evaluating the competition – the number of therapy clinics in the area, in particular those that share a specific specialty – allows managers to measure how effective a product would be, either in providing a competitive edge over a similarly equipped facility or focusing on an untapped, previously unacknowledged client base.

When analyzing the competition, take inventory of both their strengths and weakness. This allows managers to develop a strategy of product purchases, which either overcome their advantages, or counteract them by compensating in other ways. Remember: Several general products to widen a client base is sometimes better than a costly product purchased only to overcome a competitor’s specialty.
 
3. Compensation
Most facilities, whether urban or rural, readily acknowledge that its funds are not unlimited. Instead, funding is often quite the opposite, regulated to products with a distinct purpose and definite consumer need. When reading literature on a product, make sure that its usage will compensate its purchase.

Determine the number of patients who could derive benefits, and predict how much word-of-mouth attention the technology could yield. Most clinics cannot afford to have the “just-for-show” product taking up room without tangible benefits; and even the ones that can afford this would be better-served spending money elsewhere in the facility.

4. Costs
Arguably, the most pressing criteria for product selection is the cost. Determining whether the facility has the money to spend for a product and what it offers – for instance reliability, effectiveness, or simply publicity – is a prime focus for managers. However, choosing a product based solely on its cost will cause problems if the needs of the patient or therapist aren’t addressed.

Therefore, managers should take an estimate of what they are willing to spend, and canvass online products and manufacturer offers to get a range of what is available for their money. Using this method, managers can better gauge the ‘biggest bang for their buck’ while still remaining within their budgets.

Knowing the Ropes

For every starting manager at a therapy facility, it helps to know a few basic rules of product purchasing when supervising a budget. First, the same basic logic that applies to consumer products, such as iPods and Nintendo Wii game systems, also applies to the newest therapy products: Wait it out.

First-generation devices are notoriously ridden with minor complications and faulty mechanics, but are usually pushed into production to beat out a competing manufacturer, leaving it to the consumer to discover them over time, and demand updates or solutions to the problems.

Despite the urgency to beat out a competing facility, it is more financially sound to simply wait out the intermittent time to buy the updated product model.

Also, when purchasing therapeutic products, managers need to keep the patient in mind. If a higher number of clients are bariatric patients or are referred from hospice care, then the manager needs to purchase not only therapy equipment, but also secondary products that foster a comfortable environment to handle the patient. For instance, handrails, or even certain types of mechanized lifts to move patients within the facility, may be necessary.

When analyzing your own practice, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom-based therapy counselor, Kim Richardson, advises therapists to interview clients to determine the particular attraction of their facility and what improvements could be made to better service the clients.

Richardson also advises therapists to watch their competitors and the variety of clients they serve, determining how their marketing methods differ and how they could improve.

“Talk and network with other therapists,” says Richardson. “It’s effective to talk to people who work in various types of therapy and who will give you a wider range of feedback and promotional ideas. It’s [also] beneficial to network with people in complementary businesses, as this can help you find joint-venture prospects.”


— Bob Stott is a staff writer for Therapy Times. Questions and comments can be directed to bstott@therapytimes.com.