Monday, November 14, 2011

HIGH DESIGN COME TO MOBILITY DEVICES

Design Flair for the Least-Stylish Devices


Like many manufacturers, Alan Yefsky's mission is to make his company's products look attractive, sleek, even chic.
To get feedback, the medical-product company, based in Waukegan, Ill., has gone into American homes and taken its walkers, shower grab bars and toilet seat risers to AARP events. The conclusion: Their design makes people feel old. (click below to read more)


With more patients paying out of pocket for medical supplies, manufacturers and retailers are investing in the design of their products to market to boomers and their children who buy on their behalf. Sarah Nassauer has details on Lunch Break.
The firm used to barely consider what its products looked like. Now, it realizes customers are mulling "how does it fit in with my home, how does it make me feel, how do other people feel when they see it?" says Mr. Yefsky, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Briggs Healthcare.
Earlier this year Briggs introduced a new pulse oximeter, a device that fits on a user's finger to test the level of oxygen in the blood, with sleeker lines and in a variety of colors.
Medical supply companies are retooling products to hide any hint of medical components. They are fashioning sleeker packaging to stand out on shelves and in hopes that big-box and drug stores will carry more of their products.
ResMed Inc., a San Diego, Calif.-based company that produces CPAP machines used by some people with sleep apnea, began selling a smaller, bedside model in the standard medical color palete —blue, white and off-white—in 2005. Its newest model, introduced last year, comes in shiny silver, and pink says David Pendarvis, chief administrative officer for the company.
Its CPAP customers now have a choice of exteriors like a wood-grain pattern or a personal photograph: ResMed partnered with Skinit Inc., a company that makes covers for cellphones and laptops. Designers looked at clock radios, Bose music players, and other items that might sit on a night table to hone the desired look, Mr. Pendarvis says.
Several factors are pushing the changes. Boomers want to stay in their homes longer and are sensitive to being labeled "old." The oldest boomers are turning 65 and are more design conscious than their parents—who they may also be buying products for.
"It's the Apple generation," aesthetically, says David Webster, a partner and part of the health practice at IDEO, a design firm that works with medical companies. Mr. Webster says his company is getting more requests from medical companies to integrate new design ideas.
Infopia America Llc, a company that makes diabetes glucose monitors and other devices, is working on "black and sexy," packaging, says Christina Brown, marketing and events director at the company. To aid its effort to move into more mainstream retailers like CVS and Walgreens, "we looked at Apple," and mimicked the simplicity and uniform color of their packaging, she says. Apple founder Steve Jobs himself saw room for improvement: In his hospital bed, he sketched designs for new fluid monitors and X-ray equipment, according to his sister Mona Simpson's eulogy.

Also, as of Jan. 1, retailers in certain cities selling medical devices covered by Medicare, like walkers and oxygen tanks, need to competitively bid for the business to be a Medicare provider. Eventually, businesses across the country will need to bid.
The system is expected to save the Medicare fund $17 billion and save beneficiaries an additional $11 billion over the next 10 years, says a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
In response, product manufacturers and retailers are trying to create health supply products so stylish that customers will pay with their own money. Critics of the law say it will drive down prices for Medicare-covered products, putting retailers out of business and leaving patients fewer locations to buy Medicare-eligible supplies.
Medicare generally covers the ubiquitous gray walker, often adorned with tennis balls, and the simplest version of the four-wheeled rollator walker. The trick is letting consumers know, "you deserve to have this hot-rod walker in leopard print," says Sue Chen, president and CEO of Nova, a Carson, Calif.-based company that sells walkers in an expanding variety of colors and patterns with add-ons like cup holders.
Pediatric products were ahead of the curve regarding savvy design. With kids, a nebulizer mask that "looks just like the mask that was on their grandma in the hospital" is scary, says Stuart Leslie, president of 4sight Inc., a design firm based in New York that increasingly works with medical companies. Earlier this year Royal Philips Electronics NV introduced "Sami the Seal," an asthma nebulizer for children that looks like a cartoon seal.
Similarly, some companies are working to hide a product's medical purpose. Two years ago HealthCraft Products introduced bathroom grab bars that look like soap dishes, towel racks and other bathroom fixtures. Moen introduced similar grab bars earlier this year that are being sold at Lowe's and other retailers.
The products allow consumers to say "I got it for the towel holder," says Kurt Beachnau, director of retail sales for Moen. "There is that bit of dignity there."
There's also a price difference. A grab bar from HealthCraft's more institutional line costs about $70 for a stainless steal version. HealthCraft's Invisia Collection "hidden" grab bar retails for about $260.
Last year, Lowe's Cos. started testing displaying items like grab bars and toilet seat lifts in a mock bathroom; about 275 stores feature them currently. "We want to say, these are normal," says Melissa Birdsong, a Lowe's vice president.
Home Depot Inc. is doing an internal review of its selection of medical products, says Derick Jaros, associate merchant for bath accessories & safety. It senses some consumer resistance. "People are talking about aesthetic design," says Mr. Jaros, but often think "oh, that doesn't look like a grab bar, but it's 140 bucks."
Of course, there are limits to how desirable a medical supply product can look. "This is not an iPad. It's not ever going to be," said Mr. Yefsky of Briggs, holding a white toilet seat riser made by his company at a recent medical product conference in Atlanta.

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