Judges and attendees at the biannual Innovative HME Retail Product Awards, sponsored by HomeCare Magazine, have tabulated the top three vote getters on day two of Medtrade.

  1. MyPainAway Fibro Cream from Topical BioMedics (Booth #1767 at Medtrade). MyPainAway is an odorless, grease-less cream that brings a soothing combination of natural biomedicines to rapidly relieve fibromyalgia pain while helping the body to heal the damage that causes the pain. The proprietary formula does not contain any parabens, petroleum, or other harsh chemicals, and it is free of counter irritants, like camphor, capsaicin, and menthol.
  2. The SoClean 2 CPAP Sanitizer (also known as SoClean) from So Clean (Booth #2057 at Medtrade), is described by marketing director Jessica Cormier as “the world’s first automated CPAP sanitizer, and is the faster, easier, more effective way to clean CPAP machine equipment. SoClean kills 99.9% of CPAP germs and bacteria in your mask, hose, and reservoir with no disassembly, no water, and no harsh chemicals in order to enhance your home CPAP experience.”
  3. The Tour (Walker) from Motivo (Booth #1952 at Medtrade), was inspired by the needs of the inventors’ own family members on the premise that products should be designed for people’s lives, not just their conditions. The Tour is a walker/rollator that provides greater independence, ergonomics, and personal style.

“More manufacturers are helping us drive the retail component of our business through social media, advertising, point of purchase displays, and YouTube videos,” says Cindy Ciardo, co-owner and CEO, Knueppel Health Care Services, and a judge in the competition. “All of that helps. And more companies are policing their pricing through minimun advertised price [MAP] policies. That is huge.”

The awards are all about promoting and recognizing products that contribute to providers’ bottom lines though cash sales. “We had a lot of excellent entrants this year,” says Kevin Gaffney, group show director, Medtrade. “It was a tough decision, but our judges narrowed it down.”

The top 8 products were presented in a retail awards conference session hosted by Jim Greatorex, who works in Business Development for the VGM Group. The session took place Nov 1 at 9:00 am. After manufacturers presented their products, voting took place to determine the top three winners.

A panel of judges, along with audience members, scored products based on:

  1. Market opportunity/market size and product demand;
  2. Innovation;
  3. Price point;
  4. Quality/design of retail packaging;
  5. Merchandising tools;
  6. Marketing campaign, helping the retailer reach the end users;
  7. Competitive advantages over similar product/product quality;
  8. Industry compatible: is it a match for HME retail; and
  9. Training tools programs for in store sales staff.

The eight finalists (in alphabetical order) were:

  • Freedom CPAP Battery from Battery Power Solutions (Booth #1600 at Medtrade)
  • Handy Cane from Handy Cane by Most Corporation (Booth #2166 at Medtrade)
  • KT Flex Reinforced Adhesive Strips by KT Tape (Booth #2153 at Medtrade)
  • Motivo Tour (Walker) by Motivo (Booth #1952 at Medtrade)
  • Go-Chair from Pride Mobility (Booth #1911 at Medtrade)
  • PrimeMedic from PostureMedic (Booth #1671 at Medtrade)
  • SoClean from SoClean Inc (Booth #2057 at Medtrade)
  • MyPainAway Fibro Cream from Topical Biomedics (Booth #1767 at Medtrade)