Rehab Management recently had the opportunity to interview Tom Borcherding, executive vice president of sales, The ROHO Group Inc, Belleville, Ill.

Q: How have changes in reimbursements and resulting financial implications affected your business model?

Tom Borcherding

A: ROHO remains committed to supporting our provider-based business model, and the recent decrease in reimbursement allowables does not change this commitment. For more than 30 years, ROHO has invested to build long-term and loyal relationships with provider and distributor business partners. Reimbursement challenges and pressures are a constant in this industry; our current business model remains flexible enough to allow for growth and sustainable profits for both ROHO and our provider business partners.

In support of our commitment to this business model, we are taking aggressive actions to educate clinicians and consumers on the value that ROHO offers in terms of long-term health outcomes to users of ROHO products. True product cost is much more than just a function of initial price; it is a measure of the complete value of a product to the user over the course of the user's life. This measurement extends way beyond the initial consideration of the price of a product. How do you measure the true cost of a product that fails to meet the health or functional outcomes of an individual.

Q: What effects do these decisions have on your clients (users, clinicians, providers)?

A: It is important that clinicians and users understand that high quality, high performance products remain available to them as viable product choices. Users should not be expected to sacrifice performance as a compromise to a reimbursement system. To reinforce this important message, ROHO, Permobil and TiLite have formed the Users First Alliance, which believes in a simple but direct message: Clinicians and users should "push for more" when it comes to making important choices in seating and mobility equipment selection. These can be life-altering decisions.

Q: In light of the current economic climate, how do you continue to provide state-of-the-art products, and continue R&D and client education?

A: ROHO is committed to the users of our products as a long-term business strategy. It is the guiding principle of Robert H. Graebe, the founder and still-active chairman of the company. With this as the driving vision of the company, education, marketing, and product development investments are a constant, not subject to change based upon economic business cycles of our industry. Economics change; the needs of our customers are always there to drive us.

Q: What trends do you see shaping the future of your industry?

A: I think it is inevitable that you will see the private-pay model expanding, as users and their families realize that certain products are too important to health and lifestyle to accept a compromise based upon the influence of reimbursement.

In addition, I expect that users and their families will become much more knowledgeable about product choices and equipment selection. With reimbursement restrictions threatening to lower the value of equipment offered, users need to become a powerful voice in demanding products that are better than "just good enough."

Regardless of the pressures applied by reimbursement systems, this market will survive and grow because the user needs and expectations remain. To be successful, ROHO will have to remain committed to the users of our product while maintaining flexibility in our business model to meet the financial needs of both ROHO and our market business partners.

—Rogena Schuyler Silverman