MTR Blog

Medical Technology Resources offering new asset management software for alternate site infusion markets.

Columbus, OH, April 1, 2013 — The alternative site infusion market is under tremendous pressure to reduce costs while still maintaining profitability. Companies are looking for new ways to increase efficiency and control expenses without sacrificing patient care. Medical Technology Resources (MTR), a medical equipment specialty distributor and industry leader in the rental and leasing of infusion pumps, has worked with their long-term care and home infusion pharmacy clients to develop MTRack, a new web-based asset management application.

MTRack makes managing rented, owned, or leased equipment inventory easy. The bar code driven technology enables equipment to be scanned in and out quickly and accurately, increasing asset utilization and equipment value by minimizing device idle time. Alternate site pharmacies are also able to reduce their inventory size through more efficient device circulation and increased loss prevention.

MTRack offers a suite of reporting tools, including a biomedical history on all equipment serviced. In addition to providing key business metrics necessary to drive operating and inventory efficiencies, these tools enable pharmacies to confidently meet HIPAA and preventative maintenance compliance requirements.

“MTRack is designed to assist customers with one of the most important aspects of their business, managing their pump fleet and equipment assets. MTRack enables customers to extrapolate data that enhances efficiencies and increases overall asset utilization. MTR’s National sales team is very excited about MTRack and the company has created tremendous momentum in gaining commitments from existing and new customers,” Josh Prati, Sr. VP of Sales and Operations for MTR said.

Jason G., a Service Operations Manager in Tennessee had this to say about MTRack, “I really like what you’ve done with the new system. I’ve used a couple different equipment software management programs that were built into billing / inventory / patient management and they are not geared toward equipment management at all. You are definitely on to something with this new MTRack.”

Spend more time serving your patients and less time searching for equipment – contact MTR for more information about MTRack today.

About Medical Technology Resources
Medical Technology Resources is a medical services company specializing in drug-delivery technology and the billing of infusion products to healthcare providers. MTR has over 40 years of combined experience in the distribution of moveable medical equipment and supplies, and provides prompt, courteous and informed customer service that is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. MTR can quickly meet your company’s requests anywhere in the contiguous 48 states. For more information on MTRack, or any of the drug-delivery products and services MTR offers, call 888-250-5699 or visit www.mtrhealth.com.

Abbott Nutrition announced on October 17, 2012, their decision to discontinue the enteral tube feeding device business in the U.S. The discontinuation specifically relates to enteral pumps, disposable sets, tubes, kits and related device accessories.

Medical Technology Resources, LLC (MTR) is an alternative enteral device distributor and has long been a leading, national supplier of enteral devices, infusion pumps and IV products. MTR has an adequate supply of devices to meet the enteral pump needs of the current market. Please contact us at 800.250.5699 or info@mtrhealth.com if you are interested in speaking with a MTR representative.

Austin Booth was a healthy, vibrant 17 year old teenager that played on his high school varsity basketball team near Grand Junction, Colorado. On the day of a basketball game on January 11, 2011, Austin did not feel well, but well enough to play in a high school basketball game that evening. He made it to school the next day after his game. When he started coughing up blood the day after the basketball game, he was rushed from school to the emergency room. Austin who had been perfectly healthy had succumbed to something as innocuous as the flu 6 days later on January 17, 2011.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Austin’s case in not atypical. Particularly noteworthy, 43 percent of those American children who died from the flu were found to be healthy, the CDC researchers discovered. While conditions such as cerebral palsy and asthma can make the flu especially dangerous for children, there’s not a way to accurately predict which children will become seriously ill or even die from the seasonal flu the CDC warns. Paradoxically, a study recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that healthier kids died faster, an average of four days, versus seven days for kids who were afflicted with high risk conditions.

Like most American kids his age, Austin had not been vaccinated against the flu. Given how unpredictable influenza can be and how quickly it can kill, the CDC recommends that vaccination is the best protection for kids and adults alike.

Families Fighting Flu (www.familiesfighting flu.org) helps educate and encourage people to be vaccinated, and also features Austin’s picture and those of other children like Austin who have suddenly passed due to the complications of flu.

Flu kills betwwen 3,000 and 49,000 Americans a year. Only 51.5 of children aged 6 months to 17 years received a flu vaccination in 2011. Under 75 per cent of babies up to the age of 2 were vaccinated. One third in Austin’s age group of 13-17 got vaccinated.

One of MTR Health’s core values is “To Pay It Forward Philanthropically.” Over the past year, MTR has participated and contributed to the following worthy causes: A Kid Again (www.akidagain.org), Godman Guild (www.godmanguild.org), Make-A-Wish Foundation (www.wish.org), Central Ohio Alzheimers Association (www.alz.org),  The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center (www.osu.edu), Big Brother-Big Sister (www.bbbs.org), Autism Speaks (www.autismspeaks.com), Ohio Cancer Center-The Zangmeister Center (www.zangcenter.com) , The Kobacker House-Ohio Hospice Center(www.ohiohealth.com/kobackerhouse), Race For The Cure (www.komen.org), and The Pelotonia (www.pelotonia.org).  In addition to these important causes, MTR has provided clothes, furniture and food to those less fortunate.

The Affordable Care Act takes effect on January 1, 2013, with significant financial ramifications for Medical Device companies.  The medical device manufacturers want to eliminate a 2.3% excise tax included in the federal healthcare overhaul.  The tax would cost the manufacturers about 20 billion during the next decade which ultimately could cost the United States tens of thousands of jobs.  Especially affected would be small and mid-size companies developing new technologies.  The Stryker Corporation (www.stryker.com), a medical device maker, has already laid off workers in anticipation of the new excise tax. 

Mark Leahey,  President & CEO of the Medical Device Manufacturers Association (www.medicaldevices.org) has stated “that the MDMA has consistently opposed the new excise tax on medical devices as ill-conceived because it will undoubtedly have a detrimental impact on patient care, healthcare costs, innovation and job creation.” Leahey added ” there is no question this new tax will impose significant burdens on medical technology companies, stifle innovation and growth, unnecessarily drive up the cost of healthcare for millions of Americans, and will impair patients’ access to potentially life-saving technologies.” 

The U.S. leads the world in medical device manufacturing.  The jobs that are lost or not created from the healthcare overhaul will derail the recovery of the U.S economy and not provide the “free” healthcare some think they will be receiving.