ARDEN HILLS, MN—While a warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has put a hitch, at least temporarily, in hi HealthInnovations’ (HI) online hearing testing and hearing aid dispensing program, the company that manufactures the devices for HI is thriving. IntriCon Corporation reported that its sales increased by 20% in the first quarter of 2012 over 2011. And, a big part of IntriCon’s growth was the result of supplying hearing aids to HI, which is owned by United HealthCare.
The company reported that its hearing health sales totaled $7.57 million in the first three months of 2012, 39.5% above 2011, “primarily driven by IntriCon’s sales to hi HealthInnovations… and other key hearing health customers.” The company declined to say how many hearing aids it sold to HI.
Its total first quarter sales of $16.5 million resulted in a net income of $243,000 versus a net loss of $290,000, for the 2011 first quarter.
In commenting on the financial report, Mark Gorder, president and CEO of IntriCon, said, “We’re very encouraged by our work with hi HealthInnovations. This business ramped up solidly in the first quarter. While there is still a significant amount of infrastructure required to roll this program out on a national level, ultimately we believe hi HealthInnovations’ distribution system can help serve the nearly 75% of hearing-impaired people in the United States who do not use hearing aids today.
IntriCon Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes miniature and micro-miniature body-worn devices, including hearing aids. It was founded in 1977 as Resistance Technology, Inc.
