hi HealthInnovations’ hearing test: Will it steer patients to or away from hearing professionals?
By David H. Kirkwood MINNETONKA, MN—Hearing care providers have long believed that a recommendation from a primary-care physician (PCP) is one of the most compelling factors in motivating people to get help for their hearing loss. That’s why for years the Hearing Industries Association (HIA) marketed to GPs, family practitioners, and internal medicine physicians, urging…
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Institute of Medicine panel seeks ways to make hearing care more accessible and affordable
By David H. Kirkwood WASHINGTON, DC—As part of an ambitious, two-year study to identify ways to make hearing health care (HHC) for adults more accessible and affordable, a 13-member ad hoc committee of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) will hold a daylong open session on Monday, April 27. IOM, the health arm of the National…
Read MoreAudiologists wage grassroots campaign against direct-to-consumer hearing aid sales
By David H. Kirkwood When hi HealthInnovations announced two years ago that it would start selling “high-tech, lower cost hearing devices” directly to consumers, hearing healthcare organizations immediately denounced the plan. They contended that in bypassing the hearing professional, hi’s distribution model would provide inferior hearing solutions and would also endanger patients whose hearing…
Read MoreYanz resigns from hi HealthInnovations after 26 days
PLYMOUTH, MN—After less than a month as vice-president of hearing health at hi HealthInnovations, Jerry Yanz, PhD, decided to leave that job and return to his former position as director of audiology at Hansaton Acoustics. As was reported on this blog on January 2, Yanz was hired by hi HealthInnovations to help introduce the company’s…
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