This year’s ASHA convention is a big deal for IOPI Medical for several reasons, the least of which is that it’s being held just minutes away from our hometown!
You may be asking yourself, location aside, what makes this ASHA so special? Well, in addition to seeing all our lovely friends and supporters, we will be launching an entirely new initiative.

IOPI® Cares is about helping as many patients as possible with a patient centric approach in all that we do.  Under IOPI® Cares, we are making wellness more accessible with our Trainer Rental Program. This program will allow you to provide your patients with the level of care and quality that only an IOPI device can give, with a level of accessibility we have never had before. Now THAT is a combination to get excited about!

If you are joining us in Seattle in December, please stop by booth #1317 to hear more about IOPI® Cares and our Trainer Rental Program, and to meet Erich the IOPI® Cares Bear. If we aren’t lucky enough to see you at the convention, keep an eye on Instagram and Facebook for the launch of our dedicated IOPI® Cares website and Trainer Rental Program.

As if that wasn’t exciting enough, IOPI’s Clinical Consultant, Ed Bice has co-authored a new book, Adult Dysphagia Clinical Reasoning and Decision-Making Guide. We are incredibly lucky to call Ed one of our own and are thrilled that he will be not only be joining us on the booth at this year’s ASHA convention but will be also taking some time to sign copies of the book, as well as give away free copies to select lucky winners!
The book provides clinicians with quick access to clinical information, promotes critical thinking, and provides actionable solutions for their patients. If you can’t wait for ASHA, or won’t be able to attend this year, you can order your copy now through Plural Publishing, https://www.pluralpublishing.com/publications/adult-dysphagia-clinical-reasoning-and-decision-making-guide

We are thrilled to announce we have two new additions to the IOPI Medical family.

Andres Aparicio is the Production Manager here at IOPI medical. He is responsible for ensuring our production department manufactures products that continue to meet the high-quality standards our customers demand, from receiving and inspecting products, inventory management, product assembly and order fulfillment and shipping. Having grown up in Wenatchee Valley on his family’s apple orchard and farm he developed a strong work ethic and “Big Picture” mindset which has made him a valuable member of the IOPI team. Outside the office, Andres loves being a father to his young son. When not enjoying quality family time, he is an active member of his community and lover of sports and the great outdoors. Camping, hiking, swimming are a few of the activities he enjoys in his spare time.

Blake Larson serves as the Account Manager at IOPI Medical, where he focuses on marketing IOPI devices and services while fostering strong relationships with healthcare professionals. His role is dedicated to delivering exceptional support and tailored solutions to meet customer needs. With a strong background in the medical industry, Blake is passionate about improving patient outcomes through innovative approaches. Outside of work, he enjoys the outdoors, exploring board game shops, and delving into fantasy adventure novels.

Many of you may already be familiar with our esteemed Clinical Consultant, Ed Bice, but did you know, you can learn from him from the comfort of your office or home?
IOPI Medical offers ASHA Continuing Education Units with our FREE courses.

IOPI Research Updates, summarizing recent findings related to the IOPI.

Click for more information or to register, All Courses (thinkific.com)

The next three articles address clinical tools that will allow clinicians to measure outcomes.

The articles below are only a small fraction of the number of IOPI-related studies in general. You can find many more, covering a variety of topics, by visiting https://iopimedical.com/studies/ or clicking the button at the end of the section.

Studies concerning interrater agreement of fluoroscopic swallow studies have consistently shown poor interrater agreements. The data suggests that speech pathologists do not identify or quantify impairments in the same manner. However, the profession relies on outcome measures to provide measures that support accurate diagnosis, clinical decision making, and the impact of treatment. The researchers set out to establish quantifiable reference values using fluoroscopy that would assist in resolving discrepancies in reported findings. The paper reports percentile tables for four timing measures (swallow reaction time, UES opening duration, time to laryngeal vestibule closure and duration of laryngeal vestibule closure) in healthy individuals less than 60 years old, that can be used for comparison. Additionally, the authors provide reference values for pixelated measures. However, those measures require specialized software that may not be available to all clinicians.

T Patient-reported outcome measures are commonly used to capture patient experience with dysphagia and to evaluate treatment effectiveness. Inappropriate application can lead to distorted clinical findings. A systematic review of the literature on dysphagia-related patient-reported outcome measures was performed to identify all currently available measures and evaluate each for essential measurement properties that would affect their applicability. Thirty-four patient-reported outcome measures met the inclusion criteria. The researchers reported several high-quality measures, based on their established criteria, in various domains (MADS for achalasia, SWAL-QOL and SSQ for oropharyngeal dysphagia, PROMIS-GI for general dysphagia, EORTC-QLQ-OG25 for esophageal cancer, ROMP-swallowing for Parkinson's Disease, DSQ-EoE for eosinophilic esophagitis, and SOAL for total laryngectomy-related dysphagia). The findings offer assistance to clinicians in the selection of sound patient-reported outcome measures.

To help you achieve the greatest level of success for your patients, we continue to provide you with the necessary Purchasing Advocacy tools, as well as clinical support.

Our Purchasing Advocacy tools can be found on our Medical Professionals page. Here you will find our IOPI Dysphagia Cost Tool as well as a ready-to-use Benefits of IOPI for Dysphagia PowerPoint. Just populate it with information specific to your patient’s needs.

You also have clinical support at your fingertips. Our clinical consultant, Ed M. Bice, M.Ed., CCC-SLP, is available to mentor through the advocacy process to assess and report the estimated cost of dysphagia to your facility. You can reach Ed for a patient consultation or clinical question by calling (844) 844-IOPI or emailing ed@iopimedical.com.

To access our IOPI Dysphagia Cost Tool, the Benefits of IOPI for Dysphagia PowerPoint, and tips on advocating for your patients, please visit: https://iopimedical.com/purchasing-advocacy/

How can we get better at serving our customers, if we don’t know the ways in which we can improve? We have developed a very brief survey that would give us extremely valuable feedback, and it only takes a minute to complete! Please click the button below to begin.

To those of you who have already completed the survey, thank you! We greatly appreciate your insight into helping us offer the best service and products possible.

Phone: (425)-549-0139
Email: info@iopimedical.com