What do our distributors have to say about NanoHive?

NanoHive: What was it that pushed you over the edge and encouraged you to convert your doctor to our Hive platform?

Distributor: It was the technology. It just took a little bit of time to get him to switch over. we were looking at some grafts because we were having issues with some of the others that we were using such as availability and back orders. We looked at NanoHive again, and then we switched over and we just haven’t looked back since.

NanoHive: Was there something specific that you think caught his attention in the beginning?

Distributor:  In one of the first cases that we used NanoHive, the imaging stood out. He said to me “wow, that does look really good on the imaging.” He’s such a quiet guy he doesn’t really say much of anything.

NanoHive: He started his first cases in April of last year, and he’s actually done 61 levels of cervical and 33 levels of TLIF so far—so that’s a great volume as a new user. Do you know what his typical follow up protocol is? Does he do three months, six months?

Distributor: He does up to six months and mainly because most of our work is revisions and extensions, I would say about  60% of our business is some sort of revision, whether we’re linking on or extending up, so these patients tend to already have issues. I think he tends to see them a little bit longer.

NanoHive: Ok, interesting. Is it more of a blue-collar type of patient that has a lot of back injuries and that type of thing? Are there doctors in the area that send their redos over?

Distributor: Yes, all of the above. We’ve also had three spine surgeons leave in just last year, so we’re seeing a lot of their work. A lot of our patients are in the oil industry or ranchers. They all tend to be big and work hard, play hard… Other surgeons in the area are not doing the bigger cases—we’re doing three and four level cases.

NanoHive: Well, I would think that somebody like your doctor, who has the reputation and  interest in patients with a lot of complications, would want to ensure that he’s picking devices that are really going to help with the fusion process. The risk of a patient not healing in those situations is probably even higher, so that’s encouraging to hear. He is choosing our technology and has done almost a hundred levels in his first 8 months.

Distributor: He and I did have a conversation a while back, and it was focused on biologics. We determined that something as little as the DBM should be evaluated, so we switched to a product that was 100% DBM. If we can do the little things, maybe the little things will add up. I don’t want to say that NanoHive is a little thing but if we can add a little bit better cage, then we’ve taken one more step, especially with the types of patients we see, to have a little bit better outcome.

NanoHive: How has your overall experience been working with NanoHive Medical as a company?

Distributor: Having done medical sales for almost 20 years, this is one of the things that a lot of companies don’t get, is that you, the distributor, is  the customer—I am your customer. It’s a relationship based industry—the reps have a relationship with their surgeons and the distributors have the relationships with the vendors. And NanoHive is now one of, if not my favorite.

We do not feel like we are  micromanaged.

We may not be  a major account that’s doing seven cases a day, but I still feel like when I call and you know we do a lot of redo cervicals, no matter what, they will send me a cervical standalone when I ask for it. I’ve never missed a case with NanoHive not sending something. So the service part of it is huge. Lastly, they do understand that we’re in a rural facility and especially in the winter time when the roads close and Fedex can’t get there. They’ve set us up with a decent consignment. When Customer Service did that, we took everything else off the shelf. The only thing we have on hand is the NanoHive cervical cages and TLIF cages.

Also, when they were going to discontinue a low volume line, NanoHive extended the production on that for Dr. X. That says the world to me. Customer Service answers emails, restocks are sent right away and we immediately get notified, when they are coming. NanoHive has gone above and beyond everything we’ve asked for.

NanoHive: I really appreciate your time today, it’s super helpful! I will certainly pass along, your feedback.