Archive: October 2010

DALLAS - HME providers can wave good-bye to the days when sales reps and other field staff padded their mileage reports and felt free to take off the afternoon and go golfing or shopping, say officials at On-Board Communications. In 2002, On-Board released FleetTraks and tweeked it to create HMEGPS, a fleet management tool for delivery vehicles. Since then, the company has received many requests from providers for a product that allows them to better manage sales reps, clinicians and other staff...

SAN CARLOS, Calif. - While home sleep testing hasn't been quite the boon many believed that it would be, provider Robert Koenigsberg says his sales are up 30% this year. "You hear in certain circles that (home testing) hasn't caught on," said Koenigsberg, president and CEO of SleepQuest. "But if you look at companies like us, we are doing quite well because there is an audience of insurers and physicians (who believe in it) and there is a tremendous unmet need." To that end, the 15-year-old company...

ROCKY HILL, Conn. - ATG Rehab has opened two new offices in Washington state, the Rocky Hill, Conn.-based rehab provider announced in September. The offices are headed up by the following assistive technology professionals (ATPs): Stacey Reeser in Lynnwood, and Michelle Marchand and Doug Ekness in Tacoma. The Lynnwood office serves the University of Washington, Harborview Medical Center, Virginia Mason Hospital, Seattle Children's Hospital and school districts. The Tacoma office works closely with...

Running retail sales as an HME provider can be a lot different from running a business based totally off referrals and reimbursements. In some ways, it's easier--you don't have to do all the billing, dealing with all the paperwork, etc. You get paid and the sale's done. But in other ways, it's harder, says Jonathan Gordon, president of Coribus Group. Everything before the actual transaction is much more challenging, more customer-intensive, he says. And the experience becomes a more personal conversation...

SALIDA, Colo. - Provider Fred Jackson has been spending more time these days hanging around local bars. Providing gases to help them power their taps is an effort to increase his industrial gas business and diversify away from Medicare, he said. "We are just walking in and asking for their business," said Jackson, president of Salida Medical. "We've been selling to a lot of the bars and we plan on expanding to restaurants for their beverage services." Industrial gases are nothing new for the 30-year-old...

A few years back, Houston-based Health Management Services (HMS) was strong and growing in its core sleep business, but it was singing a song familiar to many other CPAP providers. "Six years ago we weren't doing a strong job of following up on CPAP reorders," says Jason Holzman, general manager of the 21-year-old provider. "Reorders were probably 5% (of sales)." Holzman was charged with changing that and he created a coordinated supply replenishment program that now accounts for 30% of HMS's...

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Lincare announced Oct. 1 that its board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.20 per common share. The dividend was payable on Oct. 29, 2010 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on Oct. 15, 2010...In other news, Lincare announced in September the elections of Ellen Zane and Angela Bryant to its board of directors. Zane is president and CEO of Tufts Medical Center and Bryant served as Lincare's general counsel from 1999 through 2004. A new HME player? CORAL...

What's consultant Gary Schwantz really into these days? "I just love this idea of every employee as an owner," said Schwantz, who helped rehab provider Doug Westerdahl implement "Open Book Management" principles at Monroe Wheelchair. "There are a lot of ways to do that and this one is very cool." Here's what Schwantz had to say about "Open Book Management," a book by John Case that makes the case for owners sharing certain financial indicators with their employees. On the need for openness in...

YARMOUTH, Maine - Despite the challenges of providing mastectomy products and services, women's health providers say the rewards of the job make it worthwhile. Provider Tracey Dettmer recently fitted a customer with her first breast form--10 years after her mastectomy. The reason: She needed a dress for her daughter's wedding. "She came in and it was 98 degrees outside and she had a cardigan sweater on and was all hunched over," said Dettmer, director of sales and marketing for Warren, Mich.-based...

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Capital Group Holdings has acquired Newbern, Tenn.-based Main Street Pharmacy, it was announced Sept. 24. The pharmacy offers DME, compounding and home infusion services. "The acquisition of Main Street Family Pharmacy provides us with a strong foundation in the health and wellness market and will enable us to pursue additional strategic opportunities," Capital Group Holdings CEO Christopher Galvin said. CPAP use could alter face shape VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Patients...