YARMOUTH, Maine - An all-star team of the HME industry's best providers and most respected consultants have joined forces to help the HME Exposition & Conference create an education program second to none.

The Expo's education committee includes industry consultants Jane Wilkinson-Bunch, president/CEO Jane's Healthcare Consulting; Ty Bello, president, Team@Work; Sarah Hanna, vice president, ECS Billing & Consulting; and Lisa Bargmann, president/CEO Bargmann Management (dba HCS).

Providers on the committee include Todd Cressler, owner/CEO CressCare Medical/CressCare Wellness in Harrisburg, Pa.; David Daniel, CEO Medi-Serv Homecare, Tulsa, Okla; Jim Greatorex, president, Black Bear Medical, Portland, Maine; and Joe Sansone, CEO, TMC Orthopedic, Houston, Texas.

Also on the committee: Dan Fedor, general manager of education and compliance for Pride Mobility Products.

Additionally, Louis Feuer, president of Dynamic Seminars, will present a full-day sales training seminar at the Expo.

HME News and Access 180 are co-producing the HME Exposition & Conference, April 21-23, 2009, in Baltimore.

Committee members will help to create a focused educational conference based on an extensive Web-based survey of provider interests conducted by HME News in July. The conference sessions will be completed and posted to the HME Expo Web site (www.hmeexpo.com) by mid-October.

"HME News has already talked to the audience," Feuer said. "I think people are going to like a show that is built around the customer."

Here are some comments by committee members on the HME Expo's educational conference:

Lisa Bargmann: "I'm really excited. I think that surveying providers ahead of time and honing in on their needs allows the Education Committee to bring to the forefront exactly what providers need to run their businesses better."

Ty Bello: "This show is provider driven. It is all about them."

Jane Bunch: "We have suggested to other shows to locate in Washington, D.C., or Baltimore. Get on the turf of CMS. Get on the turf of the legislators and Congress--the people who can assist us and make a difference."

Jim Greatorex: "If you want people to invest time and energy, it has to be something that they would feel comfortable bringing two or three people to and those two or three people will bring something different home. That is the kind of educational program we are going to have."

Todd Cressler: If you've got good speakers and topics, people are going to get something out of it. And when you have different people involved, it is going to turn out different."