Old forest or beautiful trees?

I just read your editorial regarding the LTOT issues and think you hit the nail on the head. I, as do many in the HME industry, recognize that we are still a young industry that is still evolving and improving. Unfortunately, despite our growing efforts, some professional and patient advocacy groups still see us in the past. They have spent so much time looking in the old forest for the problems in the HME industry while often relying on emotional and anecdotal arguments from the past that they fail to appreciate the beautiful new trees in front of them, including: Objective sales reports from public companies validating the unprecedented growth of new and lightweight oxygen technologies, along with other innovative respiratory devices. The new market forces that have helped to drive the quantum leaps home respiratory technology has experienced over the last 10 years. The startling presentation at the 6th LTOT meeting from Dr. Richard Casaburi stating that an NIH funded, national, multi-site clinical study comparing patients using lightweight oxygen systems vs. those with E cylinders alone is likely to be shut down because they cannot find any ambulatory oxygen patients that still use E cylinders for ambulation to serve as the control group. * The efforts of the HME industry advocacy and professional groups pushing hard to provide objective and scientific data to support current practices. * The efforts of the HME industry advocacy and professional groups lobbying for mandatory quality and clinical standards for home respiratory therapy providers Thanks again for your objective coverage of these politically sensitive and delicate issues. - Joe Lewarski, Inogen, Mentor, Ohio