Quipt's Greg Crawford weighs in on challenges

Quipt Home Medical hasn’t been spared from industry specific issues like the CPAP recall and macro issues like supply chain constraints, says CEO Greg Crawford. 

“Our management team has done an excellent job navigating (these issues) over the last year” he said. 

CPAP recall 

Quipt has been on supply allocation with ResMed for the past 15 months and has not been able to meet demand, but the company has prioritized patients based on their clinical needs and acuity levels, says Crawford. 

“We have a system that allows us to do just that,” he said. “We’ve got a sizeable backlog, as demand remains extremely strong with supply being very tight. We’re hoping as we get out into the very end of 2022 and into 2023, ResMed can keep up with demand and hopefully Philips will be back in the market.” 

Supply chain constraints 

When you look at supply chain challenges, even taking the Philips recall off the table, the industry has been forced to shift how it does business, says Crawford. 

“What we’ve had to do is pivot from just-in-time inventory to planning ahead – two quarters, three quarter out,” he said. “I think our scale at the time helped us through that, because we are able to make larger commitments to manufacturers.” 

Competitive bidding 

Whether Medicare plans to roll out another round of competitive bidding is always a concern, but it seems less likely than in the past, says Crawford. 

“If you have to bid again in 2024 why would a provider bid any lower than they did in 2019 prior to the pandemic, prior to inflation,” he said. “There haven’t been a bunch of new players that came into the market to suicide bid. I think we are beyond that.”