Shelly Prial to tackle government relations
By HME News Staff
Updated Sun January 4, 2004
January 5 , 2004
ATLANTA - Shelly Prial, the longtime director of the Homecare Providers' Co-op, is entering a new phase of a 50-year healthcare career as Graham-Field Health Products' first director of government relations.
“Shelly is well known and respected throughout the industry and has an intimate knowledge of the issues facing our customers,” Selinger said. “It is part of Graham-Field's strategic charter to work with our customers on reimbursement issues, sales and marketing programs and new product development. Shelly is the perfect person to help us with that strategy.”
By connecting with national provider groups like AAHomecare, Prial, who is 76 years old, hopes to show the HME industry that Graham-Field is a strong new ally on the political front.
“My goal is to get people to recognize the fact that Graham-Field intends to be much more than a supplier,” he said. “They want to become much more active in defending dealers.”
No stranger to Capitol Hill, Prial vigorously supported grassroots lobbying through his HPC Messenger newsletter, which he produced weekly for co-op members from 1987 through 1999. As president of HPC, he networked with virtually all of the state HME associations, and will continue that dialogue in his new role.
“The importance of state and national HME organizations is immeasurable,” he said. “Unless we all become participants and work with them, we won't succeed as an industry.”
Comments