Ty Bello: 'I love this industry'

Well-known industry consultant Ty Bello has comfortably stepped into his new role as executive director of the Illinois Association for Medical Equipment Services (IAMES). He started last fall and has spent his first few months on the job reaching out to association members. Bello, who will also continue as president of Team@Work, recently told HME News about his goals for his new position.

HME News: Why did you want to take on this new role?

Ty Bello: This was a really great opportunity to consider, and I did. I've seen some excellent executive directors and excellent state associations, and I had a real longing to serve that state because I love this industry. After 21 years, it's part of me.

HME: Does your previous experience help in your role as executive director?

Bello: I feel like a few things have complemented my role. I've been in the role of a provider for 15 years, and for the past 11 years, I've been serving providers all across the United States. I've seen how their state associations have served them and, in other cases, have not served them. My goal is to take best practices from some of the best executive directors in the world and apply them in Illinois.

HME: What are some of your goals?

Bello: The No. 1 goal for me is to really serve the state members to the best of my ability, especially in the competitive bid environment that we're in now--to be yet another resource that they can use to understand both national issues like competitive bidding and legislative factors that are applying to the state of Illinois.

HME: Do you hope to grow IAMES's membership?

Bello: All the state associations are seeing some level of increase and I think there's more that can be done to get those state levels to increase. If you're not a member of your state association, why not? You should be.

HME: What is the No. 1 issue for members?

Bello: Competitive bidding. It hasn't been in the state before, so we're seeing a growing emphasis by the providers to educate themselves on what Round 1 was like and how it impacted those people that won or lost the bid and, therefore, what Round 2 could be like.