Tag: NewsPoll

YARMOUTH, Maine - The closures of both a distributor and a provider of urological supplies are signs of a shifting marketplace, say respondents to a recent HME Newspoll.The majority of respondents to the poll (67%) fear that product choice is becoming more limited in the wake of Peco Medical, which manufactured low-cost ostomy and other supplies, closing June 1.“We used a lot of the PECO product line,” wrote one respondent. “It will be sad to see another distributor leave the market,...

YARMOUTH, Maine - Fifty-one percent of respondents to a recent HME Newspoll say they're considering adding CBD products to their offerings, but they're worried about the possible ramifications to their businesses.Of those considering CBD, 47% say they need more legal information.“My concerns are in state and federal regulations,” wrote one respondent. “This affects licensing, purchasing, inventory, distribution and exposure to regulatory audits.”A provision in last year's...

We're a day or so into our most recent Newspoll question: In general, have you accepted the majority of the contracts that you've been offered by Medicare as part of the competitive bidding program? So far, with more than 60 respondents tallying their votes, the results are almost 50/50 yes/no, with a slight edge to no. Parsing through the submitted comments to the open-ended question to the poll (share why you have or haven't accepted contracts and how you've been able to make that work for your...

YARMOUTH, Maine - When two companies as big and different as ResMed and Brightree merge, there's more than likely going to be an impact on their HME provider customers, the majority of respondents to a recent HME Newspoll say.Sixty percent of respondents expect the mega deal to affect their businesses, some say in good ways and some say in potentially concerning ways.“Mergers and acquisitions have become common in our industry,” wrote John Reed, CEO of Walnut Medical Services. “We...

YARMOUTH, Maine - While 75% of respondents to a recent HME Newspoll admit they could be doing a better job educating patients about their therapies, many say they just don't have the resources.Since the nationwide roll out of competitive bidding on Jan. 1, respondents say they have had to cut costs by reducing services and staff, both of which take their toll on their ability to educate patients.“Patient education is always a challenge in these decreasing reimbursement times,” wrote one...

YARMOUTH, Maine - Sixty-three percent of the respondents to a recent HME Newspoll say they use outcomes data to market themselves to referral sources.The type of data that they feel is most important: clinical data (33%).“Clinical outcomes are the benchmark of effective and efficient health care,” wrote one respondent. “No matter how good the salesperson, or the equipment design or ease of use—if the patient isn't better off, what do all the features and benefits matter?”Respondents...

YARMOUTH, Maine - HME providers say they've had some luck getting Medicare contractors to reopen and overturn denials, but it's not always easy.The vast majority (96%) of the 49 respondents to a recent HME Newspoll said they have made attempts to get Medicare contractors to reopen claims denied for technical reasons. Sixty percent said they succeeded and, of those, 80% said their denials were, ultimately, overturned.“We have had as many as 16 claims processed incorrectly as recent as April,”...

YARMOUTH, Maine - An overwhelming majority of respondents to a recent HME Newspoll (91%) said lower reimbursement has driven them to cut back on services over the last year.The area where they've cut the most: deliveries (44%).“(We) simply can't afford to send a service technician to a patient's home for free,” said Roger Lichty of Rockford, Ill.-based RRTS Mobility Connection.Instead, companies like Granada Hills, Ca.-based Wishing U Well Medical ask patients to pick up supplies or drop...

YARMOUTH, Maine - Net revenues for 2013 didn't meet expectations for two-thirds of the respondents to a recent HME Newspoll.Of the respondents who reported a decrease in net revenues in 2013, a majority (58%) reported a decrease of 10% or more. By contrast, in a previous poll, 63% of respondents said they expected net revenues to hold steady or increase in 2013.Largely to blame for the change in tide: a spike in audits and other payment delays, respondents say.“Had our pay times not slowed,...

In the past few months, a number of people have emailed me suggesting an HME NewsPoll to get a pulse on the financial health of HME providers in 2013. A good way to do that, they said: Ask providers about their DSO, A/R and patient collection rates. So that's what we did. One of the people who emailed me noted that if a provider has 20+% A/R greater than 60 days old, that means trouble. And wouldn't you know it, so far, the majority of respondents to the poll say they have 20+% A/R greater than 60...