News
In brief: VGM’s new collab, Kalogon’s funding, Medline’s milestone
June 5, 2026HME News Staff
WATERLOO, Iowa — VGM & Associates has launched a collaboration with Resmed to help home medical equipment (HME) providers strengthen their sleep therapy programs. By combining VGM’s expanding Total Sleep Services offering with Resmed’s connected sleep health capabilities, the two companies say they create a more connected path from diagnosis to long-term therapy adherence.
The collaboration brings together VGM’s member community and category expertise with Resmed’s...
CMS kicks off bid preparation with non-lead items, bid limits and more
June 5, 2026HME News Staff
WASHINGTON – The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has shared a list of non-lead items and their ratios to lead items in a new bidding calculator on the Competitive Bidding Implementation Contractor (CBIC) website, AAHomecare reports.
The information is part of a large set of shared resources shared on the CBIC website kicking off “Phase 1: Bid Preparation for Round 2028” of the competitive bidding program (CBP).
The resources also include a list of product categories...
Campaign launches to stop bidding for urological, ostomy supplies
June 1, 2026HME News Staff
WASHINGTON – A group of national patient advocacy organizations has launched “The High Cost of Low Bids,” a campaign urging policymakers to stop the inclusion of urological and ostomy supplies in Medicare’s competitive bidding program.
The campaign responds to a decision by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to include these supplies in the CBP, warning that applying a lowest-bid purchasing model to clinically complex, highly individualized products could...
VGM Group adds chief medical officer to shape clinical strategy
June 1, 2026HME News Staff
WATERLOO, Iowa – VGM Group has named M. Kris Srinivasan, MD, MBA, MHSE, as chief medical officer to provide clinical leadership across the company’s non-acute health care businesses.
VGM says Srinivasan will work to advance governance, medical policy oversight and evidence-based standards that support the providers and organizations that the company serves.
“Kris brings a clinician’s perspective and an entrepreneurial mindset that will strengthen how we support members,...
High gas prices squeeze HME providers, but most aren’t adjusting operations – yet
May 29, 2026Liz Beaulieu, Editor
YARMOUTH, Maine – Nearly 80% of respondents to a recent HME Newspoll say high gas prices are having a moderate to significant negative impact on their businesses, putting further pressure on already thin margins.
While prices vary by geography, the national average was $4.42 per gallon at press time, compared to $3.16 a year ago – an increase of nearly 40%, according to AAA.
“Our profit margins were already slim before, so higher fuel costs have further reduced margins, increased...
In brief: Competitive bidding campaign, Sanford Health Equip acquisition, VGM chief medical officer
May 29, 2026HME News Staff
WASHINGTON – A group of national patient advocacy organizations has launched “The High Cost of Low Bids,” a campaign urging policymakers to stop the inclusion of urological and ostomy supplies in Medicare’s competitive bidding program.
The campaign responds to a decision by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to include these supplies in the CBP, warning that applying a lowest-bid purchasing model to clinically complex, highly individualized products could...
In brief: Latest UHC-Synapse deal, Dexcom stolen sensors, WeOxy debut
May 29, 2026HME News Staff
SKOKIE, Ill. – UnitedHealthcare has announced that Synapse Health will manage durable medical equipment (DME) orders for certain UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans in additional states beginning Sept. 1, 2026.
For individual HMO & PPO plans, Synapse Health will manage DME for members in Connecticut, District of Columbia, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
For chronic special needs plans (C-SNP), Synapse...
UHC, Synapse Health expand DME agreement to Northeast
May 28, 2026HME News Staff
SKOKIE, Ill. – UnitedHealthcare has announced that Synapse Health will manage durable medical equipment (DME) orders for certain UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans in additional states beginning Sept. 1, 2026.
For individual HMO & PPO plans, Synapse Health will manage DME for members in Connecticut, District of Columbia, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
For chronic special needs plans (C-SNP), Synapse...
Stakeholders look to Congress to pressure CMS on competitive bidding
May 22, 2026Liz Beaulieu, Editor
WASHINGTON – Stakeholders urged members of the House Committee on Small Business during a recent Hill day to hold the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) accountable for a new remote-item delivery (RID) framework for competitive bidding that they say will decimate small businesses.
Ahead of the fly-in, stakeholders have also been engaging the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to raise similar concerns.
“We had a good meeting with committee members and they said,...
‘Don’t be that guy’: Bill Fredericks on advocacy that works
May 22, 2026Theresa Flaherty, Managing Editor
WASHINGTON – Bill Fredericks jumped into advocating for the home medical equipment (HME) industry more than 20 years ago when Massachusetts Medicaid was implementing cuts and he needed to learn what was going on – and what he could do about it.
“That's when I first found the Home Medical Equipment and Services association (HOMES) and Karyn Estrella (its former executive director), so I joined that immediately,” he said. “As the owner of a small company, I needed...