Blogs

From the moment I open my eyes in the morning, I have one goal: coffee. This is normal any day of the year, but on Cape Cod, getting coffee from Dunkin Donuts is a competitive sport that requires getting keys, wallet and shoes lined up the night before, getting up extra early to try and beat the lines, and dodging horrible drivers (hey, it’s Massachusetts) in the small parking lot, all for the magic elixir that keeps me going. And I’ve needed that fuel to keep up with all the happenings...

After Medtrade West ended today, I walked with Medtrade communications guy and press liaison Gregg Thompson (what IS your actual title, Gregg?) back to the hotel. On the way we talked about the show, which overall had a positive vibe. Very positive. In fact, Gregg was trying to put his finger on why everyone was so damn positive. (Journalists are, by their nature, a suspicious bunch). My personal theory: people that come out to events, be they trade shows or birthday parties for one-year-olds,...

I asked show director York Schwab this morning how his first Medtrade was going and whether such a big undertaking was daunting. Unfortunately, I inadvertently cut off the first part of his video, but to paraphrase, he said it had been a challenge in many ways, with the original date pushed from April to July, and so many unknowns even in recent weeks, as rules and regs keep changing. He gave a lot of credit to Medtrade/Emerald staff for their ability “to pivot.” He loves Phoenix...

These were some of the reactions of industry stakeholders to the news of CMS’s proposed national coverage determination for home oxygen therapy: “Groundbreaking.” “We haven’t seen something this major happen in a long time.” “This obliterates everything that we’ve held to be immovable ground for oxygen coverage.”  If you’re like me, when you first saw the news on that Friday before a long holiday weekend (classic CMS move,...

I got a shout out from Liz in the company Slack channel for my “boots on the ground” reporting for two stories in that week’s very newsy holiday newswire on July 5: “Philips recall: Vent providers in wait-and-see mode” and “’Flat out miserable’: Pacific Northwest providers work through heatwave.” What she means by that is really talking with providers in the trenches to paint a picture of what’s going on out there for the larger...

We’ve been doing a lot of talking here at HME News about the Philips recall. In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s all anyone’s been talking about in the industry, on webinars, on state association calls, to me. Forget COVID. "This is going to be far worse,” is a common refrain. It’s not hard to understand why, even as we don’t yet fully know how far the ripple effect will spread. While the immediate concerns have focused on just getting information to communicating...

During an intro call in June, two speakers for this year’s HME News Business Summit said they preferred to have our prep call as close as possible to the event because the rate of change in health care right now is so fast. They said, there are things that will happen in the next few months that we can’t talk about now but that we’ll want to talk about at the event. So, we scheduled another call for early September. When I look at the education program for this year’s Summit,...

Being the recipient of Google Alerts for “oxygen concentrator” is a scary and sad place to be right now.  I have these alerts set up for a number of key terms in the HME industry – think “sleep therapy” and “home infusion” and “AdaptHealth” and “Invacare.” They’re delivered to my email inbox every afternoon.  Recent alerts for “oxygen concentrator” have been almost exclusively related to...

While HME News obviously has a narrow focus on HME, editor Liz and I do our best to tie larger national issues to the industry when we can. Some issues, like a global pandemic that affects respiratory function, are a no-brainer. Others are trickier. Case in point: diversity, equity and inclusion. Nearly a year ago, a country struggling with the ongoing pandemic found itself horrified by the senseless deaths of Black people. The murder of George Floyd, caught on camera, sent protestors to the streets...

Editor’s note: The following guest commentary appears in the new VGM Q2 Playbook, “Growing Your Business in Today’s Environment.” VGM members can download the playbook in full here. If you are interested in becoming a member, go here. You know me, you’ve heard me say it before—wound care is important for all DMEPOS providers because every patient has skin, and skin health affects each of us. The skin is our largest organ. Not only does it protect us against...