Blogs

YARMOUTH, Maine – As far as HME Newspolls go, this one was a dud.  There. We said it.  Since we were working on our January issue at the time, we thought it would be interesting to have providers share what they believed to be their biggest business opportunity and biggest challenge, as they headed into 2023.  It’s hard to say whether providers are too busy to think about 2023 just yet (a mistake) or are simply tired of answering surveys and polls (understandable).  However,...

There’s been a lot of talk about the increased appreciation for home care due to the COVID-19  pandemic. And now we’re seeing lawmakers walk the talk. The omnibus bill they passed in December included not one but a handful of provisions that impact the HME industry: An extension of the 75/25 blended Medicare reimbursement rate in non-competitive bidding/non-rural areas through the end of the public health emergency or Dec. 31, 2023, whichever is later. A delay of the...

I’m on information overload this week and it’s only Wednesday. And it’s technology information that I’m being inundated with. It’s exhausting.  Take work. We are switching to new laptops. This is a good thing. But in the lead up to the big switch, I had to start backing up my files differently (In the air! Somewhere!). Now, I’m not a Luddite, by any means, but some concepts are a tad bit harder for me to wrap my mind around. I have a perfectly serviceable...

When I spoke with Geoffrey Purtill in September, he hinted that some dramatic changes were coming Invacare’s way, but he couldn’t say at that time what they were. The need for changes didn’t come as a surprise. Following a consent decree with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Invacare has continued to struggle to find its footing and then the pandemic hit, with all of its baggage. A company that once had a market cap of more than $1 billion now stands at $19.72 million. But...

The recent HME News Business Summit, Sept. 18-20 at the Westin in downtown Nashville, Tenn., was the best yet. Here are some snippets from the event that I think are worth highlighting: On hospital-at-home: Medically Home’s Doug Clarke, formerly of CMS, says the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting transition of more care to the home has helped to eliminate a number of barriers to adoption. Previously, hospital-at-home didn’t take off at the agency because physicians were concerned...

Fall, for me, is a time of new beginnings. Maybe it’s because for so long, it was the start of a new school year. Maybe it’s because the New England air finally sheds its muggy curtain and I can breathe again. Feeling a sense of renewal and looking to make a fresh start at home, I hired a housecleaner to come in and do a deep clean. They scrubbed the markings off my stove dials and tried to overcharge me, but hey, my kitchen sink looks brand new. For the HME industry, fall...

We recently loaded the HME Databank (www.hmedatabank.com) with 2021 data, something I’ve been keen to look at to see the impact of current dynamics in the industry, including the COVID-19 pandemic and a major CPAP recall. Let’s start with the pandemic. While we were putting together this issue, Invacare released its second quarter financial results and company officials said they expected to see reduced COVID-related demand for respiratory products in the next several quarters,...

Three hundred and twenty-nine years. That’s how long it took for Elizabeth Johnson Jr.’s name to be cleared after being convicted of witchcraft in Salem, Mass., in 1693.  According to the Boston Globe, state lawmakers agreed to reconsider her case – she was the last accused witch to be cleared – at the behest of an eighth-grade civics class. There followed a bill, an attachment vehicle in the form of a budget bill and, finally, approval.  Sound familiar? That’s...

If there’s anything keeping HME providers, especially those that own their own businesses, awake at night, it’s the ongoing mystery of the empty labor pool. “For six months, we ran ads on all the job boards and got three applications,” Craig Rae, a provider in North Carolina, told me. “I ran ads again yesterday and have my fingers crossed.” Laurie Bachorek, a provider in Texas, has been searching and searching for help, but she says it’s difficult to...

One of the main themes of the education at this year’s HME News Business Summit, Sept. 18-20 in Nashville, Tenn., will be the increasing interest in the home – the products and services provided there – by larger players in health care and investors.  Scan the stories in the July issue and you’ll see why.  Take this story, “AmerisourceBergen “de-risks” home infusion (see page 12).” Here we have AmerisourceBergen, a global health...