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Editorial


Matt Gruskin

Editorial

Three recommendations for providers approaching accreditation renewal

June 8, 2023Matt Gruskin

DMEPOS providers often view the accreditation renewal process as a daunting, time consuming and stress-inducing process—but it doesn’t have to be. While accreditation is essential to maintaining compliance with CMS and ensuring that businesses have a “patient safety first” mindset, providers can flip their mindset to view it as an opportunity to improve and evaluate their strategy.  Here are three recommendations for DMEPOS providers approaching their three-year cycle...

Accreditation, Board of Certification/Accreditation (BOC), Matthew Gruskin


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Andrea Stark

Editorial

How to prepare for Medicaid dis-enrollment

June 8, 2023Andrea Stark

Continuous Medicaid enrollment established under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ended on March 31, 2023. I am sure I am not the first to tell you about the millions of Medicaid beneficiaries that will lose coverage in the coming months. Nonetheless, I hope I can offer a few insights to better prepare you for the ramifications of so many patients potentially changing coverage in a short period of time.  In exchange for a 6.2% Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP)...

Andrea Stark, Medicaid


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Clint Geffert

Editorial

Reflection, preview and prediction

February 1, 2022HME News Staff

As we begin 2022, I believe it is healthy to reflect on the year and see where we’ve been and what we might have in store for the coming year. It is fair to say that home care providers have had to rapidly adapt to a new normal shaped by a pandemic that has impacted providers to the very core.    We are all aware of the current challenges facing us, albeit temporary: supply chain issues; workforce strain and/or personnel shortages; and inflation. However, there have been a number...

Clint Geffert, VGM & Associates


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What's the outlook for CPAP supply in 2022?

Editorial

What's the outlook for CPAP supply in 2022?

December 29, 2021R.J. Meyer

Toilet paper. As the pandemic loomed, people began reporting low or non-existent stock of toilet paper on store shelves. Who could have predicted that a toilet paper shortage would be an early sign of supply chain challenges? Challenges that are likely to last well into 2022, and maybe even beyond.    When it comes to supply chain challenges, the biggest issue is that there isn’t just one issue. Is it the ocean ports? Staffing shortages? Manufacturing constraints? Supply chains...

CPAP Resupply, supply chain, VGM Fulfillment


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CMR: ‘You ensure no one is left behind’

Editorial

CMR: ‘You ensure no one is left behind’

October 29, 2021Cathy McMorris Rodgers

Editor’s note: The following is a message that Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers gave to the attendees of the Virtual AAHomecare Washington Legislative Conference on Sept. 29.  I’d like to start by saying thank you to everyone here for your tremendous work during the COVID-19 pandemic. For more than a year now, you’ve joined doctors and nurse across the country working around the clock to care for the sick and save lives. Many of you have been going to work each day putting your...

Cathy McMorris Rodgers, COVID-19, Home Medical Equipment (HME)


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Editorial

Tsunami of rising costs impacting DME supplier community

October 1, 2021HME News Staff

There are a myriad of challenges facing DME/HME providers, not the least of which is a sharp increase in costs pertaining to several facets of their business. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, PPE, fuel, vehicle and labor costs have risen sharply. Several major DME manufacturers have now announced yet another round of surcharges that have been or will be implemented. In other industries, when a surcharge or price increase is incurred, the cost is passed to the end user purchasing that product....

Craig Douglas, Home Medical Equipment (HME), VGM Government Relations


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Editorial

Rising costs and stagnant reimbursements are squeezing HME suppliers

October 1, 2021HME News Staff

That’s a phrase I’ve used repeatedly over the last year-and-a-half in interviews, op-eds, and discussions with policymakers and HME leaders. As AAHomecare continues the aggressive national media outreach campaign we started this year, and also engages Capitol Hill and CMS to secure much-needed and long-overdue adjustments to Medicare reimbursement rates, I know I’ll have ample opportunity to continue to point out HME’s essential contributions to meeting the challenges posed...

AAHomecare, Home Medical Equipment (HME), Tom Ryan


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Debbie Fisher

Editorial

There's value in hospital-in-home in post-pandemic environment

July 30, 2021Debbie Fisher

COVID-19 imposed massive changes to the world throughout 2020. It rocked the health care world, in particular, bringing facilities to capacity and many would-be patients to avoid hospitals because of their perceived risk of contracting the virus. The public health crisis amounted to 41% of Americans delaying or avoiding care by the end of June 2020(1). With 32% of deferments for routine health care and 12% for urgent or emergency care, chronic conditions place patients at a higher risk for severe...

COVID-19, Debbie Fisher, NavCare


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Editorial

Higher product costs and supply chain bottlenecks continue to challenge HME

May 28, 2021Gordon Barnes

Even as vaccination rates grow and new cases of COVID-19 are slowing nationwide, HME suppliers and manufacturers remain in the grip of another side effect of the pandemic: higher product costs and increased operational expenses. HME suppliers first began seeing these impacts in early 2020, as demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) surged, with shortages and higher costs quickly following. Additional impacts of the pandemic were confirmed in a May 2020 survey on supply chain disruptions...

AAHomecare, Coronavirus, Gordon Barnes, Home Medical Equipment (HME), Pandemic


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With resilience, business has continued

Editorial

With resilience, business has continued

March 1, 2021Miriam Lieber

Looking back at 2020, one of the additions I have made to my repertoire during the pandemic is to listen to more podcasts while walking, cooking, etc. Recently, I listened to a podcast on LinkedIn with the prolific author, Adam Grant. He spoke about some of his takeaways from 2020. He mentioned using the experience of last year to “go back and interview teams for re-entry. What have we done that’s worked? What is the most surprising lesson you’ve learned by working from home? What...

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