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On the Editor's Desk


On the Editor's Desk

Shock and disruption

March 1, 2024Liz Beaulieu, Editor

During the final stages of getting the March issue out the door, Managing Editor Theresa Flaherty and I also had on our to-do list coming up with a guest for the February episode of the HME News in 10 podcast.  Given the recent decision by Philips to exit the home oxygen concentrator and ventilator markets in the United States, we thought it would be important to invite someone who could speak to the continued tumultuousness of the larger respiratory product category in the past few years.  This...

HME News in 10, Philips exit


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On the Editor's Desk

Be like Bill

January 23, 2024Liz Beaulieu, Editor

It’s that time of year to look at the year that was – in HME News stories.  As we were putting together the finishing touches on this January issue, I pulled the 10 most read stories for 2023.  I was pleased as punch to see a story we published about Miller’s opening its fifth location in Ohio was the No. 1 most read story of the year by a long shot. In a year when the CPAP recall, supply chain challenges and increased costs weighed heavily on the industry, I’m...

2023, Most read stories


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On the Editor's Desk

I have questions

November 21, 2023Liz Beaulieu, Editor

YARMOUTH, Maine – One of the most interesting takeaways from the HME News Business Summit in Charlotte, N.C., Oct. 22-24, was just how much commercial insurers care about patient satisfaction.   Brad Heath, an executive vice president with AdaptHealth, was part of a panel at the Summit on disruptive partnerships with payers. AdaptHealth, along with Rotech Healthcare, as we all know, has a contract with Humana to provide certain home medical equipment services to its Medicare Advantage...

AdaptHealth, HME News Business Summit, Humana, Medicare Advantage


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On the Editor's Desk

Will you show up?

November 10, 2023Liz Beaulieu, Editor

AAHomecare and VGM will host another virtual lobbying day next week, on Nov. 13, to help push reimbursement relief bills in the House of Representatives and Senate across the finish line before Congress wraps up its work for the year.  The event will build on AAHomecare’s annual Washington Legislative Conference, which took place less than two months prior, on Sept. 20.  Managing Editor Theresa Flaherty and I can’t swear by it, but we haven’t seen...

AAHomecare, Lobbying, reimbursement relief, VGM Group


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Swords and sticks

September 15, 2023Liz Beaulieu, Editor

YARMOUTH, Maine – It was big news when UnitedHealthcare announced it would reduce the number of product codes requiring prior authorizations. Cigna soon followed suit and then Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and others. While it was big news, it wasn’t surprising.  The American Medical Association (AMA) has been on a fierce campaign to reduce prior authorizations. On its website, the AMA characterizes it this way: “Prior authorization is a health plan cost-control process...

Prior Authorization


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On the Editor's Desk

Semaglutides and sleep (and diabetes and …???)

August 23, 2023Liz Beaulieu, Editor

You’d have to be living under a rock not to know what semaglutides are these days. (Tell that to Microsoft Word, though – it didn’t tell me my initial spelling of semaglutides – semi vs. sema – was wrong.) Semaglutides, of course, are the new weight loss medications that go by brand names like Wegovy, Ozempic and Rybelsus. It’s hard to keep track of which celebrities have been on it, are on it or are denying being on it.   But I’d be lying if I weren’t...

CPAP, ResMed, Semaglutide


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Disruption, innovation and growth in first half of 2023

July 18, 2023Liz Beaulieu, Editor

We’ve burned through the first half of 2023 already and what do we have to show for it?  If the most read stories from January through June are any indication, it’s disruption, innovation and growth.  Let’s start with disruption. It has come in a number of forms in 2023, including one of the HME industry’s legacy manufacturers, Invacare, filing for bankruptcy. We posted a story about that to our website in February, and it remains the most read story of the...

AdaptHealth, Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM), Diabetes, Humana, National coverage determination, Oxygen


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Focus on post-acute care circles HME

June 19, 2023Liz Beaulieu, Editor

Recently, I wrote about the news that Humana has contracted with AdaptHealth and Rotech Healthcare to provide HME products and services to its Medicare Advantage HME members.  Now, another giant health care company is making waves in the HME industry: Optum, which has been a subsidiary of UnitedHealthcare since 2011 and which earlier this year bought LHC Group for a reported $5.4 billion.  LHC Group has 30,000 employees delivering home health, hospice, home- and community-based services,...

Amedisys, Option Care Health, Optum, vertical integration


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Big deal, big questions

May 25, 2023Liz Beaulieu, Editor

As we were putting the finishing touches on this June issue, news broke that Humana has contracted with AdaptHealth and Rotech Healthcare, two national HME providers, to provide HME products and services to its Medicare Advantage HMO members.  This is a big deal for a whole lotta reasons.  We’ve all read the headlines. Insurers are increasingly targeting Medicare Advantage plans as a source of growth. Last year, Humana outlined plans to expand its Medicare HMO offerings, specifically,...

AdaptHealth, Humana, Managed Care, Rotech Healthcare


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Let's keep talking

April 27, 2023Liz Beaulieu, Editor

Managing Editor Theresa Flaherty and I conduct quite a few interviews for the stories that appear in HME News. By all accounts, our May issue features quotes from more than 40 different people. I hope that’s not lost on you, dear readers, as this is one of the things that sets HME News apart. We’re on the phone with providers, manufacturers, vendors, consultants and other HME-affiliated professionals every day, discussing industry trends and developments, teasing out challenges...

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