CHME: ‘We’re trying to be a little bit different’

FOSTER CITY, Calif. – California Home Medical Equipment’s dual role as a DME provider and now a pharmacy well positions the company to meet a new contract with Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program.  

“We were supplying enteral nutrition and blood glucose testing supplies to patients and those things got switched over to a pharmacy benefit within Medi-Cal, so a lot of people were kind of lost on where to go for that that type of thing,” said Diane Tackaberry, pharmacist in charge. “Now we’re able to fulfill those orders for them.” 

CHME, which was founded in 2003 by Bernie Zimmer, offers a full line of HME, including respiratory, custom mobility, nutrition and negative pressure wound therapy, to seven counties in the San Francisco area through two locations. In early 2024, it acquired a local pharmacy and worked to secure appropriate licensing and insurance contracts. 

The pharmacy, which is both a retail and long-term care pharmacy, is also offering other services, like vaccinations and point-of-care testing. 

“We service a lot of long-term care patients, and we will go to the facilities and other businesses, and do vaccinations for everyone, especially during flu season,” Tackaberry said. 

With reimbursement pressures and challenges from pharmacy benefit managers, CHME says focusing on a diverse range of pharmacy services is important. 

“You have to look for those reimbursements that are available and then also look at the individual insurances,” Tackaberry said. “We also do a lot of outreach to clinics and hospitals and then we try to capture the prescriptions, so patients can just get everything in one place.” 

CHME has also been building awareness of the pharmacy by maintaining an active presence in the community, including by participating in local fairs and networking events. 

“We’re just trying to be known at this point,” Tackaberry said. “We’re trying to be a little bit different from other pharmacies and just filling medications – that’s not our main goal.”