Tag: 2016
New Brightree CEO strives to make HME providers easier to work with
January 3, 2017Liz Beaulieu, Editor
ATLANTA - Matt Mellott has been to Medtrade before, as an HME provider. But this year, he's at the show as the new CEO of Brightree and as the keynote speaker for the company's pre-Medtrade Brightree Summit. Here's what Mellott, formerly president of MedBridge Healthcare, had to say about how facilitating fluid communication with referral sources is the key to the company's and providers' future.
HME News: Why is being a former provider a valuable experience to have as the...
Cross wins award for hard work
January 3, 2017Liz Beaulieu, Editor
SANDUSKY, Ohio - Melissa Cross, this year's recipient of the Van Miller Homecare Champion Award, says she's as involved as she is in the HME industry out of necessity.
“We're an employee-owned company,” said Cross, vice president of the homecare division of Sandusky, Ohio-based O.E. Meyer, which has about 150 employees. “We need to understand all the rules and adhere to them every day. This is our company; we have to do it right the first time.”
Cross has...
Best practices: 'Surprise and delight' your employees
January 3, 2017Liz Beaulieu, Editor
ATLANTA - Despite the challenges in the HME industry, now is not the time to overlook best practices related to staffing, said a panel of top providers at Medtrade in November.
Mike Bailey said a key to his company's success is spending time not only on external customers but also internal customers.
“We're always asking ourselves, 'What do we do to surprise and delight (our employees)?'” said Bailey, CEO of Handi Medical Supply in St. Paul, Minn., one of four panelists...
MyPainAway takes top spot in retail
November 30, 2016Tracy Orzel
Topricin BioMedical took first place with its MyPainAway Fibro Cream at the 2016 biannual Innovative HME Retail Product Awards at Medtrade.
An odorless, greaseless cream, MyPainAway is a soothing combination of natural biomedicines, which rapidly relieve Fibromyalgia pain while helping the body heal.
“In terms of retail—we're new to the industry but we've worked with doctors and pharmacists forever—our entire retail process is set up to make you profitable,” said...
Strategy drives transformation at Cape Medical
November 23, 2016Liz Beaulieu, Editor
As health insurance costs continue to skyrocket, HME providers are finding themselves weighing rising premiums for themselves against high-deductible healthcare plans for their employees.
“We just renewed our plan and we had a slight increase in premiums, but no change in benefits,” said Wayne Slavitt, founder and CEO of Mob�l in Long Beach, Calif.
Dan Afrasiabi, president of Anchorage, Alaska-based Geneva Woods, was facing a $600,000 increase in premium payments in 2017. Instead,...
Mobility Designed goes viral
November 23, 2016Tracy Orzel
ATLANTA - Social media is changing the way companies market their products, Keri Lauderdale Olson told an audience in Atlanta during her Medtrade session, “How to Create Demand for a New Product with Social Media.
She would know.
In April, her company, Mobility Designed, garnered more than 45 million views of a video featuring their patent-pending M+D Crutch after Tech Insider, a tech offshoot of Business Insider website, picked it up.
“We had a video on our website and our Facebook...
AllegroMedical: 20 years strong
November 2, 2016HME News Staff
BOLINGBROOK, Ill. - AllegroMedical.com, an online medical supply company, is celebrating 20 years in business. “Our first website offered 500 products,” said Craig Hood, founder, in a press release. “Today, we offer more than 60,000 products to help people manage chronic conditions from diabetes and incontinence, to spinal cord injuries and COPD.” AllegroMedical.com serves 2 million customers, according to the release.
The year of the woman
November 1, 2016Liz Beaulieu, Editor
ATLANTA - Two women took home prestigious awards at Medtrade this year.
Dr. Kirsten Davin, owner and president of Precision Seating Solutions, was awarded the inaugural HME Woman of the Year Award from the VGM Group at AAHomecare's Washington Legislative Update on Tuesday morning. The award honors a woman who has made increasingly significant contributions throughout her career to both her company and the HME industry.
Davin's long list of accomplishments includes founding Precision...
Cheeseheads, zombies and chocolate? It must be Medtrade.
October 31, 2016Theresa Flaherty, Managing Editor
I touched down in Atlanta Sunday afternoon. Helloooo summertime temps. (I had to break down and commit to turning up the thermostat at home last week so the warm weather was most welcome).
Downtown Atlanta was crazy with tailgate parties and people walking around with large cheese wedges on their heads. Apparently, there was some sort of football game happening? Just kidding. Even I figured out it was the Green Bay Packers and the Atlanta Falcons—Jay Witter, I hope whoever you were rooting...
In brief: Utilization drops in Round 2 bid areas, retail finalists named
October 21, 2016HME News Staff
WASHINGTON - The number of Medicare beneficiaries receiving DMEPOS in Round 2 areas decreased more than twice as much from 2012 to 2014 than in non-bid areas, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.
The number of beneficiaries receiving DMEPOS in Round 2 areas decreased 17% from 2012, the year before bid pricing went into effect, to 2014, the year after. The number of beneficiaries in non-bid areas decreased 6% during the same time period.
“CMS officials stated...