Tag: Dan Starck

INDIANAPOLIS – Apria is readying itself for a post-COVID world by embracing flexible working arrangements and leveraging telehealth to meet patients where they are, says CEO Dan Starck. While most of its patient-facing staff and operations remained working onsite throughout the pandemic and others who had transitioned to the home are slowly moving back to the office, the company is committed to a hybrid model going forward, he says. “The pandemic challenged all of us to rapidly...

INDIANAPOLIS – Apria Healthcare reported that revenue for home respiratory therapy was up 8% in the fourth quarter of 2020, largely driven by an increase in demand for COVID-19 patients, company execs said on a recent earnings call.  New oxygen setups increased 77% during the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to the same quarter in 2019.   “The fourth quarter of 2020 was a record quarter for Apria,” said CFO Debra Morris. “While...

INDIANAPOLIS – Apria Healthcare reported net revenue of $293.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2020, an increase of 5% compared the same quarter in 2019.  Net revenue for the full year was $1.11 billion, up 2% compared to 2019.  “We made great strides during 2020, creating significant efficiencies throughout the organization, and we closed out the year with solid financial results ahead of our expectations,” said Dan Starck, CEO. “Despite the challenges presented...

WASHINGTON – CMS’s competitive bidding program set the stage for a number of the difficulties that the HME industry is seeing as it tries to meet increased demand for oxygen therapy for COVID-19 patients, say the leaders of Apria Healthcare and Lincare and the Council of Quality Respiratory Care.  The agency may have dropped oxygen from Round 2021, its latest round of bidding, but 10 years since the program’s...

LAKE FOREST, Calif. - A global pandemic wasn't exactly a consideration in the company's contingency plans, but as it celebrates its 25th anniversary, Apria Healthcare CEO Dan Starck says it has always paid to be prepared.The company began monitoring the pandemic early on and by the time the severity of it became clear in mid-March, Apria switched into high gear, increasing its inventory of PPE and moving 60% of employees to work from home in one to two weeks.“There were people who thought we...

I am writing on behalf of the Council for Quality Respiratory Care (CQRC) to highlight how our members—the home oxygen, sleep, and ventilation therapy suppliers and manufacturers-are prepared to help during the COVID-19 emergency when patients diagnosed with the disease have access to the equipment and supplies they need to recover. For us to fully serve these patients, however, we need your help in trying to address some of regulatory restriction that will be a barrier to caring for these...

WASHINGTON - Industry stakeholders are pushing providers to act fast on a bill delaying the inclusion of non-invasive ventilators in competitive bidding for five years.They'd like to get as many co-sponsors for the bill, known as the “Safeguarding Medicare Access to Respiratory Therapy (SMART) Act of 2019,” ahead of the upcoming Thanksgiving recess, and they suggest focusing first on the 180 representatives who signed a letter asking CMS to drop vents from the program.“If you are...

YARMOUTH, Maine - Home oxygen therapy has been hit especially hard by competitive bidding, so CMS's plans to retool its program are encouraging, says Dan Starck, chairman of the Council for Quality Respiratory Care.“It's good to see the administration listening to the industry and working with the industry,” he said. “Our goal now is to get it finalized and make sure we have a sustainable long-term process available to us.”The CQRC is a coalition of leading home oxygen...

WASHINGTON - The Council for Quality Respiratory Care, a coalition of home oxygen providers and manufacturers, has always taken an active role with CMS and on Capitol Hill, says Chairman Dan Starck. In recent months, however, the CQRC has seen its profile rise, thanks in part to several op-eds calling on Congress to support legislation that would delay the phase-in of reimbursement cuts for DME.Starck, who is also the CEO of Apria Healthcare, spoke with HME News recently about the CQRC's top priorities,...