Tag: Media
'We make life's experiences possible'
July 26, 2011Liz Beaulieu, Editor
Invacare's Lou Slangen has a question for you: How would you describe what HME manufacturers and providers do?
If your answer is, "Well, they make and provide power wheelchairs and other home medical equipment," try again.
"We need to get out of this box business and get to what we really do," said Slangen, senior vice president of corporate marketing and chief product officer, during day two of Invacare Media Day. "We make life's experiences possible."
"We make life's experiences...
'All boats float in still water'
July 25, 2011Liz Beaulieu, Editor
Invacare's Carl Will kicked off Invacare Media Day today with a speech about how HME manufacturers and providers alike need to be strategic, not tactical, thinkers if they want to survive the next few years.
Will, senior vice president, global commercial operations, offered up this example to point out the difference: If I'm a provider, when I'm thinking tactically, the question is, how can I squeeze more out of an oxygen concentrator; when I'm thinking strategically, it's,...
Everyone is talking about competitive bidding, but not me.
December 30, 2010Mike Moran
Everywhere I turned this week, people were talking about competitive bidding, but you won't hear a peep out of me. Not today.
A provider sent me an email a few days ago that included the following paragraph about competitive bidding:
"Despite years of effort by the industry to derail competitive bidding, the flawed program has been implemented in the first nine markets. And implementation of the program will begin in an additional 91 markets in the next six months. Some in the HME industry...
Medtrade: Competitive bidding is on everyone's lips
November 16, 2010Mike Moran
I flew from Maine to Atlanta Sunday night to get ready for Medtrade, which starts at 10 am this morning. From all I've heard and seen so far, the industry's biggest trade show looks like it will be a bit bigger than last year. That makes sense because if the industry does not come together in times like these, it never will. The show always produces a few surprises, but the one thing I know for sure is that the topic of conversation on everyone's lips will be competitive bidding.
The...
Okay. Competitive bidding stinks, but what is appropriate pricing for HME?
July 15, 2010Mike Moran
I'll be honest: While I realize competitive bidding is a terribly flawed program, I have no idea what Medicare should pay for DME. Congress and CMS obviously don't know either. Neither, I'm sure, does 99.9% of the general public.
That's why, on the surface, for so many people bidding seems like a good way to determine pricing. (For an example of this mindset, check out this scathing commentary on the HME industry.) But if bidding's a terrible idea, how should pricing be set? How would the industry...
Competitive bidding update: All hands on deck
April 14, 2010Mike Moran
Everyone who has worked so hard to gather support for a bill designed to repeal competitive bidding deserves a big pat on the back, but there's no time for that. The bill's made impressive progress, but there's still work to be done.
The Accredited Medical Equipment Providers of America (AMEPA), sent out this email announcement this afternoon:
HR3790, Congressman Kendrick Meek's bill to repeal the DMEPOS bidding program, now has 199 co-sponsors. Including Congressman Meek, the...
Congratulations to HME provider Thad Connally. He's the 2010 small business person of the year in Bowlilng Green, Ky.
April 9, 2010Mike Moran
Two interesting pieces of news from AAHomecare landed in my in-box this afternoon.
First: Thad Connally Is Small Business Person of Year in Bowling Green, KY
AAHomecare member and HME provider Thad Connally, III, received the 2010 Small Business Person of the Year award from the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce. Connally is president and owner of First Choice Home Medical, in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
The award is given to a community member who owns and operates a growing company with...
Calling the entire HME industry: Read this immediately and please help stop competitive bidding
March 29, 2010Mike Moran
It's mission critical on the competitive bidding front, and the industry needs every single provider, consultant, manufacturers reps—all industry stakeholders—to help end this wrong-headed program once and for all.
The need is more urgent than ever.
The healthcare reform legislation signed into law last week accelerates the bidding program. It expands bidding to 21 additional metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and applies prices nationwide by 2016.
Nationwide means you!
How can you...
Carol Gentry smears the HME industry; AAHomecare fires back
November 25, 2009Mike Moran
If you can help it, never miss an opportunity to set the record straight when it comes to ignorance about the HME industry. And as we all know, there's plenty of ignorance out there.
Here's a perfect example. Carol Gentry, the editor of Health News Florida published an editorial today, absurdly insinuating that the HME industry has no interest in controlling Medicare fraud and abuse.
Once he saw that, Michael Reinemer, AAHomecare's vice president, communications and policy, took...
Here's a big idea: Let's redefine and enlarge the role HME plays in the continuum of care
November 20, 2009Mike Moran
Raven Hawk
I had an interesting talk with Steve Serra last week. Steve is the vice president of Henry Ford Health Products, the $40 million HME arm of the giant ($4 billion) Henry Ford Health System.
Serra has joined forces with a research company and embarked on a project to redefine and enlarge the role HME providers play in the healthcare continuum. That's a must, he says, because as reimbursement dwindles, if the industry doesn't change its value proposition, providers will end up driving...