Tag: Pandemic

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced in the Federal Register that the Emergency Use Authorization for certain ventilators and PAP and RAD devices will be in effect until Nov. 7, 2023, 180 days beyond the end of the public health emergency on May 11.  The EUA, which was issued under separate authority from the PHE, allows for certain vents, PAP and RAD devices to be used by patients, even though they haven’t gone through the formal FDA clearance process....

We recently loaded the HME Databank (www.hmedatabank.com) with 2021 data, something I’ve been keen to look at to see the impact of current dynamics in the industry, including the COVID-19 pandemic and a major CPAP recall. Let’s start with the pandemic. While we were putting together this issue, Invacare released its second quarter financial results and company officials said they expected to see reduced COVID-related demand for respiratory products in the next several quarters,...

WASHINGTON – The growth in national health spending is estimated to have slowed to 4.2% in 2021, down from 9.7% in 2020, despite increased demand for patient care, according to CMS’s 2021-2030 National Health Expenditures Report.  The annual growth in national health spending is expected to average 5.1% over 2021-30 and to reach nearly $6.8 trillion by 2030, the report states.  Additionally, the health share of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected...

WAUSAU, Wis. – Aspirus Home Medical Equipment has seen a steep increase in patients requiring home oxygen therapy due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The company has reported the number of new oxygen patients spiked to 172 in January of this year compared to about 40 new patients per month earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic and about 20 per month prior to the pandemic.  “Pre-pandemic to today, we’re seeing nine times greater utilization of our oxygen concentrators,”...

YARMOUTH, Maine – COVID-19 cases are rising again and many HME providers are feeling the strain, according to a recent HME Newspoll.  Nearly 64% of poll respondents say the Delta variant and the subsequent uptick in COVID-19 cases have impacted their business, with 56% saying they have seen an increase in oxygen setups in the past month.  “Our oxygen setups have tripled our normal,” wrote David Snodgras, operations manager at Ozarks Healthcare Medical Equipment....

WATERLOO, Iowa – VGM has launched a survey to determine the impact of the labor shortage on the HME industry. VGM plans to share the responses to the nine-question survey with lawmakers to help them understand the difficulties that providers face in hiring and retaining employees. The survey asks providers what state they are in, how many employees they have, how many employees they have lost during the pandemic, what kind of employees they’re trying to hire, and what incentives...

PHOENIX – One of the biggest questions HME leaders may have as they step back out into the post-pandemic landscape is, “Now what?”  It’s a fair question for sure, and HME consultants like Miriam Lieber will be addressing it during Medtrade West in Phoenix, July 12-13. Lieber’s session focuses on “Best Practices in a COVID World – A Reality Check,” designed to help HME providers navigate the uncertainty that lies ahead.  “COVID...

During an intro call in June, two speakers for this year’s HME News Business Summit said they preferred to have our prep call as close as possible to the event because the rate of change in health care right now is so fast. They said, there are things that will happen in the next few months that we can’t talk about now but that we’ll want to talk about at the event. So, we scheduled another call for early September. When I look at the education program for this year’s Summit,...

RICHMOND, BRITISH COLUMBIA – Gavin Dhanoi was a registered nurse for six years before becoming a mobility and seating consultant for HME in British Columbia, so when the pandemic hit, Dhanoi put his scrubs back on and volunteered to help out. “There’s no other time than now, where we have seen a shortage of nurses and hospital staff,” said Dhanoi. “Knowing that I have the education and background that I do, it didn’t feel right to not step in and give my time...

Even as vaccination rates grow and new cases of COVID-19 are slowing nationwide, HME suppliers and manufacturers remain in the grip of another side effect of the pandemic: higher product costs and increased operational expenses. HME suppliers first began seeing these impacts in early 2020, as demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) surged, with shortages and higher costs quickly following. Additional impacts of the pandemic were confirmed in a May 2020 survey on supply chain disruptions...