On the Editor's Desk

The heat outside Medtrade in Phoenix this year – intense, even by local standards – had a certain symmetry with what was happening inside the Convention Center. The industry’s challenges are very real, very present, and yes, very “hot,” but they seemed to thaw under a positive buzz on the show floor.   And let’s be clear: There’s plenty to worry about in DME right now.   • The freeze on new Medicare enrollments. • Benefits...

The HME industry kicked off the new year much like it ended the last – focused on Medicare’s competitive bidding program (CBP). The next round of CBP is officially underway, and its impact will be significant. Although CMS didn’t finalize its plans until a Nov. 28 rule, competitive bidding skyrocketed to the top of our 10 most-read articles of 2025: No. 2 CMS moves forward with national competitive bidding No. 6 Next round of bidding takes shape: CMS proposes new rules,...

CMS’s latest proposal to expand the competitive bidding program (CBP) to include ostomy, tracheostomy and urological supplies has sparked concern across the HME industry. But the issue goes far beyond these categories. As VGM’s Ike Isaacson put it:  “To save pennies and turn around and spend multitudes of dollars is bad policy and irresponsible.”  That sentiment applies to the entire CBP framework. The cartoon for our November issue captures the irony: a toddler...

A recent LinkedIn post caught my eye: “Reporting the publicly traded company’s financial results doesn’t help us. Our industry magazines are not a friend to us as they promote the wrong companies for ad revenue.” Ouch. Let’s rewind. That comment came in response to the news that CMS plans to move forward with another round of national competitive bidding. Not shocking, but still unsettling. The last round only included a few product categories – CMS said...

Back in the day, when Theresa Flaherty and I were working under Jim Sullivan and Mike Moran, they had a saying, “What’s in it for Mario?”  This is something they’d encourage us to keep in the back of our minds as we were reporting on and writing stories. The Mario in question was Mario LaCute, a now retired business exec who used to head up Seely Medical in Ohio. The point being, when news happens, always ask yourself, what’s the impact on the HME provider?  When...

AAHomecare will hold its first full-scale, in-person lobbying day in six years on May 12-13.  IMHO, the timing couldn’t be better.  The industry’s annual lobbying day shifted to a virtual format during the COVID-19 pandemic and stayed that way for several years. It returned to in-person last year but only on a limited scale.  While stakeholders from AAHomecare, VGM and other groups have worked valiantly to get reimbursement relief passed before and after...

While putting together the March issue, I spent a good amount of time updating stories (and updating them again) to keep up with President Donald Trump’s plans on tariffs.  Even before the inauguration, I started working on a story about the possibility of tariffs on imports from China, Mexico and Canada, and the impact that would have on the HME industry. It seemed like a good bet they would happen, based on Trump’s first term as president and his stump speeches during the election.  That...

It’s a tradition for me to use my editorial in the upcoming January issue to discuss the most read stories in the HME industry for the previous year.  Here is what the list looks like for 2024:  ResMed on mask recall, big tech and demand gen  Oxygen bill introduced in House  Catheter proposal is huge step forward  Owens & Minor to buy Rotech  Philips exit: ‘Nothing fazes us anymore’  Change Healthcare outage has scary impact on HME industry  Providers:...

Artificial intelligence were two words often mentioned at the recent HME News Business Summit. At one point, Dexter Braff, founder and president of The Braff Group, who moderated a panel of investors and bankers, even said: “It’s a rule of this conference that I have to mention AI at least once.” (Insert laughs and eyerolls.) While borderline annoying, AI being a hot topic at the Summit is not surprising. I don’t think you can go to a health care conference today...

In the time we reported on the November issue (roughly three weeks), not one but two major hurricanes hit the Southeast. Both made landfall in Florida, but one, Hurricane Helene also had an impact as far north as Tennessee and western North Carolina. After Hurricane Helene, provider Brian Wilson told us his delivery techs described the Asheville, N.C., area like this: “It’s like an atomic bomb went off.” When storms like these strike, HME providers are particularly impacted. The...