Heard at the Show: ‘You Can Always Find Ways to Do Better’

ATLANTA — DMEPOS
competitive bidding was topmost on providers’ minds at Medtrade last week,
along with dealing with audits and changing the way their
businesses run. While many attendees said they were optimistic
about the future for the HME industry, the dilemma, they said, is
figuring out how to remain in it by keeping their companies
viable.

“Competitive bidding is going to limit the choice that seniors
have for their home care needs. It will also limit the ability to
compete for service. The bid amounts that are currently out there
for Round 1 are so low, there is no room to provide service. You
are providing the cheapest, basic piece of equipment you can
provide.”

— Jim Shreve, Augusta Health Care Home
Medical, Fishersville, Va.

“We’re just a small company in Louisiana, and we hope people in
Congress can stop it. If we can’t get supporters to derail
competitive bidding, it will eventually affect everybody.”

— Linda Robinson, Northwest Medical
Supply, Bossier City, La.

“My company is a very strong, local, community-based company,
and we didn’t win any bids. I am concerned that competitive bidding
reduces patient choices by reducing the number of suppliers
available to them. We have great relationships with physicians,
hospitals and home health agencies, but our patients are going to
lose out because we didn’t get a shot like the big guys did.”

— Carson Turner, ATP, Progressive
Mobility and Medical, Washington, Pa.

“Competitive bidding is coming, we know that. We know it’s going
to impact us. How it affects us we don’t exactly know yet. Nobody
likes competitive bidding, but we have to deal with what the market
brings and what you do with it. We are finding different products
at Medtrade to expand our line and our sales [to help us
cope].”

— Richard Bartolozzi, Advanced Care,
Wayne, N.J.

“I’m shopping for CPAP equipment, because that seems to be the
highest revenue generator, especially for supplies.”

— Desiree Dunston, Mid-Carolina Homecare
Specialists

“I think every provider needs to look at what they’re doing to
build their reserves back and focus on the areas that create those
reserves, because the money fairy is not going to show up anytime
soon. We all have to buckle down and make some difficult decisions.
All of us need to do that, not just those in competitive bid
areas.”

— Tim Pederson, WestMed Rehab, Rapid
City, S.D.

“The whole industry has to go to battle for our survival —
32 percent across the board is going to affect us all, with
Medicaid and all the insurance companies following suit. We all
have to do battle. We’re in Ohio, and Ohio is getting beat up, but
we all have to pull together and do it right.”

— Michael A. Semon, Caring Solutions,
Crestline, Ohio

“When we finished bidding, the amount for Round 1 was pretty
low. I found out people from out of state came in and bid low, and
they are the ones that got the bid. The people from Cincinnati
didn’t get the bids. I don’t know how that is going to work.”

— Victor Iloegbunam, BetterLiving
Medical Supplies, Cincinnati

“We have been warned for years about compliance audits, and now
they are coming to fruition. All in all, my company is in pretty
good shape, but the game is changing. I have learned in the
sessions I have attended that you can always find ways to do
better.”

— Scott Kilgore, Hometown Healthcare,
Houston, Miss.

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