Who Would Have Thunk?

I’m starting early this year. No, not on keeping my New Year’s resolution — which, unhappily for me is to stick to my diet — but on extolling the virtues of retail.

If you’re a consistent HomeCare reader, you know that’s something I do on a regular basis. I talk about how retail can add to your revenues and bring you more customers. I talk about how you’ll be ahead of the curve when it comes to attracting the soon-to-be-65 baby boomers who will need your equipment.

But I’m starting earlier than usual in 2008 because the events set to unfold this year make the message more urgent.

I know, I know. As many of you complain when I pen my columns on retail sales, turning your efforts away from Medicare takes relentless planning and vigorous effort: new products, new vendors, new operating procedures, new training for employees, maybe even an entirely new venue or a totally new business model.

That’s a lot of hard work, particularly if you’re a small business owner and your time is already stretched. It can mean a big investment, too, and, as many of you also tell me, you don’t have the money to spare. Bummer.

But in only a few weeks, the fate of any number of home medical equipment businesses (hundreds? thousands?) could be worse when CMS announces its selection of winners for the first round of competitive bidding. With little time to digest the rules, calculate their costs and figure bids, the HME owners in those first 10 MSAs could be twiddling their thumbs for the next three years until the government contracts are let again. And if CMS sticks to its current timeline, come July we’ll see exactly how much belt-tightening your company could be facing down the line when reimbursements based on those winning bids are set.

As many of this industry’s most trusted consultants have been counseling for several years — actually, since the passage of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 in which competitive bidding was mandated — it’s past time for you to look at alternatives if you intend to keep your business growing. You simply might not be able to depend on the government for the bulk of your sales much longer.

Who would have thunk that redirecting your company might be the easiest path? Yet it is certainly among the most logical. In spite of the hurdles you must jump to get a cash-based business off the ground, going after non-reimbursables is a natural extension of the business — and a great way to meet the needs of the customers — you already have.

Of course, like you, I am wondering exactly how this historic year will turn out. Given the challenges of years past in this industry, it will probably not be an easy one. That said, I hope you will resolve to take advantage of the opportunity that retail HME offers; it is staring you right in the bottom line.

Speaking of historic years, HomeCare marks our 30th anniversary in 2008. Check page 56 for a magazine flashback through the decades.