The only thing permanent about life is change. Most would agree that this proverb applies to the home medical equipment industry, too. Granted, the industry has experienced many challenges during the past 10 to 12 years: acquisition mania, “superstore threats,” and concerns revolving around mass retailers, “direct” manufacturers, managed care, accreditation, oxygen reimbursement cuts and more. Nevertheless, one constant remains: the importance of the local, full-service HME provider. Whether the provider operates independently, as part of a buying group, or as a national account location, an autonomous, local, full-service, experienced and caring HME, mobility or rehab provider still is what best serves people in need of our products, and I fully expect this will continue to be true. There is a saying, “All politics is…

This year will be a challenging, but opportunity-filled year for the home medical equipment industry — let’s call it a “no-pain, no-gain” environment. The Internet will continue to affect the evolution of HME software into an essential component of the HME business profitability and productivity equation. Speed, security, affordability, redundancy, improved work flow and real-time access to information — all of these are the benefits of Internet-based HME software products and services. The biggest HME software innovations in 2003 will revolve around continued early adoption of Internet-based applications by forward-thinking HME organizations. As more businesses adopt HME software packages, they will become as de rigueur as computers, cell phones and DVD players are to the general population. Of course, there will be challenges to overcome…

When one looks over the past 25 years in the home care industry, moderation isn’t exactly a word that springs to mind. Extreme is probably a better word choice, because, excluding our current decade, the home care industry has been all about extremes. Take the extreme autonomy the industry enjoyed during the 1970s, for example. There was little government oversight, and profits, revenues and reimbursements for home care were large. Providers were left alone, for the most part, to run their own businesses the way they wanted. Spilling over into the ’80s, this autonomy began to shift toward another extreme — government oversight — which came to a head in 1997, when Congress passed the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 and cut reimbursements significantly. And…