All the news that's fit to print

Rising costs. Inflation. Never-ending pandemic. Never-ending supply chain challenges. 

Or, as AAHomecare’s Jay Witter so succinctly summed it: It’s "rough" out there. 

He’s not wrong, of course, and I occasionally look at our headlines and think, “Yikes.” 

However, as I am reminded every day, week and month, HME providers are a resilient bunch, as evidenced by a quick perusal of headlines in this issue. 

There are stories about growth, like Bellevue Healthcare adding a 30,700-square-foot location as it expands its footprint in Washington State (“Piece by piece, Bellevue builds out its footprint,” see page 9, June issue) and company president Joel Gallion told me several more new locations are in the works for later this year. 

Also growing, Reliable Medical, which made its first buy in the state of California (“Reliable Medical marches west,” see page 1, June issue). That’s CEO Katie Stevens’ old stomping grounds. Stevens is building a model that combines complex rehab services with DME, which she describes as a “good marriage.” 

Speaking of good marriages, back on the East Coast, providers like Jason Jones continue to display out-of-the box thinking. Jones, in the heart of football country and a diehard supporter of college athletics, recently signed a deal allowing him to use the name and likeness of two football players in his marketing (“Jones Medical Supply tackles marketing deal,” page 8). 

It’s also heartening to see the hard work (often taking place over years) of relationship building pay off on the policy side. To wit: CMS implemented suggestions from AOPA as it rolled out a prior auth program for orthotics (“O&P stakeholders work relationships"). Providers and, more importantly, patients will benefit from this partnership. 

And that’s all just in the first half of the year. Looking ahead to the second half, I have fingers crossed Philips will be easing out of its recall troubles (I bet they have their fingers crossed, too), that numerous industry-related bills cross the finish line (here’s looking at you, H.R. 6641) and that people, as always, are willing to take my calls and keep us in the loop on all the news that’s fit to print.