Angry Man tees off on The Scooter Store and HME News

Every now and then, some really irate person calls, emails or writes HME News and goes ballistic. To tell you the truth, I like hearing from Angry Man or Angry Woman because it usually indicates that we've struck a nerve. In this business, that's always fun, provided you've reported a factual, unbiased story, expressed an honest opinion or supplied important information.

That happened earlier this week, when Angry Man emailed me to complain about an interview we ran on HME News TV with Scooter Store CEO Doug Harrison.

Here's how the email exchange went:

Angry man: Why in the #%#$@&%! would you publicize the Scooter Store on your TV site??? Everywhere I travel, I find HME's are frustrated because they lose scooter sales daily when customers complain, “If you won't bill Medicare we can just go to the Scooter Store to buy one.” Why Medicare has never shut down their operation is beyond me.  The legitimate HME's suffer while Medicare is billed for scooters for ambulatory consumers…What is wrong with this picture?!?

My response: We interview people. That's what we do.

Angry Man: Maybe interview legit HME's who are struggling to compete against the fraud you are supporting.

I understand where this anger comes from. Let's face it: The Scooter Store is a lightening rod. Many smaller independent HME providers feel the behemoth's TV advertising has helped spike power wheelchair utilization and brought the wrath of CMS pouring down on the entire industry in the form of reimbursement cuts and regulatory burdens.

But as for claiming that The Scooter Store engages in fraudulent activity, well, I  have no knowledge of that. If The Scooter Store is breaking any rules, that's up to CMS and other officials to determine—not me or Angry Man.

For the record, our HME News TV interview with Doug Harrison has been viewed nearly 1,000 times, making it by far our most popular video.

Not surprisingly, there's more than a little interest in what the CEO of the industry's largest power wheelchair provider has to say.

I guess that's why I thought it was a good #%#$@&% idea to run it.

— Mike Moran