Feierstein: 'For true health, it's sleep'

After more than a dozen years serving the CPAP and resupply market, Lisa Feierstein has sold that part of her business along with her IntegraSleep sleep lab business. Although she now plans to focus on other segments of HME, Feierstein, president of the Raleigh, N.C.-based Active Healthcare, says she will always stay up-to-date on all things sleep. Here's why.
HME News: You've built a solid reputation for providing sleep services, but Active Healthcare now you are refocusing on diabetes ad asthma management?
Lisa Feierstein: We've been in and out of numerous parts of the DME business for years. We have done walkers, wheelchairs, beds. We focus on areas where I could see that we are able to differentiate ourselves and move away from the pack. That's what an entrepreneur does: They look, they do it, they learn from it, and they move on.
HME: What have you seen in terms of innovation in the diabetes and asthma markets?
Feierstein: In diabetes, it's really the use of the CGM—and it's use in so many applications—that's going to transform the lives of diabetics. That's big. Also Google has their eye on diabetes as well. They are trying to come up with a consumer-priced product. In asthma, it's really looking at working with the system to understand how do we give value-based care.
HME: Value-based care is a big watchword in health care these days.
Feierstein: In the HME world, we are all charting those waters together so we are looking at, what does value-based care mean? What does that mean for my business? But my eyes are wide open.
HME: Even though you won't be doing sleep professionally, will you still follow sleep health news?
Feierstein: I really feel, and will continue to say, for true health, I really do believe it is exercise, nutrition and sleep. It's fascinating, and it has such a personal and family effect.