Getting down to the business of running a business

I've been talking to a lot of HME providers in the past few weeks about our HME News Business Summit. In a nutshell, I've been asking them: What do you want to know more about?

One provider summed it up pretty succinctly this way:

1.) What are new sources of revenue (mainly new sources of revenue that have nothing to do with the product categories included in competitive bidding)?

2.) How can I improve efficiency (win or lose in competitive bidding, you're going to have to make due with significantly less reimbursement)?

3.) What are some strategies for managing growth (as Kyle Miko at VirtuOx told me recently of a series of steep cuts to Medicare reimbursement for overnight oximetry: "The first thing we did was to grow through it.")?

Notice that, while it may be the driving force behind this list, competitive bidding isn't, technically, on the list.

I like that.

Granted, it has a little something to do with timing. When the Summit takes place Sept. 18-20 in Pittsburgh, providers in Round 2 will have submitted their bids, and they'll all be waiting for CMS to announce the single payment amounts and to begin the contracting process.

In other words, they'll all be in limbo land.

So, meanwhile, at the Summit, we'll be getting down to the business of running a business. That's always been our MO, whether the industry is facing inherent reasonableness (remember that?), competitive bidding or the next short-sighted and ill-designed savings scheme.

I'm still in the beginning stages of programming the Summit, but I'm keeping this provider's list in the back of mind. I'm happy to report that the sessions that I do have set meet one or more of the items on the list.

More to come.

Liz Beaulieu