Rebundling your offerings, wearing suits and moving the needle

I've had great conference calls this week with the moderators and panelists for the three panel discussions at this year's HME News Business Summit.

(Shameless plug: It's less than two months away, by the way, so register today!)

The topics of the panel discussions are partnership opportunities among healthcare providers, strategic planning and outside investment in HME.

I get really amped up for the Summit after these calls. Hearing the panelists chime in on what they plan to talk about during the discussions reaffirms a number of things for me…the topic, the panelists (there are some super smart people in this industry), and the impact that the discussion will have on attendees.

Below are a few gems from this week's calls to give you a taste of what'll you'll hear.

On partnerships with acute-care providers in a Affordable Care Act (ACA) world:

“It's rebundling what you already have. It's monitoring patients post-hospital stay. It's staying more in touch, not for all patients, but for the section that's most at risk. It's sales 101. They have a need and you're taking what you already have and changing the prism.”

On not playing your part:

“The industry, as a whole, needs to move away from providing products to providing solutions. That's why we're viewed as vendors instead of post-acute care providers. It's why you put on a suit, not jeans, when you go on a sales call. We need to change our image.”

On strategic planning:

“The biggest thing is explaining the monitoring process. Too many people think it's academic and conceptual, which keeps them on the sidelines. What needle are you trying to move and how are you going to monitor whether or not it's moving in the right direction?”

Among the questions we'll be asking the panelists for the discussion on outside investment in HME:

How did the current regulatory environment—namely competitive bidding and audits—factor in to your decision to invest in the HME market? What is your firm's strategy for dealing with these regulatory headwinds? What do you look for in a company? What financial benchmarks do you focus on? How are you trying to create value in the market? How do you see the HME market fitting into the greater healthcare market going forward?

You're not going to want to miss this stuff.