Is your HME company one of the industry's best and brightest? Now's the time to find out

It's that time of year again: Time to apply for an HME Excellence Award.

If you have never applied for an HME Excellence Award, you should do so this year. In the competitive HME market (a market that is getting more and more competitive), a company needs every advantage. You need to outshine the competition--you need to differentiate your company--and an HME Excellence Award will help you do that. This award provides third-party validation that your company is doing it right.

If you have an HME Excellence award under your belt and your competitors do not, you've got a legitimate and significant advantage. You can be sure that referral sources will notice.

The HME Excellence Awards seek to identify the nation's premier providers of home medical equipment, home respiratory therapy and rehab supplies. The awards include three categories: Best HME Provider, Best Home Respiratory Provider and Best Rehab Technology Provider. In each category, there is a winner, first runner-up and second runner-up.

The one-page application form is easy to fill out, although finalists will be required to submit additional information.

Judges evaluate company performance in the following categories: financial, community involvement, staffing and quality control.

All company information remains confidential.

As they say, by nominating your company, you've got nothing to lose and everything to gain. That's true if you are a Round 1 bidding winner, loser or a company gearing up for Round 2. These days you need an edge, and that's what an Excellence Award provides.

The deadline for this year's nominations is January 15, 2011.

Mike Moran