Blogs

It’s a tradition for me to use my editorial in the upcoming January issue to discuss the most read stories in the HME industry for the previous year.  Here is what the list looks like for 2024:  ResMed on mask recall, big tech and demand gen  Oxygen bill introduced in House  Catheter proposal is huge step forward  Owens & Minor to buy Rotech  Philips exit: ‘Nothing fazes us anymore’  Change Healthcare outage has scary impact on HME industry  Providers:...

One of the last things we do with every issue is hammer out a cartoon idea. Sometimes this is fun and easy; other times, it’s a slog that we have to sleep on. This was one of those months where it was the latter. Since we’re working on the January issue and getting ready to put this whole wacky year (in HME, in politics, in life) to bed, I half-seriously suggested a big peace sign, no other messaging. You see, I’m feeling in need of a fresh start and a fresh outlook as...

Artificial intelligence were two words often mentioned at the recent HME News Business Summit. At one point, Dexter Braff, founder and president of The Braff Group, who moderated a panel of investors and bankers, even said: “It’s a rule of this conference that I have to mention AI at least once.” (Insert laughs and eyerolls.) While borderline annoying, AI being a hot topic at the Summit is not surprising. I don’t think you can go to a health care conference today...

“You have mild sleep apnea.” Wait, what?!  After several months of appointment scheduling, first with my primary care physician who, to her credit, took my sleep concerns very seriously, and then with the sleep doc (sleep doctors are a busy lot!) and then a home sleep study (thank you, WatchPAT), the verdict was in.  You see, I wake up several times a night, exacerbated by an inability to then fall back asleep. I am, in other words, tired.   However, as a...

As we were barreling toward yet another writing deadline in early September, I messaged Editor Liz to say: “It's funny, I usually pawn off new location" stories on (Contributing Writer) Tracy, but I have enjoyed the three interviews in a row I did for October, all with companies we haven't talked to before.”  I always enjoy talking to providers, but I tend to direct these more focused stories to Tracy because they are easier (and, frankly, a little more fun) to write....

In the time we reported on the November issue (roughly three weeks), not one but two major hurricanes hit the Southeast. Both made landfall in Florida, but one, Hurricane Helene also had an impact as far north as Tennessee and western North Carolina. After Hurricane Helene, provider Brian Wilson told us his delivery techs described the Asheville, N.C., area like this: “It’s like an atomic bomb went off.” When storms like these strike, HME providers are particularly impacted. The...

Just as we were putting the final touches on the October issue, Apple announced that its new smartwatch would include a sleep apnea feature.  We were expecting this. Earlier this year, Samsung Electronics announced that the sleep apnea feature on the Samsung Health Monitor app had received de novo authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and everyone expected that Apple and Google were not far behind.  Following Samsung’s announcement, a consistent topic of...

HME stakeholders have been fighting Medicare Advantage for some time, particularly when it comes to these plans not following Medicare policy and coverage for complex rehab technology and non-invasive ventilators, two product categories for patients with the greatest needs.  At the Heartland Conference in June, there was even a panel discussion titled “Dealing with Medicare DISadvantage Plans - Are You Ready, Martha?” Stakeholders continue to take it up a notch.  AAHomecare...

Recently, I talked to a sleep medicine specialist about the possibilities of AI-enabled technology for that patient population; the next I was talking to a diabetes company about the AI-enabled technology for those patients.  I can’t open my inbox without multiple daily pitches on the latest AI technology. It’s all very heady stuff for this writer who, until recently, found my eyes glazing over every time I heard the word algorithm.   But, the more people use it,...

I had a conversation recently with someone who has been in the HME industry for quite some time – as a vendor and as a provider – and he said something to the effect of: The industry needs to give up on reimbursement getting better and lean into technology to make what little reimbursement there is more profitable.  That’s not a hard line I would draw – and, of course, neither would AAHomecare and other industry stakeholders.  In fact, stakeholders headed to Capitol...