Hme Business Podcast

The return of Medtrade West also saw the return of the American Association for Homecare Update, in which HME Business’s David Kopf, as well as the audience, queried the association’s President and CEO Tom Ryan, along with Vice Presidents Jay Witter, Kim Brummett and Laura Williard, on a broad range of topics. For folks who couldn’t make the update, HMEB I circled back with Witter, Brummett and Williard to get the low down on some of the top line items they wanted to make sure providers had on their radar. 

As U.S. healthcare emerges from the COVID-19 PHE, HME providers face five referral sales challenges that they must overcome if they want to succeed in the “new normal.” HME sales expert Ty Bello, CEO of HME sales coaching and consulting firm Team@Work, reviews those challenges and then outlines multiple ways HME providers can tackle each. If you’re looking for concrete sales strategies for the here-and-now reality of today’s referral sales market for HME, listen to this episode. Sponsored by PlayMaker Health.

Brace yourself! COVID-19’s impact on U.S. healthcare might be fading, but not the patient demand. If anything, you can expect increased patient needs and a broadening set of requirements from your referral partners. Are you ready? Founder and CEO of The Compliance Team Sandra Canally, RN, is seeing some serious pent-up demand in the marketplace. Pair that with new services and capabilities that HME providers started offering to contend with the pandemic, and we could see the rise of what Cannally is calling the value-based HME business. What does that mean for you? Listen and find out.

HME businesses have adapted to a considerable number of changes during COVID-19, but what ones will stick around for the long haul? Tim Safley, the program director for the Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC) has been in an interesting position when it comes to helping providers integrate new policies and procedures into their operations and workflows. He talks about the major changes the industry has experienced, such as infection control and telehealth, what ones will last, and what things we probably should have been doing all along. Sponsored by Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC)

When the COVID-19 pandemic, one sector of post-acute care that got hit hard was complex rehab, but there was an silver lining: CMS and other payers relaxed the guidelines around telehealth as a means to carrying out patient evaluations. One company that has been at the fore of that technology is TeleHealth Clinical Evals, and its CEO, Bill Paul, joins the podcast to talk about the importance of telehealth for CRT, the technology and tools involved, the problems they solve, and the benefits telehealth brings to patients and providers alike.

Worried about audits? Maybe you should be. After hitting pause on claims audits during the COVID-19 PHE, CMS surprised everyone last fall by announcing it would resume those audits. Well now CMS has started restarting audits and audit expert Wayne van Halem, president of The van Halem Group, joins the podcast to discuss how CMS’s resumption of TPE, RAC and other audits programs is progressing, as well as what expanding resources at OMHA might mean or HME providers.

One segment of HME that has typified the entire industry’s experience with handling the disease has been sleep therapy. Now that we are in the middle of the vaccine rollout, sleep providers — like all HME providers — are seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. What happens next? Gary Sheehan, MBA, CEO of Spiro Health, who has shared his insights and perspectives during the pandemic, rejoins the podcast to discuss how sleep providers and the entire HME industry can transition into a post-pandemic reality and what that might look like

If providers learned anything from COVID-19, it’s that they need a more robust and professionally aggressive selling process. Ty Bello, CEO of HME sales coaching and consulting firm Team@Work, explains why the new normal for HME sales will be grounded in market data and customer relationship management. He discusses how HME market data has grown will be the driving force helping HME sales teams to grow existing referral sources and open new ways to gain market share. Then, he delves into the power of CRM holds for sales teams and how they can leverage it for success. Sponsored by PlayMaker Health.

When it comes to inventory management and equipment maintenance, HME providers contend with a unique dilemma: they have a considerable amount of inventory overhead, and much of it is out in the field. Simply put, where’s their stuff? And as COVID-19 has driven treatment into the home setting, that challenge the issue has only gotten larger. Industry supplier McKesson’s Biomedical Solutions business offers some clever technology for tackling that challenge, and Dylan Ross, vice president and general manager of McKesson Biomedical Solutions stops by to discuss them.

Various healthcare and market trends have been pushing the digital patient experience toward the home medical equipment industry for a few years, but COVID-19 set that motion on fast-forward. So what is the digital patient experience, why is it important to HME, and how do providers optimize and manage their patients’ digital experience? Nupura Kolwalkar, Chief Product Officer for HME software company Brightree joins the podcast to dive into the topic.

It’s 2021, and it’s time to think about how sales strategy will change for HME this year. Last year brought COVID-19 and with it considerable upheaval when it comes to HME sales, but providers learned several strategic sales lessons and innovated a number of creative solutions to tackle the PHE’s challenges. What lessons can they apply this year, and what changes can they expect? Joining the podcast to talk about those questions and a whole lot more is Ty Bello, CEO of HME sales coaching and consulting firm Team@Work.

It's 2021, and with the New Year comes an accreditation renewal cycle for most DMEPOS providers. What do providers need to be thinking about this year and how should they be preparing? How has COVID-19 altered the accreditation process? What other factors could impact how providers proceed? Accreditation expert Sandra C. Canally, RN, the CEO and founder of accreditation organization The Compliance Team, shares her knowledge on these topics and more.

The New Year is nearly upon us, and 2021 represents another big renewal year for DMEPOS accreditation. Moreover, during these three-year renewal cycles, providers often consider switching up their accreditation organization (AO). What are some the reasons that might make a provider consider switching things up? Is COVID-19 playing a role in that decision? What are the timing issues in play? What should they be asking AOs? Sandra C. Canally, RN, CEO and founder of AO The Compliance Team, shares her insights.

After weeks of radio silence, CMS finally announced Round 2021 and its proposed rule for rural providers. The announcement was shocking: it was only bidding two categories — both over-the-shelf braces — and punting on the 13 remaining categories. That news left the industry feeling somewhat in limbo and wondering what this meant for pricing and the possibility of futures rounds. Tom Ryan, president and CEO of the American Association for Homecare stopped by the HME Business podcast to clarify, share some insights, and chart a path forward.

Sleep therapy is a perfect micro that defines the macro of HME when it comes to COVID-19. Sleep therapy providers have had to ascend a steep learning curve to reshape how they safely and effectively provide products and services. Now that we are seven months into the public health emergency, Gary Sheehan, MBA, CEO of Spiro Health, catches up with the podcast. He discusses sleep care, COVID-19, the lessons sleep providers have learned, and how those lessons might carry them into a post-pandemic future.

Back on March 30, CMS suspended its claims audits for the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. Well, CMS surprised everyone in August by announcing it would resume those audits. Audit expert Wayne van Halem, president of The van Halem Group, discusses how CMS will likely phase back in the DME MAC Targeted Probe and Education, Supplemental Medical Review Contractor (SMRC) reviews and Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) audits. He also outlines how providers should prepare, and tackles additional questions.

Do you have a free five minutes between now and Aug. 31? Then you have time to protect a vulnerable patient group. Don Clayback, executive director of the National Coalition for Assistive and Rehab Technology (NCART), sits down with HMEB to discuss a campaign to convince lawmakers to add their signatures to a House sign-on letter urging CMS to not apply competitive bidding-derived pricing to accessories for manual complex rehab wheelchairs. 

Tom Ryan, president and CEO of the American Association for Homecare, stops by to discuss two key items: First, he shines a spotlight on the association’s Ambassador Program, a unique effort by high-profile industry stakeholders to get more HME providers involved in the association. Second, he discusses the current effort to get HME stakeholders to help convince lawmakers to sign a House sign-on letter calling on CMS to delay Round 2021 of competitive bidding. The deadline is July 29.

Consumer financing is becoming commonplace in post-acute care, and that includes HME. In fact, with retail sales playing such a pivotal role in provider revenues, accommodating credit is downright essential. However, there are still providers who are unclear on healthcare-specific financing for HME. What do providers need to know to support healthcare credit cards — and reap the benefits? Randy Baldwin and Claude Royster of healthcare credit card company CareCredit share their expertise.

Providers and vendors have deployed a lot of smart care tools and solutions during COVID-19. What happens after the crisis passes? Arturo Garcia, senior product manager of connected solutions for sleep therapy equipment maker ResMed, joins the podcast to look at how sleep therapy providers are leveraging virtual and digital solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how those new protocols and care methods will improve sleep therapy in the post-pandemic future.