Hme Business Podcast

New York respiratory, sleep and HME provider Hampton Homecare Inc. has found itself at ground zero of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as its director of operations, Joe Candiano has overseen the company’s response to the public health emergency in terms of deliveries, equipment-handling, patient set-up, telehealth, staffing and other aspects of the business. Joe talks about the measures his business has taken, the sacrifices his team has made, and the lasting industry-wide changes he thinks will result from COVID-19.

Sponsored by McKesson, our special COVID-19 coverage continues with a deep dive into the many regulatory changes at the Federal and state level — as well as with private payer insurance — to help HME providers continue serving patients during the pandemic. The American Association for Homecare’s Kim Brummett, regulatory affairs VP, and Laura Williard, payer relations VP, join the podcast to discuss the $30 billion relief fund, relaxed funding requirements, telehealth guidelines, the pause on audits and more.

In this special episode, accreditation expert Sandra Canally, RN, founder and CEO of The Compliance Team, joins the podcast to provide a mountain of specific, how-to information on how HME providers can implement processes and procedures that will help protect their patients and staff, while continuing to provide care and services. She reviews practices HME businesses should implement at the storefront, in the warehouse, and out in the field. Be sure to keep a pen and notepad handy, because Sandy shares a ton of practical information.

Sponsored by PlayMaker Health — An in-depth effort to interview more than 20 HME providers of varying types and business models has uncovered common responses to COVID-19 being implemented across the industry. Ty Bello, president of HME sales and management consulting firm Team @Work, joins the HMEB Podcast to discuss his qualitative survey, which covered COVID-19 protocols for all aspects of HME: sales; engaging with patients at the business and in the home; telehealth; deliveries; working with referral providers; and operations. This is a must-listen episode for all providers wishing to adopt COVID-19 best practices learned by other HME businesses, as well as gauge the effectiveness of their initial efforts.

One group of HME providers having to face COVID-19 head on are oxygen providers. The patients they serve are some of the most vulnerable to the disease. Josh Parnes, president of national provider AdaptHealth, which provides a full suite of HME supplies and services, including in-home and portable Oxygen, ventilation and CPAP and BIPAP, outlines the various steps his business has taken to protect both patients and staff during the pandemic. He also explains why providers must convince Congress and CMS to protect patient access to oxygen equipment during COVID-19.

As with all other facets of U.S. healthcare, the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the HME industry in a big way. Gary Sheehan, MBA, president and CEO of Cape Medical Supply, explains in detail how his business prepared in terms of staff protection, patient care, teleworking, and operations. Moreover, he discusses why the preparations providers are making right now aren’t just to keep their businesses running, but because they are on the front lines of a broad, national healthcare response to the disease.

As HME providers in the western states prepare for the March 3-5 Medtrade Spring in Las Vegas, the American Association for Homecare is taking its regular AAHomecare Update, running March 4 from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., in a new direction with a new format and increased audience interaction. AAHomecare President and CEO Tom Ryan explains why AAHomecare decided to change things up and offers a peek at what’s in store.

Providers have felt the retail imperative for years, and some have even transitioned to – or began as – entirely retail businesses. But it’s not a slam dunk; there are some key things to do and assets to put in place. Faisal “RJ” Poonawala joins the podcast to talk about how his business, Spring Branch Medical Supply in Houston, Texas, made the switch to retail, the lessons he’s learned, and the initiatives he’s undertaking to not only succeed, but expand as well.

Respiratory care is learning that there is a wide variety of patients that need help with clearing their upper respiratory system so that they can achieve better alveolar ventilation. Enter nasal high-flow therapy, which began in the hospital setting, but is now entering the home setting thanks to new HME innovations. James Gibbons of Fisher & Paykel Healthcare discusses how providers can offer new care solutions and drive increased revenue in the process.

Staffing presents a tricky challenge for HME providers these days: Human resources are expensive, and in a competitive marketplace with winnowing reimbursement, they need to avoid wasting their team members’ talents on billing busywork. Outsourcing is one option, but a new company, Tactical Back Office, offers a unique solution that lets providers tap into lower-cost labor markets. Co-founder Todd Usher swings by the HMEB podcast to tell us more.

Annual HME conference and expo Medtrade Spring returns to the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas on March 3-5, and Show Director Mark Lind joins the HME Business Podcast to highlight some of the event's don’t-miss conference sessions and expo showcases. There are some familiar favorites and some new twists at the event for HME providers in the West, so if you’re thinking of going, it’s worth a listen.

The industry is working on attaching language from some key industry bills to a spending bill that must pass before Dec. 20. However, the bills need more co-sponsors, and that’s where help from providers is urgently needed. Tom Ryan, the president and CEO of the American Association for Homecare, discusses the key bills in play and how HMEs can help get co-sponsors. This is a key opportunity to lobby on behalf of your business, but there’s a tight deadline, so listen and act fast.

Back in 2013, when HME providers were making tentative steps into retail sales, Wayne Slavitt decided to go all-in with his retail-only mobility and home medical equipment store Mobül: The Mobility Store in Long Beach, Calif. Since then, as founder and CEO, Slavitt has continued to sharpen his retail sales game. In this episode, Wayne sits down with HMEB to discuss various retail insights he’s learned, including having compelling combination of service-oriented sales; creating a product mix that appeals to all walks of consumers; and a store that emphasizes interaction and compassion.

This is the final installment of three special, post-Medtrade episodes. Kim Brummett, vice president of regulatory affairs for the American Association for Homecare, sheds some light on a proposed rule by HHS to loosen the regulatory prohibitions against physician self-referrals when it comes to DME. Brummett talks about what this could mean for providers and how the industry is approaching the issue. While the situation is still coming it to focus, it is already concerning.

This is the second of three special, post-Medtrade episodes. Third-party administrators (TPAs) are increasingly getting involved in Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) and often run right past protections for providers. Furthermore there have been some business developments in the MCO-TPA world that are compounding this problem. Laura Williard VP of payer relations for AAHomecare, provides all the details on the situation; sheds light on what’s being done to combat this problem; and outlines what providers should do to protect their businesses. 

This is the first of three special, post-Medtrade episodes. As many providers know, CMS has added non-invasive ventilators to Round 2021 of competitive bidding. Jay Witter, senior vice president of public policy for AAHomecare, discusses the work done thus far to convince CMS to reverse its worrying course of action, as well as CMS's lack of a viable response, which has culminated in a pending legislative fix. What should you know, and how can you protect this benefit and the patients that need it?

Just in time for the Halloween season, we break some SCARY audit news: The HHS Office of Inspector General has expanded its audit workplan to include PAP supplies — again. Sleep equipment providers might recall that HHS OIG clamped down on claims for replacement PAP supplies in June 2018 after reporting that it had made overpayments of almost $631.3 million at that time. Now HHS is at it again, and sleep providers risk having their claims subjected to six-year lookback audits and expensive recoupments. We talk to audit expert Wayne van Halem to learn what sleep providers need to know and what they should be doing right now.

Did you know home oxygen fires kill one home oxygen patient every four days in the United States? Do you know what HME providers can do to help mitigate the issue? In this special edition of the HME Business podcast, Richard Radford, managing director of BPR Medical Gas Control, joins the podcast to discuss a new study his company produced that examines the incidence of home oxygen fires in the United States and how to mitigate the risk of them. The data might surprise you. Sponsored by BPR Medical.

In this special edition of the HME Business podcast, Executive Editor David Kopf interviews Sunil Krishnan and Fadi Haddad of HME and post-acute software company Brightree to take a deep dive into Revenue Cycle Management (RCM). They discuss what RCM is, how RCM can help HME providers better manage their businesses, how they can shape performance metrics around their RCM, and how they measure and analyze their performance to improve efficiencies and profitability. Sponsored by Brightree, this is one episode that providers with an eye on strategic business management won’t want to miss.

Jeffrey Baird, Esq., chairman of the Health Care Group at industry law firm Brown & Fortunato, P.C., discusses Medicare and Medicaid managed care opportunities, and how his Sept. 5 webinar, Managing the Managed Care Opportunity (hme-business.com/webcasts), will help providers negotiate managed care contracts. Then, Jim Worrell, chief commercial officer at Quality Biomedical, discusses the complicated challenge faced by providers when it comes to managing their “fleet” of equipment and how the Q-Connect equipment management platform can help them.