Editor's Note

Hey, is This Thing on?

We've launched a new service and I'm pretty excited about it. Let me tell you more.

• By David Kopf
• May 01, 2019

I try to keep the promotion to a minimum in my Editor’s Note columns, but back at the end of January, the HME Business team launched a new service and I’m pretty proud of it. You know how people “kid brag” on social media? Well, this is the magazine nerd equivalent. So what am I so excited about? We launched a podcast.

We’re in our 26th year and we’ve seen a lot of change in recent years: In 2008, we re-launched the magazine as HME Business. In the same year we started the HME-Business.com site and our e-Source e-newsletter. In 2009, we launched our social media presence with @hmebusiness on Twitter and Facebook. In 2011, we launched our webinar series for the industry. In 2016, we launched our special publication DME Pharmacy, and our Live from Medtrade social media service.

And now, here in 2019, we have the HME Business Podcast. We’re just a few months into running the service, and so far we’ve put together some solid episodes:

In the pilot episode, I took a deep look into a reader survey we had just conducted, and then I interviewed Ty Bello, president and founder of Team@Work coaching about the state of strategic sales planning in today’s industry, and some of the things providers need to change in that regard.

In episode 002, industry leaders Tom Ryan, the president and CEO of the American Association for Homecare, and Don Clayback, the Executive Director of the National Coalition for Assistive and Rehab Technology, both outlined their organizations’ legislative and regulatory agendas for HME and complex rehab, respectively.

In episode 003, Jeffrey S. Baird, Esq., the chairman of the Health Care Group at law firm Brown & Fortunato P.C., discussed managed care contracts — as well as a series of articles he’d written for HMEB on the topic. Also, Nikki Jensen, vice president of Essentially Women, chatted about opportunities in women’s health.

In episode 004, Nikki Jensen returned to discuss The Breast Cancer Patient Equity Act; why Medicare needs to fund custom breast prostheses; the #LetHerDecide awareness and advocacy campaign. Then Wayne van Halem, president and founder of The van Halem Group gave listeners the low-down on six-year lookback audits and what providers need to know about them.

Episode 005 was a special edition in which Sandra Canally, RN, founder and CEO of accreditation organization The Compliance Team, discussed where accreditation has been; where it is going with trends such as the bid gap; the emergence of specialized accreditation; and how these services are helping providers sharpen their edge while improving outcomes for patients and referrals.

In episode 006, industry legislative expert Cara Bachenheimer of industry law firm Brown & Fortunato and General Counsel to the AAHomecare, offered key details on Round 2021; how providers should prepare; and a new educational site to help them. Also, Tom Ryan and Don Clayback returned to discuss their organizations’ upcoming legislative events.

Episode 007 was a special edition of the podcast in which Morgan Dopplick, director of Connect operations for Brightree, and Margaret Lindskog, director of operations for ReSupply at Brightree, discussed what providers need for a cohesive resupply program and highlighted how providers can expand their resupply to include incontinence, diabetic, and enteral nutrition.

This is rock-solid, deep-dive content that we don’t have room in the print magazine to run, but podcasts offer a perfect venue in which to absorb that kind of information, so I hope you’ll give it a listen. The HME Business Podcast is available to all podcast listeners via the major podcast platforms, such as Apple’s iTunes, Stitcher and Google Play. Make sure to subscribe and make it a part of your podcast listening habits. And if you don’t yet listen to podcasts, then add a podcast app to your phone and subscribe — I’m sure the HME Business Podcast will make you a convert.

This article originally appeared in the May 2019 issue of HME Business.