HME Business, April 2017

What’s Inside:
Respiratory Claims Audits . . . . . . . . 22 News, Trends & Analysis . . . . . . . . . . 8
RenewingAccreditation ........... 14 Product Solutions: Diabetes . . . . . . . 25 TheLatestHMEInventory.......... 26 HME’sNextBigCategory? ......... 30
Rethinking
Aging in
Place
Providers need to think bigger when serving this market.
Special Supplement Inside
Helping pharmacy owners and operators expand their DME businesses.
A S P E C I A LF RP OU MB L I C A T I O N
A p r i l 2 0 1 7
Pharmacies’ retail revenue can take flight through orthopedic softgoods.
hme-business.com
Branching Out
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1
3/21/17 7:59 AM
A Fresh Look at
This Category
Could Create
New Business
What is aging in place?
If you go by the definition that first springs to mind, “aging in place” usually means home access equip- ment, upgrades and remodels. It’s
a world full of widened doorways, complex product installations, measuring tapes, building codes, and contractor’s licenses. But is that really what aging in place means? It’s time to view this product and service category from a new perspective.
Why? Because patient demo- graphics demand it. The HHS Administration on Aging projects
that by 2030, there will be about
71.5 million Americans aged 65 years or older. The majority of those people want to live in their homes safely
and independently.
The products and services that will
help those seniors accomplish that goal are not limited to stair lifts and threshold ramps. There are all sorts
of existing DME categories that help seniors live in their homes — and that is exactly how HME businesses should be approaching the aging in place market, which many of them already serve via products that help seniors remain independent, healthy and safe.
Read this month’s cover story to see how an “out of the box” approach to aging in place could lead to
new opportunities.
Aging in Place
Product Categories . . . Page 16
April 2017 Volume 24, Number 4 hme-business.com