Page 17 - HME Business, January 2018

A/R items down in-house is cost-prohib- itive, but through outsourcing providers can collect on at least part of the money they’d otherwise leave on the table.
But those are just two aspects of distributed provider operations. During 2018 we can expect providers to examine even more ways to outsource.
should following suit during the months to come.
Mobility Market Growth
The mobility market has seen some interesting changes in recent years, and when Medicare converted standard power to a rental model, many in the
and if they aren’t, they need to start coming up with plans to approach this market while the window of opportunity to gain market share is still open.
Medicare Red Tape Relief Project
Back in July, House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Pat
Revenue Diversification
The Medicare Red Tape Relief Project will hopefully progress to a series of nationwide roundtable meetings during 2018.
Tiberi (R-OH) announced the “Medicare Red
Tape Relief Project,” a far-reaching effort to reduce unnecessary and burdensome regula-
A trend that providers
cannot ignore during
2018 is revenue and busi-
ness diversi cation. Providers must work overtime to expand their revenue sources. As much as competitive bidding might
industry started penning eulogies for the segment, but instead retail power mobility took off. Customers and care- givers are demanding choices — even for big ticket items — and they aren’t hesitating to pay for those items when Medicare refuses to fund power mobility items that elevate their quality of life.
Now, there are mobility providers
that are 100 percent retail. True, those providers represent a minority of the segment, but they are showing that a dedicated retail model is viable. And it could be that they took that leap of faith at exactly the right time.
Why? The market is taking off. According to market research rm Lucintel, the global market for power and manual wheelchairs will hit $6.1 billion by 2022, expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.9 percent from 2017 to 2022, according to a report from.
Lucintel noted that power chairs will see the most signi cant growth during the forecast period, but manual wheel- chairs still comprise the lion’s share
of the overall market. Most notably, North America will remain the largest geographic segment of the wheelchair market due to increasing obesity, avail- ability of more sophisticated wheelchairs, and higher disposable income.
Mobility providers need to be asking themselves how well are they poised to generate retail revenues during 2018,
tion on various healthcare providers and suppliers by cutting Medicare regulations.
This was big news for the HME industry, obviously, and the second that the subcommittee asked for input from all corners of healthcare, the American Association for Homecare and the National Coalition for Assistive and Rehab Technology stated the industry’s case when it comes to Medicare’s regulatory burdens. At that time the industry made a lengthy list of recommendations to both a Ways and Means request for feedback on Medicare red tape, as well as a CMS request for information (RFI). The list included everything from audit reforms
to competitive bidding changes and protections for complex rehab. Moreover, recommendations poured in from all corners of Medicare.
What are the next steps? Having collected that feedback, the subcom- mittee will then collate the response and begin hosing roundtable discussions with various Medicare stakeholders nation- wide. The goal will be to isolate problems and identify solutions. The nal stage will be to start outlining and implementing the solutions to those programs.
We can expect during 2018 that at least the roundtable discussion to occur. It will be critical for industry advocate to monitor those events and participate in that process to ensure the industry is hear. n
be chipping away at reimbursement, the demand is there. So, in addition to driving cash sales to build new revenue, providers must research opportunities such as third-party payer, health plans and facil- ities-based care, such as skilled nursing facilities.
In fact, this is becoming such a priority that even major industry organizations such as the American Association for Homecare are putting a premium on this. For starters, the association has focused like a laser on relations with payers other than Medicare. That approach started with hiring payer relations expert Laura Williard, who is the association’s vice president of payer relations. Since then the association has pursued what it labels a “multi-pronged approach” that has also involved efforts from state associations when it comes to ghting reimbursement cuts from non-Medicare payers.
Also, AAHomecare’s HME/RT Council and the America Association for Respiratory Care have been working to develop new respiratory care models that could possibly drive new business models, as well.
So, if the national associations have placed a such a strategic emphasis on non-Medicare funding, that should be a strong indication to providers that they
Management Solutions | Technology | Products
hme-business.com | January 2018 | HMEBusiness 17