HME Business, May/June 2020

PANDEMIC
A Moment of Truth for HME That Will Likely Shape its Future
Last December,
Americans began hearing the news about COVID-19 as an outbreak spread in Wuhan, China. By Jan. 30, the World Health Organization declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and on March 11 WHO of- ficially declared a pandemic. The first case in the United States was identified on Jan. 20, and on Jan. 31, the Trump Administration declared a Public Health Emergency. By Feb. 29, the first U.S. COVID-19 fatality was reported.
By that time, many HME providers were working on their response to the disease. They had to protect staff and patients from COVID-19 and while working work with hospitals and physicians’ offices that were already limiting staff contact. Whole new workflows had to be devised.
Providers implemented work-from- home for staff; started using tele- health for working with patients; rolled out new ways to safely handle deliv- eries and equipment setups; and even started conducting referral sales electronically. Meanwhile, industry advocates secured billions of dollars in relief for the industry and worked with CMS to obtain relaxed regulatory and reimbursement guidelines to make it easier for HMEs to operate during the public health emergency. Now, the question is, how will this pandemic impact HME’s future?
COVID-19’s Ongoing
Impact on HME . . . . . . Page 6
HME providers respond to the COVID-19 crisis
Annual HME Handbook Inside
What’s Inside:
Annual HME Handbook . . . . . . . . . 10 Compression Product Solutions . . . . 27 HME Inventory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
The Telehealth Imperative . . . . . . . . . 4 LearningFromaBadExample....... 5 ATippingPointforHME ........... 31
May/June 2020 Volume 27, Number 4 hme-business.com