Page 22 - HME Business, January/February 2022

Business Solutions
15TH ANNUAL
BIG 10
Once again, we profile 10 trends that will shape the HME industry this year. The far-reaching impact of Covid-19 is undeniable, but it’s not the only factor that will define 2022.
By David Kopf Image © DamienGeso/depositphotos.com
For the past 15 years, HME Business has used its January issue to summarize 10 trends that we believe will not only impact that year, but pretty much define the year for HME providers.
For 2022, it’s no surprise that many of the trends we’ve identified can be traced back to the Covid-19 pandemic. Like the virus itself, the public health emergency is far-reaching and finds its way into just about every corner of healthcare as a whole. That said, there are other issues that have nothing to do with the public health emer- gency, but will also shape HME’s 2022.
So, with no further introduction neces- sary, let’s take a closer look at 2022’s Big 10:
1. THE ONGOING PANDEMIC
The root cause of most of the industry’s challenges is, of course, the Covid-19 pan- demic and ongoing public health emergen- cy. So, what will this mean for 2022? We
might be hitting a turning point in terms of the disease’s severity.
Two years ago, on Jan. 20, 2020, the CDC recorded the first U.S. diagnosis. Since that time, the United States has expe- rienced more than 75 million Covid-19 cases and more than 890,000 deaths (as of press time). However, the Omicron variant doesn’t appear to be as deadly as previous variants. The data is still being crunched, but early report summaries are generally agreeing that while the Omicron diagnosis spike was roughly twice as large as last fall’s Delta variant spike, the rate for mortality and severe cases was substantially lower.
And with omicron accounting for nearly every Covid case sequenced by the CDC (it hit 95 percent for the weekend ended New Year’s Day, according to the CDC), it’s likely omicron will be the dominant variant for at least the majority of 2022.
That said, the patient volumes are still low. While the omicron spike is less than half what it was at its peak, as of press time,
the CDC’s seven-day moving average of daily new cases was at 596,860. While that figure is expected to continue to decline, it’s clear Covid will be a fact of life for the industry and healthcare as a whole during 2022. While the severity might not be as immediate of a concern as with previous variants, all the infection control and related operational measures will still be in place given the patient groups the industry supports.
2. TELEHEALTH AND REMOTE CARE
Even in the early days of the pandemic, building the business case for supporting telehealth received a lot of pushback in HME — it costs money and providers don’t get reimbursed for it. Since then, well ... things have changed.
To begin with, we saw CMS waive any limitations on the types of clinical practi- tioners that can furnish Medicare telehealth services. Now CMS’s telehealth list includes both two key clinical partners/staff for HME
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