“Be careful what you wish for, it might just come true.” … We’ve all heard that warning from time to time. With the holiday season here and lots of gifts being exchanged, we asked four DMEs what industry “presents” they would like to open if opening those gifts contained wishes that would come true in 2018. Here are the gifts at the top of their lists.

“I would love to open a gift that contains the future of the industry as it will be in 125 years. I would love to open a gift where providers are more forward thinking. The industry is full of great opportunities, even in the volatile environment that currently exists. I believe the provider community has the ability to control the outcome of our future if we can embrace effective change. A more obvious response would be the gift that contains my notice that the “Competitive Bid” program is terminated and we will go back to the 2015 Medicare fee schedules.”

~ LISA WELLS  |  Director of Compliance, Med-South, Inc.  •  Birmingham, AL

“I would like to open up presents that help us grow e-commerce in 2018 and also find a new location with a show room for displaying our retail products such as wheelchairs and mobility products. I would also like to see more friendly insurances from Medicare and the like, many are not friendly to DMEs. Baby boomers are not as savvy on e-commerce as is the younger generation. We need to shine on customer service and we need to let people know better that we do repairs and rentals. One of my biggest wishes for 2018 is that the economy stays strong and that we grow with it.”

~ TIM FREDERICK  |  Manager of E-Commerce and Retail, Midwest DME Supply  •  Farmington Hills, MI

“One of the top presents I would like to open would be simplification of the billing codes. They take a lot of legwork to follow and we get declined over and over for small mistakes from code books we have to wade through that can be 700 or 800 pages in length. For a small company to have to deal with quarterly modifications to the billing codes is very difficult. We also need to get paid faster by Medicare. Faster payments would be a very nice gift.”

~ MIAL SAMSOONNDER  |  Complete Home Healthcare  •  Baltimore, MD

“I would like to open a love note from Medicare stating that competitive bidding is obsolete. Regardless of location and demographics, the majority of our home health care patients are on very limited incomes and many are without social security benefits. The price for medical equipment should be consistent across the board. Another nice gift would be simplification of the audit process. We have to resubmit claims and ask for reconsideration way too often. It’s a wasteful process.”

~ KIM SHERMAN  |  Pulmonary Associates  •  Romney, WV

Happy Holidays & Best Wishes for a Happy and Prosperous 2018!

from everyone at Home HealthCare Today