Features
The Home Care Evolution
When one looks over the past 25 years in the home care industry, moderation isn't exactly a word that springs to mind.
Extreme is probably a better word choice, because, excluding our current decade, the home care industry has been all about extremes.
Take the extreme autonomy the industry enjoyed during the 1970s, for example. There was little government oversight, and profits, revenues and reimbursements for home care were large. Providers were left alone, for the most part, to run their own businesses the way they wanted.
Spilling over into the '80s, this autonomy began to shift toward another extreme — government oversight — which came to a head in 1997, when Congress passed the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 and cut reimbursements significantly.
And what about the extreme consolidation of the 1990s? The copious mergers and acquisitions that took place from 1985 through 1996 resembled a white-collar feeding frenzy, as providers and manufacturers alike gobbled up different companies and competitors.
Another trend involved only a handful of unscrupulous providers, but it would be negligent not to mention the extreme amount of fraud and abuse that has blackened the eye of the home care industry.
But don't take HomeCare's word for it, flip through the next 29 pages and see the home care industry's roller-coaster ride.
From a 1979 Hallmark orthopedic specialties ad for the H-118 halter kit.
1996 Pride enters the power chair market with the Jazzy.
October 1987 As the Aids epidemic grows, so do home care provider concerns about treating the disease.
April 1995 Jeremy Jones and Timothy Aitken merged home care powerhouses Homedco and Abbey Medical, forming Apria Healthcare Group, one of the biggest mergers in industry history.
October 2002 Today, as always, the HME industry faces tough choices and legislation that could change the course of home care.
The first president of NAMES in 1982, Redman started his career at the bottom, and worked his way up. After being fired as a sales manager from an independent oxygen manufacturing company, he bought Arizona Medical Supply, despite having little money of his own.
He spent the first six months sleeping on a hospital bed in the back room. In 1982, AMS was one of the largest independents in the country.
1979 The diaphragm compressor, by John Bunn, featured a 1/8-hp motor that delivered 0.25 cfm at 50 psi continuously.
Early 1980s the Pulmo-Aide, by DeVilbiss, weighed 6.5 pounds.
