What's Next?

Each fall, Medtrade offers home medical equipment providers and manufacturers alike a time to evaluate business and incorporate new products and services that can enhance profit. But this year, it is uncertain how the current legislative/regulatory environment will impact the trade show, which takes place Oct. 2-4 in Orlando.

Will it be business as usual, or has the implementation of competitive bidding changed the Medtrade scenario for all?

WAITING ON THE WILD CARD

Tom Ryan, president and CEO of Homecare Concepts, Farmingdale, N.Y., believes providers will be seeking creative ways to adapt at this year's event. “Providers in the first round will have to factor in the probable outcome of their bids as we will not know the winning bidders or the price at that time, and that may be a wild card calculation,” he says.

“As we all look at activity costs as well as cost of goods, we have to see how we can improve on what will obviously be deteriorating margins. The challenge will be to look to either decrease the cost of goods and services or look at technology that can decrease some of our activity costs in providing services to our patients.”

Ron Bendell, president of Waterloo, Iowa-based VGM & Associates, says providers will most likely stay the course. “We will not know the results of the first round of bids by October and people have to run their businesses in the meantime — and they have to do it as if they plan to be in business for years and years to come,” he says.

While advising providers to be prepared for changes, he says, “you have to run your business in today's environment. You don't want to put yourself at a disadvantage by not running it properly and not running it to the best of your capabilities.”

Michael Farrell, senior vice president of Poway, Calif.-based ResMed's sleep strategic business unit, thinks it is too early in the process for providers to change their buying plans.

“Winning suppliers for the first 10 MSAs are currently expected to be announced in [February], so I don't think it will directly impact their buying decisions dramatically pre-Medtrade, but it will soon thereafter,” he says.

“I expect many providers will be gathering information to prepare for competitive bidding and will be trialing commercially available options for value-priced equipment for contracts awarded in the MSAs. Some more aggressive HME providers are already buying products in advance, expecting that they will be awarded a contract, and using the products in existing competitive HMO environments.”