Additionally, due to competitive bidding and home sleep testing, Farrell says, “the game is clearly changing, and we and our customers need to upgrade our products and services and find efficiencies in our supply chain.

“However, with 35 million patients needing our attention, as sleep-disordered breathing providers, we are only in the first mile or so of a marathon race,” he adds.

Cressler advises providers to evaluate the market for treating patients with SDB and to determine which course is best for their companies. He cautions, though, that there is no magic formula.

“Do what you feel like doing, but regardless of what industry you're in, there is no pot of gold,” he says. “You have to work for it, you have to strategically plan it out and then you have to try different things. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work; and if it works, it works.”

Taking a Closer Look at Oxygen Delivery

As operating costs continue to increase, especially with gas over $4 a gallon and going up, reducing delivery expenses is essential for home oxygen providers.

Patrick Clevidence, vice president of respiratory services for Cleveland-based Medical Service Company, says using outside-of-the-industry technology has been effective.

“We have 30 medical equipment technicians that make deliveries every day to our customers. We use GPS and other tracking software to ensure they are efficient in every way possible,” Clevidence says. “This has resulted in reduced overtime and fewer miles driven, impacting our fuel expenses, which today are 98 cents higher than this same time last year.”

The fact is the nation's skyrocketing fuel prices are wreaking havoc on the cost of providing home respiratory care. So, it is crucial that providers are able to determine the cost of deliveries and figure out alternate means of servicing patients.

Ron Richard, vice president of marketing and sales for SeQual Technologies, San Diego, offers this scenario: If a company uses a cargo van that runs on diesel fuel, it is paying over $5 a gallon, and the van probably gets about 10 to 12 miles per gallon. If it is 20 miles round trip, the company has already spent $7 or $8 just for that one particular patient in gasoline costs.

In the past, this delivery would have cost $50. Now, it has gone up 12 percent to $58.

“You have to look at your controlled costs versus your uncontrolled costs because they are getting a bit lopsided fairly quickly,” Richard says. “You need to reduce the number of stops or visits you make in the patient's home per month or you have to give them more equipment.

“The other way to offset that is to give them self-generating oxygen systems.”

“Reducing operating costs is critical,” agrees Gretchen Jezerc, director of U.S. marketing for sleep-disordered breathing, Respironics, Murrysville, Pa.

But she notes providers can't stop there.

“The other thing beyond providers reducing their costs is looking at ways they can grow non-Medicare revenue, especially if they didn't win an oxygen bid,” she says. “Looking specifically at oxygen, providers can look at things like managed care, hospice and, potentially, VA business. There are retail opportunities as well.”