2024 HME HANDBOOK
Greater Expectations
We live in a consumer-centric world, and consumers’ expectations for customer service and business interactions have surely never been higher. Those expectations apply to their dealings not just with Instagram-worthy restaurants or vacation spots, but also to their relationships with healthcare professionals … including home medical equipment providers.
That was the recurring theme as we talked with subjectmatter experts for our annual HME Business Handbook.
For example, consumers are no longer accustomed to waiting weeks for deliveries. Thanks to mail-order retailers, big-box stores and grocery chains, consumers are used to placing an order and receiving their merchandise the next day or even the same day.
Thanks to a combination of apps, chatbots, automated systems, and, yes, human beings on the phone, consumers are accustomed to contacting and interacting with many businesses 24 hours a day via a method of their choice: phone call, text, email.
Consumers expect the businesses they interact with to have staff who are subject-matter experts. They expect employees to be educated about products and processes. As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more a part of everyday life, consumers no doubt expect businesses to use AI to improve their efficiency and accuracy, as well.
And when consumers are disappointed — when, rightly or wrongly, they believe they were mistreated by a business — they use more than just word of mouth to vent their feelings. The internet is full of examples of businesses that have been “canceled” by a social media post that became an avalanche.
These challenges might seem insurmountable to an HME supplier who — in an environment of rising costs, stagnant or falling reimbursement, and labor shortages — is struggling to meet these stratospheric consumer expectations.
And that’s where our Handbook comes in. Each story in this edition includes an interview from an industry expert on issues ranging from using technology to improve patient compliance and adherence, to fighting back against labor shortages, to standing out from your competition.
While the expectations for HME suppliers have never been greater, consumers’ need for your expertise, your technology and your support is also sky-high. Here’s to the many opportunities you’ll have to improve people’s lives and the lives of their families. HMEB
Laurie Watanabe, Editor lwatanabe@wtwhmedia.com @CRTeditor
June/July 2024
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A group of bipartisan lawmakers have reintroduced legislation seeking to improve the prior-authorization process within Medicare Advantage (MA).
Broadly, MA plans often require certain health-care services or supplies to be approved before delivery to Medicare beneficiaries. While the concept is meant to avoid unnecessary health-care costs, it frequently presents a paperwork challenge to providers and suppliers, including those in the home medical equipment (HME) space.
Prior authorization can pose even bigger problems for patients, too, when plans deny necessary and potentially crucial services.
The Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act hopes to eliminate some of the prior-authorization challenges that currently exist.
Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and John Thune (R-S.D.) backed the bill in the Senate, with U.S. Reps. Mike Kelly (R-Penn.), Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.) and Ami Bera (D-Calif.) going to bat for the policy in the House.
“Right now, too many older Americans enrolled in Medicare Advantage are forced to deal with unnecessary delays when seeking out [care],” Sen. Brown said in a statement. “We need to update the Medi-
care Advantage program so it works better, faster, and is more transparent for patients and providers.”
The bipartisan, bicameral legislation specifically seeks to create an electronic prior authorization (e-PA) system to streamline approvals, which would, in turn, reduce reliance on outdated methods such as faxes and phone calls.
The legislation also mandates specific timeframes for prior-authorization decisions to expedite care delivery.
“By passing the bipartisan, bicameral Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act, we can make it much easier for seniors to receive the care they’re entitled to while also alleviating unnecessary burdens on physicians and hospitals,” DelBene said in a press release.
More than 370 national and state organizations have voiced their support for the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act.
For context, MA plans made about 37.5 million prior-authorization determinations in 2021, which is about 1.5 determinations per enrollee, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). HMEB — Robert Holly
The Durable Medical Equipment Medicare Administrative Contractors (DME MACs) have changed their home assessment requirement for manual wheelchairs provided to Medicare beneficiaries.
Effective July 1, 2024, the DME MACs will allow home assessments to be “indirectly” obtained by the supplier providing the manual wheelchair.
The DME MACs have removed from the policy the following: “When the home assessment is based upon indirectly obtained information, the supplier must, at the time of delivery, verify that the item delivered meets the requirements specified in criterion C.”
Additionally, the sentence “Issues such as the physical layout of the home, surfaces to be traversed, and obstacles must be addressed by and documented in the home assessment” has been changed. The revised section now reads, “Regardless of the method used for the home assessment, issues such as the physical layout of the home, surfaces to be traversed, and obstacles to the use of the selected manual wheelchair must be addressed by and documented in the home assessment.”
In a June 18 bulletin, the American Association for Homecare (AAHomecare) said the change “will benefit both suppliers and beneficiaries” by making the home assessment process more efficient.
While the DME MACs previously required an in-person home assessment for beneficiaries seeking manual wheelchairs from Medicare, “The industry was able to work with the DME MACs and CMS [Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services] during the PHE [public health emergency] to allow only indirect assessments. Recent publications were unclear on whether an indirect was allowed, followed by an in-person,” AAHomecare said.
“This update allows for indirect assessments, such as a phone call, easing the burden on suppliers and improving access for beneficiaries in remote areas. The indirect assessment documentation must clearly detail the beneficiary’s home layout, surfaces, and any obstacles that might impact wheelchair use.”
Starting July 8, the DME MACs also are making it easier for a Medicare beneficiary to obtain a replacement wheelchair when the manufacturer has gone out of business and there are no replacement parts — from either the original manufacturer or from aftermarket manufacturers — to restore the wheelchair to working order.
This won’t impact wheelchairs whose manufacturers have shut down, but for which replacement/repair parts are still available. HMEB
Improving Patient Adherence
Q&A with Subbarao Potharaju, Fisher & Paykel
By Laurie Watanabe
While home medical equipment (HME) technology continues to develop and evolve at an impressive clip, even the most ground-breaking innovations are only successful if patients use their equipment as fully and properly intended. Patient compliance or adherence, therefore, is key to achieving the best outcomes — a fact recognized by HME manufacturers, who design and engineer their products with those compliance and adherence goals in mind.
In this interview, Subbarao Potharaju, director of marketing for Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Homecare Business, discussed how technology can improve and support patient adherence — outcomes that ultimately benefit all stakeholders.
Understanding compliance and adherence
Q: From a health-care/home medical equipment perspective, what is patient compliance or adherence?
Subbarao Potharaju: In a nutshell, at a very high level,
compliance is a measurement to assess if the treatment or the therapy is being used by the patient consistently and if it’s being efficacious — is it working or not? Whereas adherence, in my opinion, is a measure of the patient consistently using the therapy/ treatment long term, over years.
Compliance is defined by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) with some specific measurables for CPAP [continuous positive airway pressure] patients. It considers patients achieving a reduction in the Apnea Hypopnea Index (AHI) below a certain threshold over a set period of time. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) has guidelines on the efficacy of the CPAP treatment, as well.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) defines compliance with CPAP as using the device for at least four hours per night on 70% of nights during a 30-day period within the first 90 days of use. This includes during the first three months of initial use.
How Technology Can Support Patient Adherence to Therapy
Q: Given that adhering to physician instructions would ultimately be in a patient’s best interests, what are some reasons patients are not adherent or compliant with the health-care regimens provided to them?
Subbarao Potharaju: variety of reasons. Some of the key reasons, in my opinion, are:
• Poor usability design of the products.
• Therapy discomfort.
• Lack of education or timely education of both the product and the long-term implications of not using the therapy.
• Lack of family support.
Creating technology that patients want to use
Q: How can technology, such as product innovation, support and encourage greater patient adherence?
Subbarao Potharaju: Technology has huge potential and can significantly address some of these challenges.
Usability engineering/features in the masks and CPAP devices can improve the ease of use. As an example, the ease of donning and doffing the CPAP mask is one such feature that can be made super easy for patients. Automatic adjustment of the mask headgear, as an example, is another technology innovation that takes the headgear adjustment guesswork out of the equation and reduces the chances of over-tightening, which can cause patients to abandon therapy.
Less medical looking and more consumer-appealing design of the devices, combined with innovation in materials, can significantly improve the adoption and patients’ comfort in using the devices, especially in a bedroom setting at home. More breathable, soft, advanced materials on headgear, and intuitive color coding on mask headgear are some other examples of tech innovation that’s making patients more easily embrace and stay on therapy.
On-demand patient education, like our myMask app, which provides looping stepby-step short-form videos, helps patients by providing access to easy-to-understand education, on demand, at their fingertips.
Overall, any tech that includes patients’ involvement encourages patients to be more engaged in therapy. The more they are engaged, the more likely they are to stay on therapy
— Subbarao Potharaju
Data feedback in a very easy-tointerpret form on smartphones is another technology innovation to encourage patients and encourage them to use therapy. Facial scanning technology, which helps to size and select masks, is another tech innovation that can increase more patient engagement.
Overall, any tech that includes patients’ involvement encourages patients to be more engaged in therapy. The more they are engaged, the more likely they are to stay on therapy. You need patients to be very motivated, self-driven and self-disciplined to drive adherence.
Promoting a ‘We’re all in this together’ approach
Q: What are some ways that home medical equipment providers can encourage and support greater patient adherence in a way that’s likely to be welcomed by patients and caregivers — without making them feel as if they’re being scolded or criticized by their providers?
Subbarao Potharaju: It’s all about educating the patient, getting their buyin, and making them “want to use” the therapy, as well as giving them the right
product to make them “want to use” it and then making it a product they “can use.”
If you look at a very consumerappealing device — like the latest smartphone by any of the leading brands — the consumer is driven by the style/ design appeal of the device. The style and design make them feel like “I want to use that device!” Once they get their hands on the device, the main factor that keeps them on the device is the ease of use plus various ways the device is engaging the user to make them use the device.
Though we are talking about medical devices here, some of the fundamentals are still applicable. I would like to see patients being educated, being given the right, technologically advanced, high-quality products that encourage them to embrace or start the therapy and then stay adherent over the long term, as it’s extremely easy to use, and they don’t have to depend too much on any support to stay on therapy.
Over time, they can see health benefits, and that in turn encourages them to stay adherent for continued health benefits. HMEB
ADOBE STOCK/ANDREY POPOV
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— Larry and Audrey Jantzen Larry’s Home Oxygen, Inc. Enid, OK DMEPOS
The Future of Technology
In what feels like a very short span of time, artificial intelligence (AI) has advanced from science-fiction movies to become a system of capabilities that can lift our everyday actions to a higher, more accurate, more efficient plane.
At the same time, AI remains a bit mysterious and, at least to some, a bit suspicious. “Is AI coming for my job?” your very human employees might wonder. Josh Lau, CEO of Nymbl Systems, explained what AI currently is and isn’t — and how it could impact the future of home medical equipment (HME).
Understanding AI vs. automation
Q: Within the HME realm, what is AI? What can it do?
Josh Lau: Here’s some clarification first around what AI is vs. machine learning or even something like canned responses. There are tools out there that aren’t exactly AI, but they’re still a huge benefit to HME and CRT [Complex Rehab Technology] businesses. I think people are getting confused about AI and automation, which has been around for a bit.
Q: What’s one example of a task that automation could handle?
Josh Lau: It essentially can help automate the intake portion: A fax comes in, and automation can pull pieces of information out and then pre-populate certain fields. Tools like that can definitely help efficiencies with HME and CRT practices, especially at certain high volumes. You’re not having to search if that patient already exists; if they do, it’s just creating the order.
Q: Great. So what’s the relationship between automation, which we’ve used in some capacities for awhile, and AI?
Josh Lau: We had automation come in to automate those repetitive tasks. Then we got a little bit more complicated, where we made a decision tree that asks a patient a question. If the patient says yes, then the chatbot responds a certain way.
I think where AI closes the loop is that it doesn’t need a decision tree. It can just build foundationally off a model where patients can type in any response that doesn’t have to be a canned version. AI will process it and generate new content. That’s where I think the leaps are
going to be: Whether it’s a note, whether it’s codes, whether it’s some type of proactive advice to the HME clinic to the patient, AI will present that, versus having to click through those Q&A parts step by step.
Q: So automation and AI together could review documentation and alert me that for this patient, I’ll need a physician signature?
Josh Lau: Exactly. We want to get to a point where we summarize action items: If it’s before you send the claim out, it could be “You’re missing a physician signature.” It could even be “Physician documentation is missing XYZ because of your LCD [local coverage determination]” or “Your payer contract with this particular group requires these types of authorizations.”
That’s a dream scenario for us, where you own a clinic, you’re contracted with Medicare and Medicaid, the VA [Veterans Affairs], whoever. You upload your contracts, upload the rules, and the system will go through and basically do all the scrubbing for you, flagging and letting your staff go out to proactively get the better documentation.
What AI could learn to do
Q: So is AI going to replace us humans, any day now?
Josh Lau: Everyone’s always looking for that easy button. I don’t think this is exactly it, but it gets us closer to it.
The clinical training is what separates great patient care from just mediocre. It’s asking the right questions, being able to understand and guide the AI, because the AI is only good as the inputs it’s receiving.
So we people might think, “Can we make a checklist of questions, and the AI will pick it up and listen and make sure we don’t forget something?” Yes, that’s the end goal. But you went to school for this; there’s still that element in this.
Great managers and leaders nowadays are all changing or managing change with technology, with processes and things like this. I think those that are able to figure out how to leverage AI correctly and understand what questions to ask, and what it can and can’t do … it’s a super exciting time for me to be a nerd, because you can see this progression. It’s changing, rapidly. So being able to be nimble with it is huge right now. HMEB
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Q&A with Ryan Holbrook, DME Service Solutions
The labor market, like the people who constitute it, is dynamic, a truth that creates an ongoing challenge for home medical/ durable medical equipment (HME/DME) suppliers working to retain high-quality employees. Ryan Holbrook, president and co-founder of DME Service Solutions, discussed staffing strategies, including the advantages of being able to scale workforces as needed
Adjusting to a workforce shortage
Q: Is it fair to say that the HME industry hasn’t returned to prepandemic labor levels?
Ryan Holbrook: Yes, and that’s exactly what we’ve built our whole company around. We started it in 2021 during the “Great Resignation,” when we were having conversations with different CEOs of DME/HME companies. They would hire 15 people for training classes, and only two would make it through training.
We’re still seeing this across the board. Our clients are having challenges finding good talent and retaining it. The other big issue — especially in more entry-level roles, such as inside sales reps and intake types of positions — is as soon as they get a better job offer, they’re gone. Especially with some smaller companies, there’s not a tremendous opportunity for growth. So if these employees do get another opportunity, they’re often going to jump at it.
There are 800 different commercial payers out there, and every one’s got its own nuances. So it’s an extremely complex and convoluted industry. You’ve got your own processes, and when that talent walks out, all the time you spent on them walks out with them.
Achieving scalability in a workforce
Q: With such prevalent labor shortages and retention challenges, wanting to scale up to open a new office or take on a new product segment can sound like an impossible challenge. How do you approach scalability inquiries?
Ryan Holbrook: Scalability to me means the capability to dynamically adjust your workforce to evolving needs. We can scale both vertically and horizontally; as an example, we took one client
from basically zero to 500 outsourced staff across 28 different lines of business in just under two years.
Achieving scalability in the timeframe that the client needs starts with the people. We pride ourselves on hiring the best-of-the-best talent, and I think that is a lot easier to do in places like the Philippines and Mexico, where the cost of labor is much cheaper.
In addition, scalability starts with processes. We try to keep things as simple as possible. One of our favorite things to say is “Let’s get something simple mapped out.” Once we go through that process and start to execute it, we build upon that as we go. We’ve seen companies taking three months to map out this massive process, but you’re not going to know what works until you get your hands on it. Starting simple and being agile is what we’ve seen to be the most successful.
That’s scaling horizontally: A company is doing CPAP supplies, they’ve got a customer support revenue cycle management team, they’re just growing out that existing process. Horizontally, their scaling is fine.
But now, they want to move into continuous glucose monitors; they’re starting to take on new services vertically. We’re helping them scale. We have an operational excellence team with Six Sigma Black Belts that does a good job of taking the requirements, mapping out everything that’s needed to execute, and then working with our training team to build out the plan. We create very specific training materials easily digestible for, as an example, a front-line agent to be able to become proficient in that work and then take a holistic approach.
We also have a quality team that audits that work, looks for frequent errors, then works closely with our training team to continuously build out that training material and perform refresher trainings as we’re identifying new challenges within those processes.
Q: So you’re not scaling up with the thought of remaining an outsider? The employees you’re providing are meant to be part of the HME supplier’s team?
Ryan Holbrook: We essentially become an extension of their team, and that’s really what a company needs to look for in a partner or someone who will come in and join their company meetings. HMEB
Accreditation
Accreditation for home medical/durable medical equipment (HME/DME) suppliers who bill Medicare has been in place so long that it’s easy to forget those standards weren’t always required. Sandra C. Canally, RN, founder and CEO of The Compliance Team, discussed how accreditation has adapted to industry and technology changes over the years.
When accreditation became required
Q: When accreditation first became mandatory for suppliers billing Medicare, what was the home medical/durable equipment industry like?
Sandra Canally: The standard DME had their brick-and-mortar store. They had the showroom. They had the warehouse in the back. They did all sorts of bent metal, they did respiratory, maybe some braces, too. That was the typical DME business.
They had their vans and went out to do home visits to deliver. It was definitely hands-on between the provider and the patient: “Mrs. McGillicutty, do you need more tubing? Do you need extra tanks?” Back then, it was all about building that relationship.
Then things got a little crunchy in the industry. And certainly, I won’t say that accreditation caused the crunchiness. I believe competitive bidding turned the industry into a different type, mainly because of the cost of not winning the bid — or even the cost of winning the bid. It became difficult because of additional people providers had to hire and the expectations of it all.
It changed the industry. Now, folks that were strong to begin with were able to stand the test of time and change what they needed to do. We have providers with us that won the [initial] bids and are still in business today and are doing well. So I would say if there were two things that affected the industry: One was competitive bidding. And second was the pandemic.
Witnessing a technology revolution
Q: How did those events impact how HME suppliers did their jobs?
Sandra Canally: The end result was different business models. Certainly,
the pandemic opened everybody’s eyes as to what we could do virtually. It gave providers the opportunity to show that patient instruction could be done differently and maybe by somebody at the office as opposed to a person in the field doing it. Because of what happened with the pandemic, virtual processes and technology were forced upon us all — the accreditor, the provider, the patient, the family.
With a new way of doing business, of learning, of educating everybody — that was a huge influence. At the end of it, it taught us that we’re capable of working virtually, and if you’re flexible and adaptable to change, then you’re going to survive. You’re going to be one of the survivors in your industry.
Accreditation requirements turn 15 years old
Q: The Compliance Team is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, while the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) accreditation requirement is 15 years old in 2024. What do you remember from 2009 and before?
Sandra Canally: Prior to the requirement, the type of provider that chose to be accredited did so based on wanting to improve their business overall.
We were one of four accreditors that were around prior to the Medicare Modernization Act. And then, once that hit and CMS outlined who the accreditors were and what the deadline was, thousands of providers were coming in the last couple of weeks prior to that Sept. 30, 2009, deadline. I had folks in the air flying all over the country.
The biggest fear was “Are we going to miss anybody?” Because [accreditation] was directly tied to them being able to bill.
I’m happy to report that nobody was left behind. As crazy a time as it was, this gets back to who we are as a company, with an entrepreneurial spirit of being focused on getting the job done and turning on a dime.
Obviously, I believe that since we are the home of Exemplary Provider and are going beyond the minimum — which are the CMS quality standards — we as an accreditor do more than meet the minimum needs. We exceed. HMEB
Q&A with Todd Usher, Tactical Back Office
Operating a home medical equipment (HME) business while consistently short staffed has many consequences. Top of mind might be the impact on patients, such as longer waits for consultations and deliveries. But Todd Usher, founder of Tactical Back Office (TBO), explains other effects of labor shortages.
Labor shortages and future expectations
Q: We hear constantly about labor shortages. Is this the new normal for businesses?
Todd Usher: I would say yes. Labor shortages are likely to become a long-term, if not permanent, challenge for businesses. This trend is driven by multiple factors, with the difficulty in finding and retaining local talent being a primary concern. Many companies are already adjusting their strategies to account for this new reality. We see that our clients are planning for that. It’s due to multiple factors. It’s extremely difficult to find and retain local talent. And I think those shortages are going to be long term, if not permanent.
Q: Employee retention is also a challenge, right?
Todd Usher: We owned an HME company in California, and we lived through those experiences. There are ripple effects of employee turnover. When a portion of staff frequently leaves, it creates a domino effect. The remaining employees face increased overtime, leading to stress and potential burnout. Critical tasks like customer service orders and prior authorizations may be delayed, causing issues with billing deadlines and overall workplace morale. When we had local staff years ago, some customer service orders and prior authorizations got placed on the back burner. When those aren’t being processed, you miss filing deadlines in the billing department, which results in your staff having to shoulder more time and energy to cover for being short staffed.
Staffing shortages affect every department within an organization. This situation creates a vicious cycle, draining management resources as they constantly onboard new hires only to see them leave shortly after. This revolving door of employees makes it challenging to maintain consistent service quality and meet customer expectations.
Providers making a ‘desperate’ call
Q: Typically when leaders of HME companies call you regarding staffing help, what is their mindset?
Todd Usher: I hear they’re just constantly short staffed. They’re desperate. Sometimes, it’s “Hey, we’re planning our 2025” or “We are desperate for people right now.” They’re being forced to use a staffing agency or outsourcing resource because they can’t retain local talent. This trend spans densely populated areas like Florida, California, New York and Illinois, as well as less populated regions where the local talent pool is very limited. That’s the reason I started this business — to help in situations that require an immediate need for trained employees that can start quickly.
Remote staffing when planning for the future
Q: Ideally, are you aiming to help HME providers to use these staffing resources for future growth?
Todd Usher: Absolutely. Let me share my personal experience: We opened up new branches and distribution centers, and we planned on using TBO staff for those expansions. We opened up sleep labs, and we utilized TBO to staff them. HME reimbursement has remained low and has not caught up with labor costs. And then you get into inflation costs such as housing, gas and insurance, especially in Florida and California. The insurance costs are going through the roof for those companies that are remaining in the states. So, how do we absorb these costs? By attacking the number-one cost of our business — labor. And that’s where we transition from local talent to international talent.
In the face of compressed reimbursement environments since the introduction of competitive bidding in 2011, transitioning from local to international talent has become a viable strategy for maintaining profitability. By addressing labor costs, which often represent the largest expense for these businesses, companies can better navigate the challenges of low reimbursement rates and rising operational costs such as insurance and fuel. All of that affects the bottom line. When you reduce overhead you make a bigger profit. That is precisely what virtual staffing can do to help this industry. HMEB
Professional Education
Q&A with Matt Gruskin, Board of Certification/Accreditation
ers. The certification serves as solid proof that an individual has successfully completed training and assessment, demonstrating their possession of the essential knowledge and skills needed to deliver
etc. — identify those professionals who are going the extra edu cational mile? Matt Gruskin, MBA, BOCO, BOCPD, CDME, chief operating officer at the Board of Certification/Accreditation (BOC), explains the importance of certification for today’s professionals.
Measuring a professional’s expertise
Q: While BOC is known as an accrediting body, you also offer certi fications for professionals. Why are certifications such as the Certi fied Durable Medical Equipment specialist (CDME) so important? Matt Gruskin: Professional certifications, such as BOC’s CDME, are a testament to the expertise and competence of health-care provid
These certified professionals must complete ongoing continuing
and performance management. Earning BOC’s CDME demonstrates comprehensive entry-level knowledge of products like oxygen, transfer systems, enteral supplies and wound care. Medicare’s human resource management standards require technical personnel to be knowledgeable, competent and trained to deliver products.
Q: While certifications are held by individuals, can certifications also attest to the professionalism of an HME business?
Matt Gruskin: Absolutely! Having certified professionals on staff enhances a business’s professionalism and credibility, particularly important when bidding for contracts or seeking partnerships with healthcare providers and institutions that prioritize high standards. Patients understand they are receiving care from qualified individuals, and other stakeholders can rest assured that a business employing certified professionals has prioritized lowering risks and ensuring high-quality care.
Expertise to carry with you
Q: Is there a lasting benefit to achieving certification as, for instance, a CDME specialist?
Matt Gruskin: Certificants express gratitude for how the CDME has enhanced their careers.
Noel Neil, JM, CDME, vice president of auditing and corporate compliance for ACU-Serve Corp., is one of our proud and vocal CDMEs.
Neil earned BOC’s 2023 Certificant of the Year award and has shared how the certification has positively impacted his career, explaining, “BOC is the only certifying organization offering a specialized credential for the important work of those committed to helping patients needing durable medical equipment. I am proud to have earned the credential, which validates my knowledge, but also contributes to my ability to impact the DME field.” HMEB
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