Home care news moves fast. Some days, the minute I clear the incoming emails and faxes from my desk a new stack appears. Sometimes it is bad news, such as the government’s suit against Apria (see page 10). Mostly it is good. Always it is exciting.

And the best part of my job is that I get to pick the brains of some of the smartest people in this industry about these issues. “There are a myriad of issues out there, there is no question about it, and these are coming fast and furious,” David Savitsky, the new chair of the American Association for Homecare (AAHomecare) and this month’s “Leadership Profile,” told me.

Now if even someone with Savitsky’s vast industry experience and skill at understanding both the business and legislative issues in the home health arena acknowledges how challenging staying on top of it all can be, don’t worry if keeping up with the latest industry-related news sometimes seems overwhelming. But don’t give up, either.

“It is just incredible the things that happen when you are not even looking,” says Savitsky, who is also vice chairman of Tender Loving Care/Staff Builders Home Health Care Inc of Lake Success, NY. For example, many assumed that when the government budgeted money to eliminate the 15% cut in home health care federal funding it was a done deal. But we are still fighting this battle (see “Legislative News” on page 11).

Becoming a part of your state association and AAHomecare is a good way to stay connected and influence the future of home care. Another good way is to use industry affiliations, such as buying groups (see “Join the Club” on page 24). Finally, as the editor of an industry publication, I would be remiss if I did not also mention the importance of quality trade magazines that offer an independent viewpoint on issues.

Sometimes the price you pay for offering an independent view is that you have an obligation to report whatever you find, even when it disagrees with a majority opinion. The Dealer/Provider staff faced this issue when we interviewed a San Antonio provider participating in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services competitive bidding demonstration project there and discovered that instead of the hardship story we had expected, her business was doing better than ever. “We really like the bid [project],” Racinda Vekasy of Choice One Medical says in our “Industry News Special Report” on page 16.

There is plenty of evidence to support AAHomecare’s position that competitive bidding keeps prices artificially low and erodes patient choice and customer service. But as long as there are home health care consumers—a fact virtually guaranteed by the aging Baby Boomers—inventive providers, such as Vekasy will find a way to survive.

The industry’s tenacity is really quite inspiring. Despite “draconian” antifraud laws (as Jeffrey Baird, our guest editor, eloquently puts it on page 8), increased oxygen testing requirements, excessive paperwork, and a thousand other headaches, home care providers will remain because, given a choice, patients want to be at home rather than in hospitals or long-term care facilities.

“You are part of a very important project to help people maintain their dignity, maintain their privacy, maintain a quality of life while they are recuperating, rehabilitating, or passing through a phase of life,” Savitsky says in our profile “Quiet Strength” on page 39.

I couldn’t agree more.

Lena Lindahl, llindahl@medpubs.com