A Changing Health Care Market

I recently attended the 26th Annual Meeting of the National Association for Home Care & Hospice which took place in Denver, Colorado. I’ve gone to this show for the past three years not only because we have clients who exhibit there and we want to see firsthand what their competition is doing, but also because it’s a snapshot of what’s happening in the home care/health care market overall.

It was interesting to note that in the telemedicine field, there was no one making the “big splash” this year – some vendors had reduced the size of their booths, some were changing their brand position. I got the feeling everyone was looking around to see what the other guy was doing, which is different than the last two NAHC shows I’ve attended. There were also a lot of new players entering the field. 

My sense is that while everyone is holding back, trying to figure out how to position their ROI to the home care market within the ever-changing regulatory and payment environment, there’s a vacuum waiting to be filled. This is a prime window of opportunity for one of the new (or firmly established) telemedicine providers to take the lead in this industry with cutting edge technology, a strategically sound brand strategy and the team onboard to make it happen. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that happens by this time next year.