On September 3, durable medical equipment (DME) providers and patient advocates gathered at Handi Medical Supply in Saint Paul to deliver an urgent message to state policymakers: Minnesota’s home medical equipment industry is on the verge of collapse.
The current strain being put on the industry is putting independence and health outcomes for thousands of people with disabilities in jeopardy.
equipment accessible.
The gathering brought members of the Midwest Association for Medical Equipment Services & Supplies (MAMES) together with four DFL state lawmakers: State Senators Scott Dibble (Minneapolis) and Doron Clark (Minneapolis), alongside State Representatives Robert Bierman (Apple Valley) and Kristin Bahner (Maple Grove).
What is MAMES?
MAMES serves as the regional trade association for home medical equipment providers. The organization represents independent suppliers providing complex rehab equipment to people across the state. This equipment ranges from power wheelchairs to CPAPS to catheters.
Providers sound an alarm
Throughout the morning, MAMES members made the case that durable medical equipment is one of the most cost-effective components of the state healthcare system, accounting for less than 2% of the Medicaid budget. Yet, policy decisions and static reimbursement formulas are threatening many providers survival.
Rose Schafhauser, Executive Director of MAMES for 27 years, emphasized that providers operate on microscopic margins while delivering intensive, unbilled services around the clock. Unlike traditional retailers, DME suppliers do not simply drop off boxes. They manage 24/7 on-call emergency repairs and often bedside technical setups.
“We can’t just raise the price of our Big Mac,” explained Ben Rachel, CEO of Corner Home Medical. Rachel pointed out that commercial overhead, from wages and fleet fuel to warehouse leases, has surged, but DME providers cannot adjust prices to match inflation. Most reimbursement rates are strictly dictated by Medicare and Medicaid fee schedules, some of which remain pegged to benchmark rates established 15 to 17 years ago. Rachel also highlighted a systemic gap in clinical funding: while physical, occupational, and speech therapists receive billable codes, respiratory therapists (RTs) embedded in home medical companies provide critical in-home lung care with zero clinical reimbursement.
Administrative gridlock was another central concern. Tommy Shelton, CEO of APA Medical, pointed to an explosion in prior authorization delays. Approvals that once took two weeks now routinely stretch to 12 weeks. When prior authorizations stall, patients remain stranded in hospital beds because facilities cannot safely discharge them without in-home equipment in place.
Tom Jamieson, owner of Lake Superior Medical Equipment in Duluth and Cloquet and chair of the MAMES Legislative Committee, described how sudden rate reductions and administrative burdens have triggered severe consolidation. Over the past decade, more than 60 independent DME businesses have closed across Minnesota. When small rural suppliers shutter, Greater Minnesota faces expansive “care deserts” where medical systems refuse to take on high-mileage home deliveries.
Cameo Zehnder, Chief Advocacy Officer with Pediatric Home Service, reminded lawmakers that home-based care preserves both public funding and human dignity. Caring for medically fragile, ventilator-dependent children at home costs a fraction of extended pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) stays. Zehnder noted that MAMES previously championed legislation proposing streamlined billing codes to make the state Medicaid system hundreds of times more efficient, only to be rejected by the Department of Human Services.
Cindy Learned, COO of Handi Medical Supply, stressed why restricted payer formularies and sole-source bidding programs harm clients. Forcing patients onto one-size-fits-all incontinence, catheter, or ostomy brands risks severe skin breakdown, infection, and loss of independence. Handi leadership noted that their technicians routinely answer dispatch calls in the middle of the night to fix power wheelchairs or replace essential equipment, preventing emergency 911 calls and hospital admissions.
Lived experience
The human cost of bureaucratic cuts was underscored by advocates and patients in the room. Guest advocate Rhonda Rosenroth shared the daily reality of caring for her three-year-old granddaughter with severe osteogenesis imperfecta, stressing that lawmakers must listen to families and people with disabilities to understand the true ripple effects of policy changes.
Longtime industry lobbyist Bill Amberg also called on lawmakers to complete the longstanding bipartisan effort to eliminate the lingering durable medical equipment sales tax that penalizes providers and patients alike.
Bipartisan outreach
MAMES leadership highlighted that protecting access to home care is a nonpartisan issue impacting Minnesotans in every legislative district. To ensure balanced, cross-aisle engagement ahead of the upcoming legislative session, organizers confirmed that a second legislative roundtable is currently being scheduled with representatives from the Republican Party.
