Major Medical's Coleman Wins AAHomecare's Advocate Award

Among Coleman's advocacy achievements are the Grassroots Accountability Project and a state law requiring HME providers to have a physical location.

• By David Kopf
• May 17, 2018

The American Association for Homecare has selected Doug Coleman, owner of Major Medical, as this year's winner of the Mal Mixon Legislative Advocate Award.

"Doug exemplifies the characteristics of this award which honors AAHomecare members who inspire and motivate others to join the fight for better federal policy for the home medical equipment sector," according to information released by the organization. "Serving as a catalyst for change at both the state and federal level for three decades, Coleman has tirelessly pursued policy change that will protect the integrity of the HME community."

"'Wow' was my first reaction to being notified that I will be presented the Mal Mixon Legislative Advocate Award," Coleman said in a prepared statement. "I am humbled to even to be considered for this prestigious industry recognition. The only reason that this is possible is because of the awesome and amazing team that I work with at Major Medical. We have a customer-focused team who work extremely hard every day to live up to our Mission; 'We love helping people!' My great team handles all of the challenging day-to- day activities necessary to be successful in this business so that I have the time to be involved in advocacy activities."

Coleman worked with the Colorado Association for Medical Equipment Services (CAMES) to help pass a licensing law in Colorado that requires HME providers in the state to have a physical location and further worked with the organization on policing and enforcement of the licensing regime. Coleman also worked with CAMES to help educate legislative leaders, regulators and the media on the problems with competitive bidding for both patients and businesses. Recently, Coleman has worked with AAHomecare to create the Grassroots Accountability Project, which encourages HME advocates to step up and volunteer to serve as the primary industry contact for an individual federal legislator, with the aim of ensuring that all 535 senators and representatives are in consistent communication with someone representing the interests of HME providers and patients.

The ninth member of the HME community to win the prize, Coleman will be awarded during the general session of AAHomecare's Washington Legislative Conference May 23 at 1 p.m. Eastern.

"I believe that the Good Lord put us here to serve, not to be served," Coleman said in a prepared statement. "We serve our patients/customers, referral sources, teammates and families by ensuring the survival and long term prosperity of our industry; we are the lowest cost & most preferred location for our customers! I love what I do and am very proud of our industry and our company team. Please help others and yourself, get involved in industry advocacy issues."