If 2025 underscored anything for the home medical equipment (HME) industry, it was that stability remains elusive – and that scale and strategy matter more than ever.
Over the past year, HME providers navigated intensifying regulatory oversight, renewed concerns about fraud and abuse, and persistent reimbursement pressures, even as consolidation continued reshaping the competitive landscape. Federal watchdogs raised alarms about high-growth product categories, policymakers pushed forward with incremental (and at times opaque) changes to Medicare policy, and some of the industry’s largest players weighed divestitures, acquisitions and unsolicited takeover bids.
Leadership changes in Washington added another layer of uncertainty, signaling potential shifts in Medicare and Medicaid priorities that could ripple across the sector in the years ahead. And, of course, there was the return of competitive bidding.
Taken together, the year’s most consequential developments painted a picture of an industry at an inflection point: one grappling with heightened accountability and narrowing margins, yet still attracting significant investor interest and policy attention.
The following list ranks the 10 most-read HME Business stories of 2025, with a little context as to why those stories were likely so impactful.
“OIG: Skin Substitute Trends ‘Raise Major Concerns’ for Wound Care Fraud, Waste, Abuse” | Sept. 10, 2025
The OIG report placed a spotlight on explosive growth and questionable billing patterns in skin substitutes. Its findings elevated the risk of audits, enforcement actions and policy pullbacks, with implications extending well beyond wound care.
“Nautic Partners Reportedly Buying KabaFusion for $2.2B” | Aug. 15, 2025
The reported $2.2 billion acquisition highlighted the premium investors continue to place on specialty infusion assets with strong clinical and payer positioning. It also marked one of the year’s largest transactions.
“AdaptHealth Reportedly Acquires WellSpan’s DME Business” | May 16, 2025
The reported deal reinforced health systems’ growing willingness to exit – or partner – around durable medical equipment (DME). For AdaptHealth, this deal offered multiple strategic advantages.
“CMS Proposes 2026 Changes to DMEPOS Accreditation, Prior Authorization; Remains Silent on Competitive Bidding ‘Improvements” | July 1, 2025
Let’s be honest: The big story of 2025 – the one that caught everyone’s attention – was the return of competitive bidding, paired with more aggressive, frequent accreditation. Since CMS made its competitive-bid proposal in the 2026 home health proposed payment rule, the agency moved to “finalize” it. Finalize is in quotes because even in December 2025, CMS was still making updates and clarifications to the final rule and its competitive bidding plans. This will be the main, overarching storyline that defines the HME space in 2026 and beyond.
“Patient-Direct Segment Takes Center Stage as Owens & Minor Considers Divesting Enterprise-Focused Business Line” | March 4, 2025
Owens & Minor’s strategic review underscored the growing appeal of patient-direct models amid shifting care settings and margin pressures. The move reflected a broader reassessment across health care supply chains about where growth and resilience are most likely to come from.
“Medicare DME Claims on Hold, Telehealth Flexibilities End as Government Shuts Down” | Oct. 2, 2025
The government shutdown once again exposed the operational uncertainty Medicare-dependent providers must navigate, with the pause in Washington freezing claims processing and abruptly ending telehealth flexibilities. For many HME companies, it served as a reminder that political dysfunction can translate quickly into cash-flow risk.
“CMS Updates Policy for Patient-Owned CGMs” | Jan. 24, 2025
This story examined how CMS updated its documentation policy for replacement accessories for continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) owned by Medicare beneficiaries. “Effective Feb. 18, 2025, contractors reviewing claims for CGM supplies will no longer need to verify that the original requirements for the CGM receiver were met,” an explainer from AAHomecare stated. “Once Medicare has paid for the CGM receiver, medical necessity for the receiver is considered established. A supplier only needs to provide medical necessity documentation for the on-going supplies. This aligns CGM policies with other DME items such as CPAP devices.”
“Quipt Receives Unsolicited Acquisition Bid from Forager Capital Management” | May 21, 2025
The unsolicited bid for Quipt highlighted sustained private equity interest in scaled, publicly traded HME providers, even amid reimbursement and regulatory uncertainty.
“Study: Getting CGM Supplies from DME Providers Cuts Costs, Boosts Adherence” | March 28, 2025
The study strengthened the case for DME providers’ role in CGM distribution, finding lower costs and better adherence compared to pharmacy channels. The study’s researchers pulled data from the Mariner Commercial Claims Database, which includes over 75 billion insurance claims from 161 million patients across the U.S.
“New CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz Lays Out Medicare, Medicaid Agendas” | April 14, 2025
Mehmet Oz’s early remarks as CMS administrator offered the first concrete signals of how the agency might approach Medicare oversight, program integrity and innovation under new leadership. For HME providers, the agenda underscored the likelihood of continued scrutiny paired with selective reform, reinforcing the importance of policy engagement as priorities take shape.
What’s more, CMS under Oz has also repeatedly voiced a prioritization on chronic illness.
