This article is sponsored by Tactical Back Office. Payor relations can’t sit in the background anymore. As HME providers deal with narrow networks, tougher contracts and shrinking margins, the ability to manage payor strategy proactively is becoming a real competitive advantage. In this Voices interview, Lauren Barranti, Vice President of Payor Relations at Tactical Back Office, shares how providers can strengthen payor relationships, protect revenue and treat payor strategy as a growth function heading into 2026.
HME Business: What experience or perspective has most shaped the way you think about payor strategy in the HME space today?
Lauren Barranti: I think it is really important to design your message, and it has to be your own.
The HME space is crowded. Everyone knows that. Sometimes, looking from the outside in makes it easier to identify a provider’s strengths and capitalize on those strengths. That has really shaped my perspective from working with national providers, regional organizations and smaller mom-and-pop businesses.
For me, that is the takeaway. A strong payor strategy starts with understanding what makes your organization different, how it addresses your customer’s needs, and building your message around that.
Payors are increasingly moving toward closed or narrow networks. What strategies can HME providers use to demonstrate value and gain access to closed payor panels?
Closed networks are a real thing, and they are a large hurdle these days. It is not just closed networks, either. Health plans are also adopting third-party networks that manage that first interaction with a payor, which can make the process harder to navigate.
Understanding that landscape is important, but consistency is probably one of the biggest strategies right now. You have to be consistent. Your message has to be packaged; it has to look and sound unique and it has to be presented in a way that helps the provider stand out.
Then you have to keep revisiting it. If the message is not working, you may need to repackage it and revisit the conversation again. That is a big part of addressing closed networks and finding ways to gain access.
Many providers simply accept default payor contracts. How should HME companies periodically audit their existing payor agreements and fee schedules to protect declining margins?
Accepting default payor contracts has really been the mode of business for as long as I can remember, and in some cases, it does allow the process to move a little more smoothly. So, I do not think accepting the contract itself is always the issue.
The bigger issue is that providers cannot look only at compensation. There are other terms in these template agreements that can impact margins down the road. When providers are reviewing new payor agreements or expanding into new opportunities, they need to look closely at those areas too, not just the fee schedule.
Companies also need to do their own health checks after a contract is signed. Once you are doing business and getting referrals, are you actually being paid appropriately? Is the contract loaded correctly? There is a lot that goes into that on the payor side, but also on the provider side, especially when it comes to getting contracts loaded into systems and making sure everything is synced up correctly.
That is a really important element, and it is not a one-time thing. Once you sign, you are not done. These agreements and fee schedules need to be revisited consistently.
Payor relations is often treated as reactive troubleshooting. What does a proactive payor relations strategy look like for a modern HME business?
It all comes back to consistency. That is the key. It sounds simple, but in a demanding world with busy offices and busy companies, especially if you do not have a dedicated team or person handling payor relations, consistency and flexibility become real strategies.
A proactive payor relations strategy is not just reactive troubleshooting. It is an ongoing plan. It is intentional, and it is something you set out to work on consistently over time. It also requires flexibility. If one method or one part of the strategy is not working, you have to be able to come back, repackage the message and try again. That consistent follow-up, combined with the willingness to adjust, is what helps make payor relations more proactive.
How does leveraging targeted payor relations expertise help HME companies remain competitive against massive national providers?
I have been on the national side, so in my experience, there is room at the table for all of us. There really is.
That does not mean it is easy. Networks are closing, and the paths to get where you need to go are always changing. But I do believe there is a seat for everyone, and that is why packaging your message and understanding what makes you unique are so important.
Sometimes it is difficult for a smaller company or office to look internally and say, “How are we different compared to a national provider, a regional provider or another local mom-and-pop?” That can be harder to see from the inside.
Having outside perspective can help identify those strengths and then package them in a way that is clear. There are great things about regional providers that nationals may not have, and vice versa. It is about finding those strengths and knowing how to present them.
Looking ahead, what will separate HME providers that treat payor relations as a strategic growth function in 2026 from those that continue to approach it as a back-office necessity?
I do not think payor relations is just a contracting function by itself. It is absolutely a growth strategy, and providers have to look at it that way.
It used to be all about who had the lowest price. I am not saying that has gone away, but I do not think it is always the number one thing on health plans’ minds anymore. Plans are trying to align with providers who are helping their members, making a difference in outcomes and bringing clinical programs that can help get them to the next level.
So, payor relations should not be treated as only a back-office necessity. Moving forward, it really is a growth strategy. As the market gets more difficult to navigate, providers should be investing in payor relations and treating it as a strategic function.
Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Tactical Back Office (TBO) is built to manage the regulated work healthcare businesses depend on, with HIPAA compliance and payer-specific documentation standards embedded in every unit.
Within TBO are three connected business units, allowing them to be single partner that provides staffing, business operations, and patient engagement, all built to help healthcare organizations grow without adding cost or complexity.
Every professional arrives already trained, having completed up to 16 weeks of healthcare-specific preparation before hire, ensuring immediate productivity without client investment in onboarding.
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The Voices Series is a sponsored content program featuring leading executives discussing trends, topics and more shaping their industry in a question-and-answer format. For more information on Voices, please contact [email protected].