When the Ground Is Still Moving, How Are You Planning for 2027?

Published in Member Communities on November 06, 2026

By Lindy Tentinger, President, VGM

Everyone is building a 2027 budget right now, and there is probably a number in yours that you do not fully trust. It might be reimbursement, referral volume, or what competitive bidding does to your product categories.

Nearly every provider we talk with is making some version of the same bet, and nobody can hand you a forecast to check it against. So instead of a prediction, I want to give you something you can use this week: six questions about the parts of your business you can influence, along with a look at what our Government Relations team is watching in Washington and your state. Give these questions an hour with your team, and they may surface something you have been meaning to look at.

Here is what I believe about years like this one: When so much is outside your control, the most valuable thing you can do is get very clear about what is inside it. That means how easy you are to work with, what your own numbers say, and where a real person makes the difference.

These are the questions I keep coming back to, and you can use whichever ones fit your business.

Questions to Consider as You Plan

1. Where is the friction for your customers? Where do your patients and referral sources have to work harder than they should to get what they need from you?
2. Do you know what it really costs you to do business, including the costs that never show up on a report? Some are easy to see, like inventory that goes missing or equipment that never gets recovered or billed. Others are quieter, like rework, repeat trips, and denied claims. Where might you be leaving money on the table? Missed resupply opportunities and RePAP programs are two places to look, since both can add revenue that quietly slips by.
3. Are you offering cash items when your patients actually need them? Think about where in a patient's journey a product would genuinely help them and whether you are there with the right solution at that moment.
4. Is cybersecurity a top priority for you, given that it is a top risk? IBM's 2026 report again ranks healthcare the costliest industry for data breaches, and many providers run lean IT teams. If your systems went down tomorrow, would your team know who to call and what to do first?
5. Are you investing in developing your people, and do they know why it matters? When you stretch someone, do you stop to celebrate what they accomplish? Have you asked your team what they are most proud of this year?
6. Where do you need people to be people more than anywhere else? As more work gets automated and streamlined, where do your patients, referral sources, and employees most need a real person who listens and cares?

If one of these sparks a good conversation with your team, feel free to pass it along.

The people closest to your patients and referral sources usually notice friction before leadership does, so the best insight in your planning meeting may come from someone who does not normally get invited.

The last question is one I think about a lot. Technology will keep changing how we work, and I am excited about much of it, but the moments that matter most are still human ones. That might be the call after a difficult discharge, the setup visit with a nervous caregiver, or the conversation with a worried family member. Those are the moments I would protect as you decide where to automate and where not to.

The other question I keep coming back to is about developing our people, and it comes from something I experienced recently. I held roundtables with our whole company, and everyone shared the one thing they were most proud of this year. Again and again, the answers involved being stretched: learning a new skill like coding, automating part of their work, or collaborating with teammates across the business in ways they never had before. As people talked, many realized that the moments they were proudest of were the ones that had felt stressful or like too much at the time.

That is why I believe it is vital right now to give our people real chances to build new skills, to show them why those skills matter for the customers they serve and for their own futures, and to celebrate what they accomplish. Being stretched is uncomfortable, and I do not want to pretend otherwise. But when people are supported through it, I believe it makes them not only better employees but better people. As you build your 2027 plan, I would leave room in it for that.

What's Shaping the Year Ahead

Policy shapes the backdrop for everything else. Ike Isaacson and our Government Relations team recently wrote about what the election results mean for our industry, and I would encourage you to read the full article. The short version is that the forces behind the conversation have not changed. An aging population, rising costs, workforce shortages, and growing demand for care in the home continue to drive the discussion, and lawmakers on both sides keep showing interest in moving more care into the home. Medicare Advantage oversight and prior authorization are likely to get significant attention, and many of you have lived those frustrations firsthand. 

Stay Connected as You Plan

You also do not have to work through 2027 on your own. VGM has people who have spent their careers in this industry and relationships across providers, manufacturers, and payers who are working through many of the same questions. Whatever it might be, connect with VGM and tell us what you are working through. We will connect you with the right person, and sometimes that will be another provider who has already been down the same road.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I hope you get time with the people who matter most to you, and I hope you and your teams know how much you are appreciated, because you carry a lot. Thank you for the trust you place in VGM and for the care you give your patients and communities every day.

As always, I welcome your thoughts and your perspective.

Lindy Tentinger
President, VGM 

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