This week more than 1,500 people needed oxygen therapy for the first time.

These new patients do not know anything about oxygen therapy; they know nothing of cylinders, of concentrators, of liquid oxygen. They do not think daily about the home healthcare market, about HME providers, about reimbursement codes. All they know is that their life has changed and they now need to have a supply of oxygen with them whenever and wherever they are, home or away.

And the baby boomers, a generation that demands more and "better" in everything, are on the horizon. Knowledgeable and demanding consumers, their expectations for products and services are significantly higher than the generation before them. The baby boomer oxygen patients symbolize the changing face of the oxygen industry, and their arrival brings both opportunities and challenges.

These challenges coincide with changes in government reimbursement policies, increasing operating costs, aging equipment and outmoded delivery systems- adding to the complexity of the oxygen provider's business. In an increasingly competitive marketplace characterized by rising heath care costs and an uncertain healthcare climate, the world of the HME provider has never demanded more solutions.

The provider who is ready to face this new day is the provider who is ready for the Inogen One.