As we pass the halfway point of the year, I want to take a moment to reflect on how far we’ve come and look ahead to where we’re going. The progress we’ve made is real, and it’s because of your hard work, resilience, and commitment to our mission.

- Abandon call rate is down to an average of 19.6% in June 2025 compared to 37.3% the average prior to the start of the Centralized Client Services expansion.

- Clients are receiving their equpiment, on average, 10 days faster

- Google ratings are up 15% (company-wide average through June reaching a 4.4 for the year)

- Employee engagement survey results highest since 2020

The road ahead is full of opportunity. In the second half of the year, we’ll continue refining our business, pushing forward on key priorities, and delivering the kind of impact our clients count on. 

Second Half Focus Areas

- Implementing a new phone system provider to replace Fuze

- Launching fax automation to reduce administrative burden on branch teams

- Completing Centralized Client Services expansion to all branches

- All branch's achieving a 4.0 Google rating

- Adapting our current client satisfaction survey process from sending one survey post-delivery to sending multiple surveys throughout the order process

- Organically growing our Access and Supplies division

Thank you for being part of the journey. Let’s get moving, together.

Since joining the organization the phone system is one thing I'm continuously asked about when visiting our branch teams. As we come to the end of our contract with Fuze, we’re excited to share that we’re changing our phone system provider to RingCentral, which will allow us to be provide better flexibility, security, and efficiency.

Beginning this month, we will begin piloting RingCentral with corporate employees and a handful of branches. This change will bring improved call quality, new features to support remote and in-office teams, and a more reliable experience overall. It’s part of our ongoing effort to streamline tools and make it easier for everyone to stay connected.

What You Can Expect

This transition has been planned in a way to be as minimally invasive on our teams as possible, but we understand any change like this can cause frustration. A few key differences between the Fuze experience and RingCentral include:

More details will be coming soon, and we’ll make sure you have everything you need to make the switch smoothly. Thank you in advance for your flexibility and partnership as we work to roll this out and improve our phone system experience both for you and our clients!

As part of our ongoing commitment to continuous improvement, we’re leveraging technology to streamline our processes to move orders through the process more efficiently. One exciting example is the rollout of the Payer Greenlight System (PGS), an AI-driven solution developed in partnership with our vendor, Notable.

What is PGS?

PGS uses artificial intelligence to evaluate funding packets before they’re submitted to payers. This reduces the administrative burden on funders and helps us proactively catch issues that could cause deferrals. The result: faster decisions, fewer delays, and improved overall efficiency.

In June, we expanded the system by adding Medicare codes to all branches. With this update, funding packets are now automatically routed to Notable for review. Once the review is complete and we receive the green light, we move forward with submission- helping us significantly lower deferral rates.

Early results are promising, and we’re already seeing deferral rates drop from 20% to 12%.

What’s Next?

With a strong foundation in place, we’ve built a rollout schedule to expand PGS across additional payers through the rest of the year. After UHC, we’ll implement the system for Superior HealthPlan, followed by others in a phased approach. In addition, we will continue to analyze deferral reasons and implement process improvements based off the the deferral data.

This is just one of the ways we’re using technology to support smarter operations and deliver a better experience for clients and partners alike.

The Remote Service Support (RSS) Team is a collection of seasoned Remote Service Technicians (RST’s) that serve as a regional and area focused resource for branches to conduct remote evaluations for clients, which in turn decreases the turnaround time for repairs, as well as increase efficiency for Branch Technicians and Customer Support Specialists. 

As of mid-July RSS will be supporting every branch while also showing tangible improvements for our clients service and repair experience. Highlights include:

This continued progress reflects our commitment to improving the client experience, reducing wait times, and delivering faster, more effective service through innovation and technology.

Client feedback is key to improving the experience we deliver. Starting in July, we’re updating our satisfaction survey process to make it easier for clients to share their feedback.

For years, we’ve used Press Ganey to send 36-question surveys by mail or email after an order is delivered. But response rates have dropped and fewer than 3% of clients completed a survey in 2024. To improve client survey response rate, we’re moving to a shorter, more timely survey sent by text message.

The new survey will be just 3–5 questions and sent at three key points:

- After evaluation

- After funding approval

- After order delivery

This “pulse survey” approach will help us better understand the client experience throughout the process- not just at the end.

We’re currently testing the new system with our survey partner and will pilot it in one to two regions before a full rollout. We’ll keep you informed as we move forward.

We’re excited to share a major milestone in our partnership with Ekso Bionics- NSM has accepted our first Indego Personal exoskeleton referral in the San Francisco Bay Area. This marks the start of a carefully phased approach to bring this transformative mobility technology to more clients.

As part of our new exclusive distribution agreement, NSM is now the sole provider of the Indego Personal exoskeleton in the CRT space. We will be working in partnership with Ekso Bionics to increase Centers of Excellence nationally at outpatient clinics and hospitals to certify Physical Therapists as Clinical Specialists for Indego Therapy. These centers will then become referral centers for Indego Personal the home-use device. There are 46 of these centers today.

Thanks to NSM’s deep relationships with rehabilitation clinics and spinal cord injury specialists, we are uniquely positioned to help scale access to this life-changing technology.

Key Progress and Next Steps:

We are intentionally proceeding slowly and deliberately with early referrals to gain clarity on submission requirements and documentation needed to support effective billing.

Because there is no established LCD (Local Coverage Determination) from Medicare yet, initial orders will likely face denials and require appeals. However, industry insights confirm that when medically necessary, Medicare is approving and reimbursing for exoskeletons.

This is a foundational moment. NSM is committed to making exoskeletons a standard of care- helping restore the ability to walk for individuals living with spinal cord injuries and other mobility-limiting conditions.

We will continue to share updates as this important initiative evolves.

The team at Independent Mobility Plus, located in Green Bay, WI, recently joined the NSM team. In addition to CRT, the location serves clients with home accessibility products and also disposable medical supplies. A huge welcome goes out to Troy DeGeneffe (ATP) , Anna Howlett (Funding Specialist), Evan Parker (General Manager), Alina Prescott (CSS), Tamara Wolf (CSS) and Michael Sarka (Technician)!

At the beginning of this year, we started a compliance audit process where we select random work orders across all regions, looking for ‘out of compliance’ issues. As part of this process, we also provide guidance where employee education and/or reinforcement is advised. Please be sure to read this important update that outlines observations and the risks associated with these observations.