These are not just tough times, these are dire times. I started
working in the health care industry 37 years ago, and I have never
witnessed more serious challenges. With our industry under siege, I
think prosecuted-and-found-guilty criminals are getting a better
rap than we are. We keep fighting the war, but when will anyone in
Washington listen? Maybe when their mothers need oxygen and they
will be asked to come to the store and pick it up themselves. Oh,
and be sure to arrive before 5 p.m. as we can't stay open a minute
longer.
We have audits that can quickly force a business into closure,
bidding allowed by companies that previously have never
demonstrated expertise in delivering certain products and
reimbursement cuts that defy an understanding of what it costs to
provide HME products and services. Salespeople should be wearing
bulletproof vests to work and never take them off, as it appears
the hits are coming from all directions.
Apparently the great work we have done for the past 30 years is
going unnoticed and unrecognized.
I spent many years directing one of the largest discharge
planning operations in the country in a facility with more than
1,350 beds operating at 100 percent occupancy. If not for the
expertise of home care professionals with their ability to work
rapidly in delivering medical equipment to the home, the skills of
home care agencies to take care of very sick patients needing home
IV treatments and continuous dressing changes, I personally would
have witnessed the spending of millions of dollars of unnecessary
insurance money.
The home care companies on my team allowed the hospital to free
up beds for patients waiting days for care as well as reducing
hospital costs for thousands of patients through their services.
How is it possible decision-makers don't understand the value of
home care, what it takes to do what we do or even the simplest
fact: Home care saves more money than any available resource in the
industry.
The American College of Nursing Schools has projected the need
for 260,000 nurses by 2025. The average cost of an emergency room
visits presently exceeds $1,000. According to research, the average
cost per day in a hospital is now estimated at $5,200. Sounds like
the home care alternative is an excellent option to consider.
Here Are the Facts
Since I have focused on sales training for so many years and
helping you to focus on an appropriate sales message, I am sure I
am at least a part of the problem. I should have been helping to
inform others about this industry's value. Now we must all be more
aggressive in reaching out to our industry colleagues, our referral
sources and our patients. They need to know all that we know about
the home medical equipment industry's financial impact on the
health care picture as a whole.
Look at the accompanying listing, which shows the average length
of stay and charges per patient for hospitals by region of the
United States published last year.
| Area of the Country | Length of Stay | Average Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Northeast | 5.1 | $27,734 |
| Midwest | 4.3 | $21,522 |
| South | 4.6 | $23,695 |
| West | 4.5 | $35,721 |
| Overall | 4.6 | $26,120 |
| Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project 2007 |
||
While the average length of stay is relatively short, the
charges make it clear: For many, home care is a cost-effective
alternative offering quality care by a certified provider in a home
environment.
While we have not pushed our sales message beyond the usual
envelope, it's time to more aggressively "sell" home care. Our
focus has been only on reaching out to immediate and potential
customers, but our message now must be directed toward the public.
You can do this by:
Developing a brief in-service that will address the average cost
of a day in the hospital and the role home medical
equipment (and your company) can play in decreasing just
one day of hospitalization.
Developing a program that helps referral sources
understand the home care option. It may be the best and
most cost-effective alternative to residence in a long-term care or
assisted living facility.
Offering to be a presenter at conferences coordinated by
local social service agencies or professional gatherings
where you can address the financial, clinical and emotional
benefits of HME products and services.
Looking for opportunities to be a part of any staff
orientation program (such as at a hospital, social service
organization or senior center) or to provide materials informing
potential referral sources about the value of home care.
As you sell the value of home care and all of its components,
you can also:
Reach out to senior groups in your community
with a short program reviewing the products and services you
offer.
Become part of an educational series presenting programs
at assisted living facilities about what HME can do to
improve the quality of life of all residents.
Become involved in medical education seminars and
programs directed at the future professionals who
will be joining the ranks as physicians, physical therapists,
social workers and respiratory therapists, etc.
If we don't take more aggressive steps to talk about HME's
important role in the health care industry as much as we have
historically talked about the services and products we offer, then
our impact will continue to be limited.
Put Your Impact Down on Paper
Before moving forward with a plan for developing your message,
you need to complete an internal review of your own impact. For
example, are you prepared to write an article for the local
newspaper or a letter to your congressman detailing the
contributions of your company to the local community?
Providers also need to enhance the HME "research department,"
since this is one area where most are severely lacking. We need the
data and documentation about the services we provide to defend
ourselves so we can take off those bulletproof vests.
Your research for the future should begin to answer such
questions as:
During the past year, how many discharged hospital patients have
you helped by allowing them to reduce the number of days they would
have spent in a hospital?
How many patients during a specified period of time have you
helped with oxygen services, allowing them to continue to be active
members of the community?
How many customers have purchased grab bars for their home,
helping them manage and live in a safe environment?
How many weekend calls do you respond to regarding oxygen issues
that would normally have been handled by the local hospital
emergency room or ambulance service?
Discharge planners, case managers and continuity of care
professionals should be our greatest and most effective allies. As
you present the value of HME to others, write the stories of the
money you save and share the data on your impact, these
professionals should be standing beside you. Many of us work with
them daily. In fact, they may be our most effective
salespeople.
The selling of our message must come from all fronts. The
challenges we face today will not end; they have been in the
forefront all the years I have worked in this industry. When people
pay for services built upon documentation rather than observation,
there will continue to be a home for the unscrupulous.
But our team of supporters must continue to grow, and we can
make that happen by building an arsenal of internal data and
creating a team of external warriors who understand our value, our
operation and our impact. As a former social worker and case
manager, I hope you will reach out to my colleagues beyond those in
the home care arena.
Wearing a bulletproof vest can be very hot. We need a break from
playing defense as we continue to change the lives of those we
touch.
Since it's football season, I'll phrase my message in those
terms: Everyone gets a chance to be on the offense, and no one in
the health care industry scores more goals for patients than we do.
Unfortunately, we may not yet have the scoreboard numbers to prove
it. But the data is there for those who will comb the field for
that valuable information.
Louis Feuer is president of Dynamic Seminars
& Consulting Inc. and the founder and director of the
target="_blank">DSC Teleconference Series, a teleconference
training program. You can reach him through
href="http://www.DynamicSeminars.com">www.DynamicSeminars.com
or at 954/435-8182.
