Size May Not Matter

If you missed Dr. Timothy S. Mescon’s rousing presentation at Medtrade last month, you missed a real humdinger. Dean of Kennesaw State University’s Michael J. Coles College of Business, which runs one of the nation’s leading entrepreneurship programs, Dr. Mescon unleashed 45 minutes of enthusiastic motivation for success in business. In the process, he told providers that it is possible not only to survive but to thrive — no matter what their size — in the industry’s unsettled environment.

According to Dr. Mescon, the pace of change in business is increasing at an exponential, even a Malthusian, rate. He readily admits that embracing change, much less figuring out how to deal with its consequences, is a daunting challenge. In fact, just thinking about Medicare reform, reimbursement cuts, shrinking margins and the possibility of bidding for business is more than enough to keep providers up at night worrying about how such changes will affect their HME companies.

But those who recognize change as the norm and who recreate their businesses to respond can come out on top. Instead of focusing on product, where there are a myriad of options available, “today it is about differentiating what you do and how you do it in a crowded, competitive marketplace,” Dr. Mescon said.

Providers must realize that winning in business has become a moving target. The actions that brought HME companies to where they are now may not take them where they want to go tomorrow, and that, said the entrepreneurial guru, is a clarion call for business reassessment, reinvention and transformation.

Dr. Mescon advised providers to create “a small-room concept” for business, treating each and every customer “as if you were going to have to live with them in a small room for the rest of your life.” In other words, each transaction should feel to customers as if it is the company’s most important.

Developing such high-performance service means giving customers a little bit extra — responding to midnight phone calls, getting product when it’s needed, where it’s needed, in real time. The payback for providers is that creating such an atmosphere reduces customers’ sensitivity to price while enhancing sensitivity to service. And carving out a strategic position that recognizes the individual as key can help providers take advantage of the growth in the home care patient population that is sure to come over the next decade — growth that will throw market share straight to providers.

In Dr. Mescon’s scenario, the best news for companies that want to be winners is that the new business reality has nothing to do with size. In HME today, it’s about speed, agility and responsiveness to the market. In the old days, big beat small, but today, fast beats slow. As a provider, that can be your company’s advantage.

Powerful — and hopeful — words.