Editor’s Inbox

Who’s Scamming Who?

When I saw that this so-called investigation began in 2000 (“Undercover Agents Catch DME Kickback Scheme in Action,” HomeCare Monday, Oct. 25, 2004), I asked myself how you could possibly spend almost five years investigating such a seemingly slam-dunk case. What’s the deal? No wonder the crooks are running away with the cookie jar.

For years these undercover investigators collect kickbacks for sending business to [someone] they eventually intend to recoup the money from. Meanwhile, some legitimate provider down the road is being denied access to this potential business and wondering why his complaints are never acted on. Who is scamming who here?
— Don R. Chrysler, president, National Home Health Care, Amarillo, Texas

Damage Control

I am a 55-year-old triplegic, relegated to a power wheelchair for mobility. Fortunately, I have a power recliner. Now, after waiting five years, I have finally been “approved” for a reclining wheelchair for comfort and to dispel sores from sitting all day in the chair.

The Medicare guidelines are very strict when it comes to wheelchair approval, despite doctors’ recommendations for specific kinds of wheelchairs to fit the individual’s needs. They should take into [consideration] that a comfortable chair means less time spent in the hospital or nursing home recuperating from sores. Despite the expensive cost of electric chairs, they far outweigh what long, extensive hospital stays would cost repairing the damage.
— Ed Sprigg, Medicare beneficiary

All About Service

I read with great interest your editorial in the November issue of HomeCare. In your editorial, you referenced a visit to a pharmacy where you and several other customers received no service.

As an independent pharmacy owner, I firmly believe that customer service is a key ingredient in keeping customers happy and returning to my practice … it is with pride that I report that consumers consistently give the nation’s independent pharmacies high marks for customer service. For example, in an October 2003 Consumer Reports survey, “More than 85 percent of customers at independent drugstores were very satisfied or completely satisfied with their experience.”

It is also with pride that I report that nearly three-quarters (74 percent) of the nation’s 24,000 independent pharmacies offer durable/home medical equipment, according to the 2004 NCPA-Pfizer Digest.

I write all of this to say, as HME turns toward retail, the independent community pharmacy provides an excellent, patient-focused, customer service-oriented venue for these sales.

Pharmacists have consistently rated at or near the top of Gallup’s annual poll of honesty and ethics among professionals. Community pharmacists are one of the nation’s most trusted and most accessible health care providers.
— Bruce Roberts, R.Ph., executive vice president and CEO, National Community Pharmacists Association, Alexandria, Va.

Problem Solved

I came across your article “Releasing Bottlenecks” (by Wallace Weeks, June 2004). I just wanted to say thank you for the information because it was very helpful for me to understand some solutions on [how to solve] a workload bottleneck.
— Bob Tordella, Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Conn.

You can catch Wallace Weeks’ solid business advice each month in his “Better Business” column. Check page 48 in this issue for a lesson in “Saying No.”