Good Work if You Can Keep It

I’ve been conducting a very personal poll over the past few years. As I’ve gone to see my own set of doctors (my primary care physician and various other specialists), I’ve asked what they know about home medical equipment. The unanimous answer, to my dismay, has been not a lot.

While my doctors have certainly been focused on me, they see a patient standing before them within the walls of their offices. Little has been asked about the person who must deal with the business of living beyond those walls. Don’t get me wrong. I’m grateful for the outstanding care we get from physicians in this country. But that care is concentrated within the practice, the clinic, the hospital.

In a rehab group several years ago after a shoulder injury, I discovered that even my physical therapist was largely unaware of the home aids that could help his patients stay safe and comfortable outside of his sessions. After cycling through various physicians in a number of disciplines, I’m afraid the same might be true for many in the medical world.

Speaking last month at a panel sponsored by Invacare, Dr. Steven Landers, a geriatrician and home care specialist at the Cleveland Clinic, confirmed that most of his colleagues have “limited knowledge” of what the home care industry is all about. To change the situation, Landers advocates more physician education about home care in med schools and through clinic and hospital systems. That’s a long-term approach, and I hope it will happen. In the meantime, millions of baby boomers will roll into the Medicare system over the next decade, and they don’t want to spend their later years anywhere else but in their own homes. In fact, Landers said, most of these folks fear nursing homes more than death. Wow.

So what’s with the continuing institutional bias in the nation’s health care system? How come Congress and regulators don’t get that they should be shoring up our home care infrastructure instead of decimating it? What’s so hard to understand about the fact that their homes are where people would rather receive continuing care?

For decades, the HME industry has operated behind closed doors, so to speak, inside the homes of the chronically ill and elderly. Providers have gone quietly about the business of tending to their patients’ equipment needs while most outside this industry simply haven’t noticed. That includes the mainstream media, which until recently paid little attention to HME. Now that the media has begun to look, the only people on whom they have chosen to shine the spotlight are the crooks that the government is finally — after years of pleas from industry advocates — trying to weed out.

I guess it’s human nature to point up bad behavior, but I’m hoping that as far as HME is concerned, that will change, too, as both the media and government start to acknowledge this industry’s strengths and the solutions it offers. Some of the most astute among the country’s businessmen — its retailers — have already taken stock of what today’s active seniors want, and we’re witnessing a huge cash business in HME that is beginning to flourish as a result. Surely government can’t be too far behind?

While I’ve been in too many Washington offices and heard too many lawmakers disparage HME to believe such a government about-face will happen overnight, I remain optimistic. In the face of reimbursement cuts and changing rules that make it harder to operate, I hope you won’t give up, either. Your business fills an important gap for those who need HME and the services that go with it.

Make sure your local newspaper is aware of the role you play day-in and day-out when it comes to keeping your patients comfortable in their homes. Make sure your customers, their caregivers and their friends know about the products you offer that can better people’s quality of life.

These days, building a brand and maintaining an image are simply part of running a successful business. Make sure your brand and your image are well known and reflect the good work that you do in your community.