Clear Communications

In the last three weeks I’ve had to replace both my laptop and my cell phone. While some data can be transferred easily from one device to another, other information and passwords need to be updated manually, a process that can take several hours. My situation calls to mind one of the problems accreditors constantly face with communication and their accredited suppliers.

Your accreditor is not just the entity who visits you every few years, but also a representative of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and therefore responsible for communicating important information from CMS to you. Making sure they can always reach you is of paramount importance.

When accreditation was voluntary, CMS had no say in your accreditor’s activities. Now CMS holds the accreditor responsible for many tasks, including monitoring the items you are accredited to provide, the date you commence re-accreditation activities, the date you are actually re-accredited and more.

CMS has also charged accreditors with conveying important information to you, such as the recent standards implemented for Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) products. Additionally, if CMS receives a complaint about a supplier from the community or about irregular billing information from the DME MAC, CMS may contact the accreditor to investigate the problem with the supplier. And here is where the challenge can occur.

Often the contact information and e-mail address that the accreditor has on file for the supplier is the person who completed the accreditation activities or the staff member who is designated as the accreditation contact, not the business owner. The e-mail address your accreditor has on file is not just for reaccreditation activities, but also to convey any vital communication the supplier needs to know throughout the accreditation period, as well as newsletters and/or general information bulletins. When the accreditation contact is no longer employed by the organization, it is often unknown to your accreditor and you could be missing important information. In this case e-mails sent by your accreditor may not be received by the right people, or even by the organization. Too often a supplier does not have a terminated employee’s e-mails forwarded to a different staff member or program an auto-reply message that the person is no longer with the organization. If these e-mails go into cyberspace, the accreditor is unaware that they are not being received and you could be missing critical information.

If your accreditor is investigating a complaint they can simply contact the organization to review the issue rather than make an in-person visit. If you are sent an e-mail and the accreditor does not get a response, what do you suppose the accreditor thinks?

It can certainly be difficult to remember all of the contacts you need to reach out to when communication information changes and it’s even harder to know where to send updates if the employee designated as the contact is unexpectedly terminated or leaves suddenly. Nonetheless, just as you must contact the NSC with any changes right away, so must you keep your accreditor informed of the same information and notify them immediately when contact information changes. The business owner is ultimately responsible for the business and thus must ensure that the contact information stays current with the accreditor.

Ensure that all current staff members keep their business owner(s) apprised of every situation in which he/she is the organization’s main contact, for everything from accreditation and billing providers to state and national association memberships and any related business communications. Is someone in the office the primary contact for the company’s credit card billing and onsite access? Are there any passwords or access information that only one employee (who is not the business owner) holds? Business owners should not be caught off guard in the event of a crisis or sudden departure, and they should have their staff create a list of all websites and passwords for every important contact and keep that list locked and secure, preferably offsite.

Additionally, for such things as accreditation, the contact information for the business owner should also be on file with the accreditor so that all communications can be monitored, if not managed. This is not just a means of keeping the lines of communication open, but also a required preparatory activity in the maintenance of your disaster or emergency plan.