Small Providers Speak on NCB

Las Vegas

A government contractor met with small providers at Medtrade Spring last month to gauge the impact competitive bidding and mandatory accreditation might have on their businesses.

North Carolina-based Research Triangle Institute held a series of four focus groups, each consisting of about 16 participants — from businesses with 10 or fewer full-time equivalent employees or annual gross revenue of $3 million or less.

Rick Graver, owner of Reno, Nev.-based Medtech Services, said some providers at the session he attended had issues with quality standards that didn’t seem to apply to their small companies. “Some [standards] looked like they were for hospitals,” he said.

According to Graver, RTI asked providers to rate their “readiness” for accreditation on a scale of 1 to 10. “We gave answers between 3 and 7,” he said.

RTI wanted insight on how providers felt about the inclusion of mail-order businesses, Graver said, and asked what kind of documents would help establish a financial standard for an HME business.

Financial standards were somewhat of a sticking point, he said. Many in Graver’s focus group did not have a problem disclosing tax returns, but some insisted CMS “had no right to request financials,” he said.

“We’re going to do everything we need to do to be in compliance,” he said, “but [we also] want to be left alone to take care of our business.”

RTI planned to conduct additional small provider focus groups in Dallas and Chicago early this month.