Team Approach Leads to Success

In 1950 when Merle and Jean Marx started Medical Service Company, they were dedicated to running a business based on a sense of family and service to the communities they served. Today, the company is run by their son Joel, now owner and CEO, and it remains true to its original purpose.

What sets Medical Service Company apart is its tireless commitment to customers. According to Patrick Clevidence, vice president of respiratory services, the company differentiates itself by recognizing both its internal and external customers.

“We are a team, with each person playing an important role in satisfying both our patients and our referral sources. Each of our 118 team members is a customer to me, and they are just as important to me as our external customers, which include our patients and referral sources,” says Clevidence. “I need to make sure every member of our team has the best training and support available to provide a great patient outcome.”

Clevidence attests that the staff functions as the company’s eyes and ears.

“I truly think the thing we do best at the executive level is listen to our team members. If a respiratory therapist or a customer service representative says we can do something different that will make us more productive and efficient while serving the patient better, we act on it,” he says. “We try to hire the best and the brightest, and we empower them to trust their decision-making abilities.”

The company, which has four Ohio locations in Cleveland, Canton, Youngstown and Mansfield, is concentrated heavily on respiratory care, with 70 percent of its business directed in this area.

Medical Service Company differentiates itself to patients and referral sources by being ardent about communication, as Clevidence notes it is likely the equipment it delivers is no different than that of its competitors.

“We have to differentiate with service and education to our referral sources, and more importantly, to our patients. There have been studies that indicate patients with increased ability to attend to all of their daily living activities live much longer than a patient who cannot. We assess their equipment needs and make certain they can go on living their lives to the fullest,” he adds.

Some of the tactics the company incorporates to enhance service include the following:

• Respiratory therapy assessments on all patients to determine what oxygen equipment is best for them and their daily living activities.
• An extensive and ongoing follow-up program to ensure patients are compliant with their equipment and are benefiting from using it (results are communicated to each patient’s physician).
• Compliance information and equipment with built-in compliance tracking are used to assess a patient’s true compliance so physicians can prescribe the proper therapy that will best benefit the patient.
• Customized compliance programs for referral sources that can be viewed on their own computers via a secure portal provides an easy method allowing them to follow a patient’s progress without having to pick up the phone.
• A COPD pathway enables physician referral sources to enroll their patients in a follow-up and feedback program so they can monitor patients’ progress on oxygen therapy. This includes partnering with several key hospitals’ cardiopulmonary rehab programs to provide education and information for patients.

Communication, Clevidence believes, is an essential element in keeping referral sources satisfied and a key element in the company’s success.

“Our information technology manager, Mike McGill, is an important part of our business model for many reasons. He creates electronic information modules so each department can improve its communications with all of our customers, including patients, referral sources, payers and vendors,” Clevidence says.

“In addition, we are an entirely paperless company and have been for the last seven years. We routinely send clinical and compliance information to any physician or referral source with the click of a button. It is fast and it is slick. We are also able to design and provide customized compliance programs to meet the needs of our referral sources.”

Demonstrating its commitment to education, the company has an educational program for its staff called “MSC University.”

“We consider Medical Service Company to be a learning organization. MSC University provides valuable coursework, both live and electronic, to better educate our staff on equipment, services, new technology and new trends,” says Clevidence. “We also extend that learning to our patients and our referral sources through a number of on-site and off-site educational forums and programs throughout the year.”

Dedication to ensuring positive outcomes for all of its customers is the company’s strength, particularly when it results in increased referrals.

“We are passionate in communicating to our referral sources that we understand their pressure to simplify the referral process. If we provide them with useful information about our equipment and our services, then we must execute to that level of excellence,” states Clevidence.