Random Comment Leads to ‘Virtual Compliance Officer’

TAMPA — Two Florida men with deep roots in the home medical equipment sector last week launched a Web-based program designed to help HME companies comply with the ever-mounting number of federal and state regulations, as well as accreditation standards.

Alan Cross, RT, a long-time HME provider who retired earlier this year, has partnered with Ward Cook, president and CEO of Tampa, Fla.-based Allegro Medical Billing, to create the Virtual Compliance Officer.

VCO is “an Internet-based, multi-tiered computer program designed to monitor compliance requirements with the applicable laws, rules and regulations … and then send to the client the required information in the required time frame,” Cross explained.

The state-specific program allows companies of any size to keep pace not only with federal and state requirements for programs such as Medicare and Medicaid and individual accreditation company standards, but also with such things as employee TB testing and driver’s license renewals, which can often slip by harried providers, Cross said.

“We shoot companies reminders tied to things you are required to do, such as provide certain in-services a year,” said Cross, former owner of C&C Homecare in Bradenton, Fla. “You get a reminder and then there’s a drop-down that keeps track of who attended.”

A portal links to every state law covering HME, orthotics and prosthetics and diabetes supplies. Users can also access Medicare standards, a medical dictionary and pharmacy regulations, he noted.

“Everything can be updated,” Cross added, so the information will always be current.

It was an HME provider’s throwaway comment that set Cross on the path to creating the program. “I can’t keep track of everything,” a frustrated HME provider said to Cross, who worked as an accreditation surveyor after the sale of his company.

“I thought about that. These little companies don’t have the luxuries that bigger companies do,” he said, noting that many HME companies cannot afford a full-time compliance officer to keep up with the constantly changing rules and regulations, plus the numerous in-house requirements. “There’s TB testing, driver’s license renewals — it’s just one thing after another.

“There are so many rules and regulations that have to be followed and documented that the average HME companies are hard-pressed to find a way to stay in compliance without hiring a full-time compliance officer,” he added.
Even companies with a full-time compliance officer sometimes struggle to keep on top of the requirements and the changes.

So, bringing his expertise as a former HME provider, an accreditation surveyor and a respiratory therapist to bear, Cross developed a plan for a program that would essentially operate as a compliance officer for a company without one or increase the efficiency of a company with one. He took the idea to Cook, a good friend and one familiar not only with the HME and pharmaceutical industries but also with interactive Web sites.

“The interactive site has been the hallmark of our success,” Cook said about www.allegrobilling.com. “The site runs automated tasks every day and Alan was aware of that when he called me to ask if I were interested in this idea of his.”

Cook was very interested. “I … recognized that a service like this would be a huge benefit to our clients, as well as any other HME company,” he said. “All of this wouldn’t have been vitally necessary or relevant a year ago, but since all the HME companies are now required to be accredited, losing your accreditation due to flunking a survey would be tragic. With the VCO, now there’s no excuse for screwing up a survey.”

VCO is now a division of Allegro Medical Billing; Cross is the president and Cook is the executive director.

Working with 500 data points Cross identified for tracking, Cook’s Internet engineer built the site. Companies enrolling in the program (it costs between $200 and $300 a month) enter in such things as expiration dates for driver’s licenses, dates for performance evaluations, fire drills, in-service programs and the like.

Cross said it took him only about an hour-and-a-half to input the initial information, so it doesn’t drain too much time away from daily operations.

The VCO then transmits reminders beginning several weeks ahead; a dashboard keeps track of the company’s compliance with the requirements.

For example, Cross said, “Sixty days before the end of the year, you get a reminder that you need to start your budget calculations.” Or, if it’s time for a company to do a fire drill, it will receive a reminder regularly until the requirement is met. “The company has to send back a response and say who was in attendance and what needs to be [worked on]. That clears the requirement and resets it for a year from then,” Cross explained.

“It’s going to nag you,” he added with a chuckle. “Some cringe every time they get an email from us because it means you have to do something.”

Cross and Cook beta-tested VCO with both large and small companies before unveiling a mockup at Medtrade in October.

“HME folks who saw it thought it was interesting, but the folks that were really impressed were the pharmacy companies,” Cook said. “I’m guessing that compliance is a new concept to HME companies, but pharmacies have been dealing with these issues forever.”

For more information about VCO, go to www.hmecompliance.com.