Software
Finishing First
Reimbursements are decreasing. Competition is increasing. So what's an HME to do? When our staff asks this question of providers, the answer we get most
Author
Gail Walker, Editor-in-Chief
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Software
Get Out Your Fuzzy Slippers
One of my favorite television commercials shows a professional woman at a business meeting. When the camera pans down, you see that she is sitting at her kitchen table in fuzzy slippers, looking at a computer screen. -
Legislation & Regulation
A Big Difference
I can’t help it. Every time I visit Washington, my patriotic pride just seems to spill over. It was no different last month when I attended the American Association for Homecare’s Legislative Conference. On AAHomecare’s lobbying day June 8, I walked from one side of the Capitol to the other (and it’s a long way around) with Tim Pederson of WestMed Rehab, on the way to keep an appointment with Sen. Tom Daschle. Tim was part of a 200-strong cadre of association members crisscrossing the Hill to speak out against the DME reimbursement cuts scheduled next year. As we stopped for a breather, I snapped this photo of Tim on the Capitol steps — and had my newest patriotic moment as we discussed how much... -
Operations
A Little Bit Country
There is an old-timey, sure-‘nuf country store just down the road from my house. It’s a real delight, especially because I live in a crowded suburb not far from the heart of downtown Atlanta. Along with fresh summer produce, the tiny enterprise carries those old-fashioned, sugary peppermint sticks, pots of blooming flowers, mile-high cakes made from Grandma’s recipes and even genuine Moon pies. On most days there’s a big iron pot of peanuts (a favorite snack of Southerners) boiling over a fire outside. The store also has a particular specialty that is great fun to peruse — hot sauce. One rustic wall is filled with hundreds of little bottles that have names like Scorned Woman, Meltdown, Liquid Ax — Cuts Even the Toughest Taste Buds,... -
Operations
Belt-Tightening Times
“Diet.” “Reimbursement.” The mere mention of either word brings up feelings of dread and frustration, mixed with the promise of great rewards. Don’t ask what made me think about dieting as our staff was putting together the magazine’s annual Reimbursement Survey. I’m on a diet at the moment (I’ve tried them all, from grapefruit to South Beach), and who knows what crazy connections go on in a French fry-deprived head? Maybe the belt-tightening most providers are considering these days made me remember that notching in my own belt is a great incentive for sticking to my current calorie-counting regime. (Well, that and the fact that bathing suit season is fast approaching.) Idle musings aside, I can attest that dieting is no fun. Neither is dealing... -
Aging in Place
The Market Is Out There
Every seven seconds a baby boomer turns 50. Some 24 million have already reached that half-century milestone. By 2011, the first of the boomers will turn 65, and by 2030 the group will be ages 66 to 84 and make up 20 percent of the U.S. population. It’s probably safe to say that not many of the 77 million baby boomers are particularly happy about aging, to which the popular embrace of rejuvenating plastic surgeries, memory-enhancing herbals and life-affirming drugs like Rogaine and Viagra attests. But the fact is the age thing happens to all of us, and some conditions simply come with the territory. For instance, age 57, which the eldest of the boomers hit in 2003, is the average year for onset of... -
Operations
Don’t Be a Ken
You know things are changing when Barbie dumps Ken. After a romance that lasted 43 years, it seems Cali (California) Girl Barbie, hitting stores now with a deep tan and a bikini top, may be spending more time with an Aussie beach boy named Blaine. While my 11-year-old neighbor considers Barbie’s new look pretty awesome, she says thinking about the fashion doll without Ken is “just not normal.” I’m not sure exactly what 11-year-old girls think is normal these days, but after growing up with Toyland’s perfect couple, I must admit the split is a shocker. So was the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, or MMA, the government’s acronym for the reform law. Way past shocking, in fact, one home care advocate has... -
Operations
A Simple Plan
Our staff often hears from providers who have discovered ways to improve their operations or increase their profits. We rarely hear from any of you that it’s easy to do those things. Lately, in fact, we hear that the paperwork and rules you deal with on a daily basis are making your jobs increasingly harder, requiring complex processes, checks and cross-checks, more staff, more training — and someone just to keep up with all the changes. That’s why the story of Vern and Ella Shafer caught our attention. Veterans of HME, the couple couldn’t wait to open their own company, where they knew they would have to tackle those daily tasks. Yet the Shafers’ common-sense approach to running their small business, complete with all the... -
Operations
Enough Already!
For years, many of HomeCare‘s contributors have called for providers to take advantage of the opportunities that exist in retail. Unfortunately, according to sales guru Louis Feuer, “Most HME dealers seem to find cash a foreign substance. They often have no place to put it or store it, and find those CMNs so much easier to deal with.” Because over-the-counter sales are so unknown to some providers, Shelly Prial often quips that “cash” is not a dirty word. “The transaction is completed when money changes hands. No paperwork, no forms to fill out,” Prial says. The jokes are funny, but they reflect reality. According to our recent Retail Survey (page 22 in this issue), revenues generated from retail sales comprise only about 14 percent of... -
Legislation & Regulation
A Thanksgiving Turkey
Just hours after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a sweeping Medicare reform bill on Nov. 22, political commentator Al Hunt told comrades on CNN’s “The Capital Gang” that it was appropriate the measure had passed during Thanksgiving week because, he said, this bill “is a real turkey.” While Hunt was addressing his concerns about the gutted benefits and high costs associated with the controversial legislation, which passed the Senate three days later, his quip was particularly fitting for those portions of the package that deal with DME. Though the final version of the bill will require interpretation (as legislative language so often does), the major points on DME are clear: There will be a CPI freeze on DME beginning next year, followed by phase-in...