Recently while discussing a problem a provider was having with a workload bottleneck, I was reminded of a scene in the movie “Pearl Harbor.” A nurse sits in a yard outside a hospital as it’s being flooded with wounded. She forces herself past the shock of the situation, and, in an environment that was probably like hell, she walks from stretcher to stretcher with a tube of lipstick making marks on the wounded. She was performing triage. From time to time, we all have to deal with a bottleneck that chokes the workflow in one process and can affect others. But just like patients flooding a hospital, workload bottlenecks must be triaged. Triage breaks the workflow into smaller units of prioritized work and sets up...

About 25 years ago, I would set sail into the murky backwaters of the Louisiana bayou to satisfy an unusual culinary habit. A fearless frog hunter, I sat in the front of the boat with a spotlight while someone else drove. The spotlight reflected brightly off the throat and belly of a frog. As long as the light was in its eyes, it wouldn’t move, even as the sound of the motor got closer. When we were in reach, it was easy to grab the frog with one hand while shinning the light in its eyes with the other. Frogs react to light in much the same way that providers who concentrate on K0011 sales reacted to the so-called clarification of power wheelchair reimbursement. Some...

There are several essential steps for home care businesses to take in order to get ready for working under provisions of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act (MMA). Whether these preparations will be a re-evaluation of standard procedures providers already have in place or something entirely new, they are essential for continuing success in the changed environment of HME. Reward employees for finding better ways to bill, deliver, warehouse and receive, etc. The corporate culture needs to reward those who take appropriate risks, even if they fail, especially when the failure provides a valuable lesson. Wallace Weeks is founder and president of The Weeks Group Inc., a Melbourne, Fla.-based strategy consulting firm. He can be reached at 321/752-4514 or by e-mail at [email protected].