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].

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…

You work more but have little to show for it. You succeed in adding more patients, but it never seems enough. Do you try new things and most prove ineffective? It’s time to have a face-to-face with your “VP” of Productivity. Don’t have one, you say? My, you have been busy! Meet your office mate, Vilfredo Pareto. He’s been with you from the start. He’s at all your meetings. He’s there at each patient visit. Don’t tell your spouse, but he comes home with you at night. “VP” largely rules your operation, your production and certainly your profitability. Let’s give him a call. Quick, dial Star-8020. Buon giorno. Hello, Vilfredo. It’s Terry and a friend. We’ve got you on speakerphone. My associate here is feeling…

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…

Atlanta Since April 2003, Georgia providers have been filing electronic Medicaid claims based on ANSI standard HIPAA-compliant software. Unfortunately, receiving payment for such claims has been anything but smooth, according to Mike Hamilton, executive director of the Georgia Association of Medical Equipment Services (GAMES). Last month, Phoenix-based consultants FourThought Group reported to the state’s Department of Community Health, which administers Georgia’s Medicaid program, that not all claims were paid correctly and payments were not sent to the correct providers. The state has a contract with Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services to process Medicaid claims. If a percentage of unpaid claims on-hand is significantly higher than paid claims for a given week for a particular provider, state claims processors have sent that provider payments equal to those…