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Operations

Operational guidance for HME and home health businesses, from inventory and logistics to workflow and efficiency.

  • A Fresh Approach

    Running a successful HME and attracting referral sources is challenging, but it doesn’t have to be brain surgery. “I think ordering oxygen should be as easy as ordering a pizza,” says Jason Seeley, the 29-year-old vice president of Columbus, Ohio-based DASCO Home Medical Equipment. DASCO runs its HME business on simple philosophies and a youthful spirit that have been parlayed into measurable growth. The company has seven locations throughout Ohio, and the 7,500-square-foot main office in Columbus currently is undergoing an expansion to 16,000 square feet. The company reported more than $10 million in revenue for 2003, and Seeley says that’s a 30 percent increase over sales in 2002, when the sales team he implemented began putting the young man’s business strategy to work. DASCO…
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  • Trimming the Fat, Expanding Sales

    If obesity were a virus, we would be facing a modern-day plague. As I was driving to work the other day, a commentator on the radio announced that 68 percent of the American public is overweight, which makes me wonder, is being overweight a reflection of the times? Sometimes I get the feeling we are a nation of hedonists, and the only comfort we seek is self-gratification. I love reading that the fast food entrepreneurs are responsible. Are they? They aren’t taking people by the hand and dragging them in for their hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, fries and other inexpensive gastronomical delights. They are merchants, same as you, and they are only filling a niche. As a DME dealer interested in the welfare of your clientele,…
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  • A Sink or Swim Culture

    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…
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  • Sell the Outcomes

    Competition among providers is offering professional referral sources increasing choices, so you should anticipate the concerns of case managers, social workers and continuing care coordinators who are looking for the ideal place to send patients. By helping these sources make appropriate decisions for their clients, you will attract and keep their attention. Ask yourself, for instance, why a social worker should call you. What difference do you make in the lives of particular clients with specific medical problems? Can you qualify your difference from all others in your community? Hospitals, rehab centers and pharmaceutical companies are becoming involved in understanding and tracking outcomes. Now it is our turn to develop outcome information that can be used as a selling and marketing tool, surpassing those mugs…
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  • A Business Tune-Up Checklist

    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].
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  • Dare to Soar

    The majority of my life is spent on airplanes visiting HME providers throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. As I fly from place to place, I see many similarities among these providers. The primary attribute I always notice and admire is the love and care that they give their patients. Most independent providers started their companies because of a personal experience with a loved one, or the love they have for helping others. Does this change just because a few laws change or reimbursement is cut? Absolutely not! New provisions in the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, have made this a time of uncertainty for the home medical equipment industry. But HME providers have experienced many ups and downs…
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  • 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…
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  • Meet Your New VP of Productivity

    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…
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  • Professionalism Is Part of Solution

    Just as with regulatory compliance, one of the keys to addressing the new Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA) successfully is to address your own internal management systems. Ironically, this is both a key part of the solution and a key part of why we’re in this mess in the first place. Why? The greatest insight I draw from the Medicare reform law is sobering: Congress does not believe that the HME industry has its act together. We cannot discount the fine lobbying work done by the American Association for Homecare and state associations. But Congress appears convinced that those organizations present the voice of only the very best suppliers. Our lawmakers evidently believe that most HME providers do not have their acts…
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  • A Ton of Prevention

    The Medicare Reform Act, otherwise known as the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA), became effective Jan. 1, 2004. Although the reimbursement reductions that affect the home medical equipment industry will become more severe over time, you should not sit idly and wait for the larger cuts to become effective. Rather, it is imperative to begin evaluating your company’s practices to prepare for the bigger changes that are forthcoming. Knowing what to expect will help you make an educated decision about your company’s future direction. Refine Operations Know the facts. Before planning for change, explain Medicare reform to your staff. Identify those changes that are effective immediately and those whose implementation is scheduled for later. For example, we know that fees are frozen…
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  • Bring It On

    One of the most famous commentaries on the pursuit of happiness came from a group of shaggy rock stars in 1969: “You can’t always get what you want,” The Rolling Stones told us. But not getting what we want is only part of the problem, according to Daniel Gilbert, a psychology professor at Harvard. When it comes to predicting happiness, Gilbert says, “The problem is you can’t always know what you want.” At the heart of Gilbert’s theory is the idea that humans tend to overestimate the impact of events — both good and bad — on their lives. We predict that winning the lottery will solve all of our problems. We predict we’ll never recover from the loss of a job or the end…
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  • They May Not Need You Yet

    This is no Medtrade. That’s something Reece Franklin hears over and over from the home medical equipment businesses that exhibit at his Southern California Senior Expo. The first clue might be the large dance floor, last year placed in the back corner of the Ontario, Calif., Convention Center. Others might be the cruise ship exhibitors and the Lion’s Club booth. At this show, instead of manufacturers marketing to providers, providers market to consumers. At its inaugural event last October, roughly 6,000 people walked through the turnstiles onto the show floor. The expo sold 249 out of 250 booths and had 187 vendors. Among them, 11 were DME dealers, each marketing directly to potential customers, social workers and other referral sources. “There’s been an explosion of…
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