Family Caregivers

Often, an HME/DME provider will miss contacting and working with a client’s family caregiver.

Who is the family caregiver? Is it the patient’s child? It may be a brother, a sister, or a hired professional. There is always someone who cares, and when you identify who this is you become an important asset to them. Obviously this has many benefits for you! It is perfectly acceptable to tell a customer that you need to know if there is a special person to contact “in case of an emergency.”

The family caregivers worry about their patients and understand they do not wish to be institutionalized. But they also do not want the patient to live alone in their home. However, they will seek any comfort items that will help their relative. You know the patient, whether bed-ridden, a senior citizen, or suffering from any ailment and now you will be aware of the family caregiver.

Many dealers send an e-mail to the caregiver whenever they have a transaction. Over the years, I have found there is nothing that can be as effective as working with the patients and family caregivers.

What is an extra reward is when the caregivers become your friend. They show their appreciation in many different ways. The patient’s physician, nurse, and therapist are also very pleased with you when you send them an e-mail about anything special which might have taken place. This has proven to be most influential and useful in developing a professional relationship with them.

Moving Forward

My phone has been ringing and my e-mail box has been receiving encouraging messages. It appears that as an industry we are growing closer and now acting in tandem with one another.

When I see how many dealers and associations are finally recognizing that the time has come to move forward, I see that we have a real chance at winning this fray. Yes, the time has come for all of us to make our voices heard. We must get the MPP bill passed! As an industry, we have to get our representatives to sign on as co-sponsors of the MPP (1717). They will, when asked!

I have received many e-mails and phone calls from DME dealers telling me what they have done. Many have asked their customers to write. In tandem, together, we must contact our representatives and explain why it is so important to get the MPP bill (1717) out of committee.

This is a slow process and tempus fugit. We need as many representatives in DC as possible to sign on STAT. When you show how the so-called "competitive" legislation is dramatically affecting and failing their constituents, they will listen.

They will also be aware when your customers, family caregivers and senior citizens write and call. The legislators must understand the difficulties and the need for the MPP bill to be passed. Your clientele has as much at stake as you.

To get the necessary tools you need and correct addresses of the legislators, please contact your state DME association or AAHomecare. When this is done, we will move forward. 

Send A Newsletter

I have often mentioned an easy means of establishing communication between you and your clientele. One excellent way at your fingertips is via e-mail. You have the ability is to send a “newsletter” to all your clientele.

Decide who makes up your base. Are they customers, patients, family caregivers, local nursing services, referral sources, MDs and friends? All? Yes ! 

Build your mailing list. Request from everyone their e-mail address so they can receive your “newsletter”.  Dealers who have done this told me they are rarely turned down. Invite everyone.

Once you have developed this list you are ready to send your “newsletter”. What should it offer? Be sure to have your company name, telephone, etc. I know this is obvious, but I have often seen newsletters with incomplete information.

A great tool to consider using for email marketing is Constant Contact. It is easy to use, inexpensive, and allows you to keep track of your contacts as well as easily build eye-catching emails. 

Every issue should include a health maintenance message. Invite local physicians, nurses, and other practitioners to send you a paragraph or two. Ask your employees to provide messages from their segment. Experience has shown that most folks are flattered when asked and usually provide some really good material.

Offer only one item that is on sale and place that in the last section of your newsletter. Always have something humorous to say and have pictures. Schedule these newsletters to go out twice a month and watch you sales grow.

The cooperation you will get from your vendors and friends will make this succeed. Keep it simple, cheerful, and in a very short time you will now be a publisher as well as operate a fine DME/HME location.

FAILURE HAS NO FRIENDS

We are running too far behind getting HR1717 to move forward. Last year in three months we were able to get close to 100 representatives to sign on as co-sponsors for the MPP bill. This was done during the Medtrade meeting in Atlanta where we heard Representative Tom Price, MD, from Georgia, introduce it.

Dr. Price told us why he was sponsoring this legislation. He explained what it would take to get it out of committee and then go on to the Senate and then with a little extra effort be passed by Congress. If every DME/HME dealer/provider gives this 100% effort we can get it onto the floor, passed and moved to the Senate. If we do not accomplish this - we will not succeed.

It is life or death for our industry! Visit AAHomecare's Action Center to find out what you can do.

If we fail to do this, the Competitive Bid Legislation will remain in place. You read in the newspapers and know that CMS and Medicare are trying to reduce reimbursements by as much as 45% from today’s level. Who can remain solvent and stay in business with that?

As of this morning we have only obtained support from about half the number of representatives who signed on last year. There are more than 500 representatives covering every district in the country. There are about 15,000 dealers in America, so get to work; call, write, and save your company and our industry.

YOU MUST ACT NOW. EVERY ONE OF YOU HAS TO CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO CO-SIGN THIS MPP (HR 1717).

Time is rapidly passing; soon Congress will take their summer holiday. You can no longer sit by and wait. If it is not passed and there are many steps to take, far too many DME/HME dealers will find their income greatly reduced and a large number will be obliged to close their doors. WE CANNOT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN! 
Get started ASAP.

President John F. Kennedy said “FAILURE HAS NO FRIENDS.”

Find The Money

I saw an article in last week's newspaper that frightened me! An administrator for CMS, Jonathan Blum, said that in order to keep Medicare solvent they would have to further reduce reimbursements. I find that he is not alone in that attitude!

What really blows my mind is that no one ever wishes to look into why and how the money is disappearing so quickly.  It is “fraud and abuse” which must be addressed!  Whenever I bring that up though, I am told they cannot make any changes in the system.

No matter how low they reduce the reimbursements, the same thieves will continue milking the system.  We have to get them out!  I am strongly recommending that you, as active DME/HME providers, please join me in making the following requests.

1.) We have started and are working in the correct direction for licensure. The Accreditation Program is the beginning.  But, to date, it has no teeth.  To participate in Medicare or Medicaid you must have accreditation (or a license), and when found in fault, that can either be revoked or suspended.

2.) There has to be standards for everything provided.  When we review the different retail prices for wheelchairs or walkers, we immediately are aware there are no standards.  For a pharmacist, the standards can be found in the US Pharmacopeia or the National Formulary.  Where do we look for DME?

When this came up, I was told it would be too costly and take up too many man-hours to accomplish providing standards. I say it would save them so much money and keep out many of the dishonest people who use Medicare to steal. They will then discover where to find the money!  It has always been available, but too many crooks find it SO EASY to steal!

The best way to get this achieved is by working together with one another and supporting the state and national associations. They can and will deliver your message. We can show CMS and Medicare where to find the money!

 

Need to report Medicare Fraud?  Here's how:  http://www.medicare.gov/fraudabuse/howtoreport.asp

Job Descriptions

Many times during my tenure I have been invited by DME/HME dealers to be a consultant for them. The first question I ask usually is, “How efficiently are you running your company?”  Then, I follow it with, “How do you guide your employees?"

When employees understand their role, they can help run a company properly.  The best way to accomplish this is with a job description for each individual. Every employee has to be able to fill many needs. DME/HME is a small business, but each must also have a specialty. This is part of the job description. Your staff members are both dedicated and hard working or you would not have kept them on your team.

The first thing you need to do is to interview each team member privately.  Sit down to speak one-on-one.  A very nice way to accomplish this is inviting them for lunch.  Discuss their primary sphere of responsibility. The fact is they have to be a “jack-of-all-trades” as well as an expert in one. When you prepare a job description it will enable that “partner” to use his strengths and fulfill your needs (didn’t they tell that to you at lunch?).

You will be told what they like to do and what they are most comfortable doing. It now becomes easy to prepare a job description. This simple step will bind the employee and the company into one.

When employees are fully cognizant of their job description and do a superb job it must be acknowledged. When they do more than their job descriptions and pitch in with all tasks, this must be complimented. When they work for you, as if they were your partners, it must be rewarded.

There are many things you can do to reward them. A few ideas for rewards might be tickets to a show, dinner for two at an excellent restaurant, or a parking space with their name. These are always well received. One DME/HME dealer told me his wife prepares a special dinner for the winner of a sales conference and their spouse every quarter. The competition for this is fierce!

Tell me about some of the ideas that you have used so it can be shared with all our readers (shelly.prial@att.net or 1-321-255-3885).

 Looking for a new employee?  Click here to check out the new HME Jobs Market!

Crisis!

Is the HME/DME, industry facing a crisis?  Is it a time of great danger or is it a turning point?  Yes, it certainly is all of the above!  Unless we act together right now, I do not know how many will survive these critical times. I want every provider to stay solvent and together protect all our customers, patients, senior citizens and family caregivers (and that is all of us, the entire population).

Unless we act together now to bring about the several changes many unpleasant things will happen. We will face a dire future. We can do it! We have fabulous support, the state DME associations and the new integrated AAHomecare. The key to success is that everyone becomes active! So much is at risk.

The many things that must be accomplished at this moment are critical. We all know what they are. If we do not respond it will affect every DME/HME dealer in the USA, more than 15,000 operations!  This is why I ask that we act in unison STAT. We must get the MPP legislation (HR1717) out to Congress and passed.

To accomplish this we have to contact every elected Representative and together with our clientele ask that they support the pending MPP legislation. There are about 500 districts in the 50 states. The combined total of state and national association memberships* should enable us to contact nearly every one of the Representatives.  You can call, e-mail, or even go up to Washington DC for the Legislative Conference at the end of this month & talk to them face-to-face! 

If you need the name and contact information for your district, any one of the associations will cheerfully provide it.  If it is easier, feel free to contact me (shelly.prial@att.net) and I will email the info at once.

You can also find all of this information at AAHomecare's Action Center: https://www.aahomecare.org/advocacy/action-center

Let us resolve this crisis and save what we have. AMEN.

* Please contact every DME/HME provider in the community, not just members of the associations and ask they join with you by becoming a dues paying member along with you!  They cannot afford to sit by themselves. They must get involved!