Page 25 - HMEB Business, February 2017

“For the vast majority of providers, physician referrals drive their
sleep business.”
— Jim Doty, Philips Respironics
“They often measure this via the number of patients who return to their office asking questions about their therapy and about the percentage
of their patients who continue to use therapy following the 90-day trial period,” he says. “By ensuring that patients understand each step of the process, returning to the office can be minimized.”
Doty notes that, while the following items are not necessarily new steps, providers should ensure execute they following with each patient:
The first time a patient is contacted for introductions and insurance verification, explain the process steps and timing, as well as the financial responsibilities. Be prepared to answer any questions they have about OSA or therapy.
At the time of the initial instruction, engage the patient in a motivational discussion and record what they tell you. Reminding them why they are starting therapy may provide motivation later.
Take time to explain the therapy, as well as device use and cleaning. Have the patient repeat the important points back to you so they have more chance of remembering it later.
Use the patient’s use information to determine who may benefit from a follow-up call and make calls as needed.
Initiate the calls or messages to support patient use and offer them supplies as needed to support long-term use.
Run reports from adherence management software to report on patients’ progress and use it to engage the referral source on the progress of their patients.
Also Doty says providers should use a cloud-based data capture and management system, such as his company’s EncoreAnywhere system so that it can have current patient information and adherence rates, which they can then report their to physicians.
ROBYN PARROTT, RRT, PRESIDENT OF SLEEP SOLUTIONS
HOME MEDICAL
“Our company does a lot of tracking of numbers,” Parrott says. “Quarterly, we review our mask refits to determine which are the best masks that do not require a refit. We have found that the pillow system mask requires the least amount of refits.”
Also providers must track adherence, which Parrott stresses is much different than compliance.
“Most DMEs are good at compliance but most are not good at adher- ence,” she notes. “After one year of usage our adherence rate is at 73 percent, meaning 73 percent of our patients are still using and ordering supplies. This is a good reference to market to the referral sources. We also market our patient compliance rate, which is 86.2 percent.”
JON YERBURY, VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKETING FOR THE AMERICAS FOR RESMED
“A traditional way of building sleep referrals is to have dedicated sales representatives who reach out to physicians, build relationships, discuss patient needs and how your business can meet them. Providing your referrals with presentations and product brochures that they can give out to their patients and have in their waiting rooms also helps solidify the partnerships you’re building with them,” Yerbury says.
“Utilizing the latest in technology can help connect you to your physicians and drive referrals. Patient compliance and therapy manage- ment systems, such as ResMed’s AirView, allow HME providers to link physicians to their patients and provide them real-time access to patient data in the cloud,” he continues. “This allows for better collaboration between care providers, as well as office efficiencies and less reliance on paperwork and faxing. HME providers should enter each of their referrals into a patient management system, and ensure that they know how to log in and access the data they need.
“It’s also important to proactively share patient compliance and therapy data early with referrals,” he adds. “This ensures that they have the reports they need and the ability to intervene or provide support for
patients who are struggling. Showing referrals when a patient is struggling with their PAP pressure or high AHI, for instance, shows them that you are a trusted and valuable partner in keeping patients on track and improving their health outcomes.”
Providers should also help referral sources educate their patients can help foster stronger relationships, according to Yerbury. He says sleep businesses shouldprovide referrals with patient support information, such as brochures, product displays and demonstration masks and devices.
He also highlights providing remote patient monitoring to referrals is important.
“HME providers must have a robust patient compliance and therapy management cloud-based software platform in order to show referral sources patient outcomes,” he says. “Remote monitoring of patients’ therapy allows HMEs to quickly share with physicians when patients have met compliance, and also highlights when therapy changes need to be made, such as a comfort or pressure setting. Reports can be sent electroni- cally to referring physicians, or the referring physician can log in and access the data themselves.”
In summary, Yerbury advises providers to focus on the following in order to drive referrals:
A combination of therapies that benefit the vast majority of patients.
Education materials to physicians, sleep specialists and their patients to help increase awareness of sleep apnea and referrals to your business.
Accessible and actionable data through connected care solutions that efficiently monitor and help improve patient outcomes.
“From retail to HMEs, everyone is invested in creating good data and making sure it offers good decisions — far beyond data for data’s sake,” he adds. n
“Helping referral sources educate their patients can help foster stronger relationships.”
— Jon Yerbury, ResMed
“After one year of usage our adherence rate is at 73 percent, meaning 73 percent of our patients are still using and ordering supplies. This is a good reference to market to the referral sources.”
—Robyn Parrott, RRT,
Sleep Solutions Home Medical
Management Solutions | Technology | Products
hme-business.com | February 2017 | HMEBusiness 25
Joseph Duffy is a freelance writer and marketing consultant, and he is a regular contributor to HME Business and its supplements. He can be reached via e-mail at joe@prooferati.com.