Page 18 - HME Business, May 2017

Wound Care: Financial First Aid
“Some HMEs might argue with me, but the most successful DMEs that
I see out there that are doing great wound care, have a clinical person on board.”
— Heather Trumm, BSN, RN, CWON, VGM Group Inc.
might be delivered whether it be a mattress, to adequately deliver it, set it up and explain it to the patient or to have the sales person or the company has a wound care nurse to go in there and explain how things work,” he adds.
Another way in which providers must commit is market development. HME businesses must work overtime to ensure they they go beyond Medicare. And Resnick assures there are a number of market segments in which providers can find success — as long as they are willing to go outside their comfort zone.
“There are tremendous opportunities hospice, the long-term care market, nursing homes, the acute care market,” he says. “Are you competing against some of the big boys like Hill-Rom and KCI [Kinetic Concepts Inc.]? Yes but so what? If you’re local and you can support a region or a territory well, then a facility would generally consider you if they feel that you’re competent enough to service that market.”
And in terms of the homecare setting, there are still non-Medicare options to help patients get the right therapeutic support surface. Providers should not be afraid to work with their referral sources to let them know that despite the bid program, they can support patients funded by other insurance carriers.
“Go to the referral sources and say, ‘Listen if your patients can’t get a deal or can’t continue onto Medicare, we have special pricing for them, whether it’s in a rental in form, or as a purchase, if it’s going to be a long-term-use.”
And that gets to Resnick’s final component of support surface and wound care commitment: product. If providers are focusing on a homecare reimbursement model only, they will not see the types of reimbursement that providers saw in the days before competitive bidding. That consider- ably lower funding model means that providers will have to reduce their cost structure. What’s the biggest cost in a support surface business? The surfaces themselves.
“People are seeking the path of least resistance aren’t they?” he says. “Rather than provide the right care with the right equipment — and doing so by branching out and trying to find new avenues — They’re just trying to go with the lowest common denominator based on reimbursement which is the wrong thing to do. ... They have to be committed to doing it right. If they’re not committed to doing it, it’s not going to work.”
Closer Look: Negative Pressure Wound Therapy
Negative pressure wound therapy uses vacuum pressure to help wounds heal. Used on chronic wounds and second and third degree burns, a sealed dressing is placed on the wound and connected via a hose to a NPWT device. The device then uses a vacuum to draw out fluids from the wound and increase blood flow to the area in order to promote healing. In terms of the HME market, NPWT equipment is now portable and regularly used in the home. In fact, there are even disposable, single-use NPWT devices.
Because NPWT therapy has caught on so much over the past two decades, and because it can be used in the home, CMS added NPWT to competitive bidding. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a market for the devices, dressing and related services. Similar to support surfaces, if providers who do not have bid contracts for NPWT are willing to explore new funding opportunities, there are many opportunities.
In fact, the opportunities can be considerable. The global market for Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) will expand from an estimated
$700 million in 2014 to approximately $1.07 billion by 2021, according to a new report from research and consulting firm GlobalData.
The company’s report, MediPoint: Negative Pressure Wound Therapy – Global Analysis and Market Forecasts, says as more physicians learn about of the therapy approach and its various applications, that growth in aware- ness will help drive a 6.2 percent Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR). Also, the discovery of alternative NPWT applications, such as bolstering skin grafts to enhance graft uptake, will further drive an increase in its use.
In terms of equipment, GlobalData researchers noted that “while stand- alone devices are expected to see steady global sales due to the higher avail- ability of clinical data demonstrating their efficacy, portable and disposable devices will witness relatively fast growth over the forecast period.”
“This wound care market place is very daunting; it’s huge; it’s got lots
of different technologies,” says Patrick Schwab, NPWT product manager for manufacturer Medela LLC. “But the negative pressure piece of it is real simple. Usually it involves a full thickness wound, and [NPWT] goes on the hospital; sometimes it goes on in the wound care clinic; sometimes it goes it goes in long-term care, or in a long-term acute care facility.”
And, like support surfaces, the key is for providers to go outside their comfort zone. NPWT sounds complex, but looks can be deceiving.
“One of the interesting things about our negative pressure wound therapy HMEs that we have today: most of them didn’t start in the negative pressure wound therapy business,” he says. “It’s really not that hard. If you already have a referral source, and you know how to transition patients out of hospitals or any brick and mortar care facility, and they’re going home, and you have some equipment that you’re delivering, then you’re a poten- tial candidate to being able to expand your business.”
And because NPWT is such a widely used treatment, there is ample private payer business providers can attract. is steady private payer sources
“Even if you don’t have a competitive bid and you didn’t win the competi- tive bid in your area, explore who the insurance providers are,” Schwab advises. “You may already have business with private pay that would be advantageous for you to take advantage of negative pressure wound therapy, and we [Medela] have consultants that can come in and help the HME determine whether negative pressure wound therapy is right for them.”
In fact, Schwab recommends that provider definite work with vendor partners who have a vested interest in their success. To that end, there are equipment makers who can both educate their provider customers, but also help develop and educate referral sources.
“We’re going to help with referrals, wherever we have relationships,” he says. “And if an HME has a referral source that they have a great relationship with and with whom they’re looking to expand into NPWT, we’ll help them get to understand what that business is like. We have an entire website devoted to supporting their business, training staff, training associated home health clini- cians, and helping them train their in-facility folks.”
And this includes education, Schwab says. Both the provider and the referral source must understand NPWT. Medela tries to help facilitate that
18 HMEBusiness | May 2017 | hme-business.com
Management Solutions | Technology | Products
“Wound care is a commitment. It’s a commitment in education and training. It’s also financial commitment. You can’t just say we’re wound care and not carry adequate type products. You have to be committed. That’s number one.”
— Ron Resnick, Blue Chip Medical Products Inc.