Page 19 - HME Business, May 2017

“Medela provides the clinical and business training,” Schwab explains. “We can help the HME and their other care partners — the nursing staff, the long term care facilities — we can help with that education and get them up to speed there, so there’s a little bit of a learning curve but it’s not long and we can help them there.”
Schwab underscores that the provider needs to work with a vendor that can also help facilitate solid patient and clinician support. No matter what time of day, if an NPWT patient has a question, that question should get answered. Providers need to have a safety net in place.
“I kind of think of it as a tag team,” he says. “If they need help with technical and clinical answers — whether it’s a patient or a clinician that’s taking care of a patient — and they reach out to the HME provider and if the HME provider either doesn’t have anybody available, or ties, but still needs a little bit more support, that’s where the tag team comes in. Under normal hours we have a staff of clinicians that can help answer that question. And if it’s after hours we have support that they can use, so they’re not out there left hanging.”
Fortunately, the equipment is pretty simple and straightforward, and not subject to regular revision or game-changing technologies that change the approach. Ubiquity has helped make NPWT very approachable.
“It’s becoming more and more standardized and more and more clini- cians are gaining familiarity and ability with negative pressure wound therapy than ever before,” he notes.
And that’s not surprising given NPWT’s aforementioned market expansion. With more and more diabetic wounds being treated , and with the elderly population continuing to grow, providers looking to expand into wound care should consider NPWT. Schwab reiterates that the market opportunity is there.
“There’s not a lack of at-risk patient population,” he says. “It’s going to grow, it’s a well-established business and there’s more than just Medela to gain educational and clinical resources. Now it’s a great time when the market is still growing.”
Getting Educated, Getting the Business
To Resnick’s earlier point, providers can fake their way through wound care. They must have the right education.
“There’s plenty of training out there for wound care,” VGM’s Trumm notes. They need to understand wound care. There’s a week-long course out there that they could take that’s available from the Wound Care Education Institute, and that’s a very good course.”
Trumm also suggests a provider add some “big guns” clinical expertise to the team, as well. Specifically, she suggests something like a Wound Ostomy and Continence Nurse. This is important because, while the WOCN is not allowed to touch the patient, he or she can speak the same language to other WOCNs and similar clinical staff on the patient’s “wound care team” to make the the right recommendations and give specific, product-related instructions.
“This is my soapbox — and some HMEs will 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,” she says.
That creates a level of expertise that will build the provider’s reputation and success.
“Then the referral source looks to that DME and they look to them as they have the expertise in wound care,” she says. “And that’s what will drive the business.” n
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What’s Inside:
What’s Inside:
IncreasingReferrals.............. 22 News, Trends & Analysis . . . . . . . . . . 8 MedtradeSpringPreview.......... 15 IncrementalRetailSales ........... 16 MobilityScooters .................. 26 AnHMECustomerJourney......... 30 Nightmare IT Scenarios Are Now a Fact of Healthcare Life Even a casual perusal of the headlines will make one thing
very clear: healthcare faces an ever- present data security threat. Local and national news continuously reports on hospitals and other healthcare enti- thiaecsktehrasttfarlgl perteinygtohehalcthkcearsre. ?WBheycaruese they know that healthcare businesses handle extremely sensitive data, and they will pay to protect that data.
A preferred method of attack is through ransomware. In a ransomware attack, malware is introduced into
the healthcare organization via an email attachment or similar method, and that software then takes over
the organization’s patient data. The hackers then contact the healthcare organization to tell it that they will release the data when the company pays a ransom.
l a s A t t y t e a a c r k s t h o a n t t h h o e s y p a i t c a c l s o u g n o t t e s d o f b o a r d 8 8
p e r c e n t o f a l l r e p o r t e d r a n s o m w a r e
a I n t t f a a c c k t s , t i h n e t h p e l a s g e u c e o n o d f r q a u n a s o r t m e r w o a f r e 2 0 h 1 a 6 s . become so mainstream that some hackers actually operate help desks to assist their victims in restoring their data after paying their ransom.
And that threat looms just as large over the HME industry. IT is a vital resource for providers, and now is the time to protect it. Learn more in this month’s cover story.
Data Security
for HME . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 18
F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 7 Volume 24, Number 2 hme-business.com
What’s Inside:
B N r e e w a k s , i n T g r e I n n d t o s C& o A m n p a r l y e s s i s s i o . n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4 8
SAupdpitos:rtTShuerRfaAcCe LisoBnagcekvi.t.y. . . . . . . . . 124 Medtrade Spring Products . . . . . . . . . .16 LeveragingMobileHealth.......... 34
A Ray of Much- Needed Hope Shines on the HME Industry
t A h r of t u e g h r a y h o e s a t i l r e s r e g o u f l a t s o t r r y u g a g n l d i n g legislative climate — thanks primarily to the competitive bidding program — the industry is finally feeling some well-deserved optimism.
There was a while where competi- tive bidding seemed like a fact of life aenvednatnhyeasnmdaallel estffroerftosrmtosatcohoiekvneot only multiple legislative attempts,
but multiple Congresses to achieve. But, the recent general election brought a President that has priori- tized deregulation and who has put leadership in place at the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that is sympathetic to the industry’s concerns and needs. Moreover, there is a Congress in place that is willing to coordinate with those agencies to advance the kind of legis- l a t i o n t h a t w i l l b e n e fi t t h e i n d u s t r y .
i t s F r i e n g a u l l y l a , t t o h r e s i i n n d s t u e s a t d r y o w f i fi l l g w h o t r t k h e w mi t h .
B i n e d a u r s i n t r g y ’ t s h ma t o i n s t m p i r n e d s s , i w n g h a l t e g a r i s e l a t h t i e v e and regulatory priorities, and how should it go about working to achieve those objectives?
Read this month’s cover story to learn more about how the industry’s prospects have improved on Capitol Hill and how the industry will move forward.
Legislative
Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 20
V o l u m e 2 4 M , a N r u c mh b 2 e 0 r 1 7 3
hme-business.com
Taking Shape
Hacked.
Why HME providers must prioritize data security.
Fingers Crossed!
Providers might finally get a break on Capitol Hill.
What’s Inside:
Respiratory Claims Audits . . . . . . . . 22 News, Trends & Analysis . . . . . . . . . . 8
RenewingAccreditation ........... 14 Product Solutions: Diabetes . . . . . . . 25 TheLatestHMEInventory.......... 26 HME’sNextBigCategory? ......... 30
10 Trends that Will Frame the Year to Come
Remote Patient Monitoring . . . . . . . News, Trends & Analysis . . . . . . . . . CompressionProducts............ ResMed’sAirFit20Masks ......... HMEInventory..................... HME’sIndependenceDay.......... The New Year Could Bring
Big Changes for HME Providers Each January HMEB profiles 10 key trends that will impact the industry. This year will probably be one of the more exciting ones that we’ve profiled since we started out Big 10 list in 2008.
h a F v e o r n s e t wa r P t e r e r s s , i d t h e e n t U i a n l i t a e d d m S i t n a i s t e t r s a wt i o i l l n , as well as a new Congress. Add to that the fact that longtime industry champion Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) and CMS Administrator Seema Verma
will be heading up U.S. healthcare, and the industry can hold onto some well-founded expectations that it will be working in a more accommodating public policy environment.
That environment will surely impact at least some of the industry and market trends that we’ve outlined for this year’s installment of the Big 10. That list includes: The outcome of
r t o u r r a e l f r o e r l mi e f c e o f mf o p r t e s t ; i t t i h v e e c b o i d n d t i i n n u g e a d s e a f f o r t whole; changes in Medicare audits;
t e h m e e o r g n g i n o g i n v g e r e t v i c o a l l u s t , i o s u n c o h f a r s e t w a o i l m H e M n E ’ s ; health, sports therapy, orthopedics, wound care and pain management; connected care and remote patient monitoring; and cost vs. quality pressures in the private payer world. And those are just some of the trends we examine. Make sure to dive into this year’s Big 10 list to see the key trends that will impact your HME business over the next 12 months. Annual Big 10 . . . . . . . Page 20
J a n u a r y 2 0 1 7 Volume 24, Number 1 hme-business.com
20 .8 24 26 27 30
Rethinking
A Fresh Look at This Category Could Create New Business
Aging in
What is aging
Place
in place? If you go by the definition that first springs to mind, “aging in place” usually means home access equip- ment, upgrades and remodels. It’s
Providers need to think bigger when serving this market.
a world full of widened doorways, complex product installations, measuring tapes, building codes, and contractor’s licenses. But is that really what aging in place means? It’s time to view this product and service category from a new perspective.
Why? Because patient demo- graphics demand it. The HHS Administration on Aging projects
that by 2030, there will be about
71.5 million Americans aged 65 years or older. The majority of those people want to live in their homes safely
and independently.
The products and services that will
help those seniors accomplish that goal are not limited to stair lifts and threshold ramps. There are all sorts
of existing DME categories that help seniors live in their homes — and that is exactly how HME businesses should be approaching the aging in place market, which many of them already serve via products that help seniors remain independent, healthy and safe. Read this month’s cover story to
see how an “out of the box” approach to aging in place could lead to
new opportunities.
Aging in Place
Product Categories . . . Page 16
April 2017 Volume 24, Number 4 hme-business.com
hme-business.com | May 2017 | HMEBusiness 19