Page 24 - HME Business, October 2017

PRIORITIZE RELATIONSHIPS
John C Eberhart, president of
Eberhart Home Health Inc.
Eberhart finds himself in a tricky spot. He is winding down his operation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after closing down his Dana Point, Calif.-
based provider business in 2013. While he now works for International Biophysics, the company that manufactures the Afflovest HFCWO solution, he is disappointed to shutter his respiratory and sleep businesses.
Still, he is taking a primary lesson to heart:
“Don’t beat yourself up,”
he says. As providers twist themselves into knots trying to survive audits, competitive bidding and other regulatory challenges, and as they struggle to expand and diversify into cash sales and
private payer, they must always keep in mind that much of their problems are beyond their control.
Moreover, they must remember that their patient and referral partner relationships still represent crucial assets.
“The most valuable thing that you have right now are the relationships that you’ve built over the years,” Eberhart explains. “... They can put you out of business. But they can’t touch those relationships. Keep in touch with them, reach out to them, say hello and see how they’re doing and how the DME is treating them. Then down the road, if, God willing, something were to change, those relationships are still there and those people are going to appreciate you because you didn’t walk away from them or their patients.”
RECAPTURING A MASSIVE MARKET
Joe Lewarski, vice president of global respiratory and sleep for Drive Devilbiss
At a time when providers
are twisting themselves into pretzels trying to work under- neath competitive bidding rates, branch out into private
payer and retail sales, and appeal to untraditional market opportunities, such as facilities-based care, Lewarski points out an astonishing but true fact: they are losing vast sums to the Internet.
“There are literally hundreds of millions of dollars of durable medical equipment, including higher respiratory device, such as CPAPs, POCs and aerosol machines, transacting for cash everyday on the Internet,” he says. “I’m not saying get into the internet business, because that’s hard thing to do. ... I’m saying those customers go there because they’re not being served in the traditional pathway.”
Traditional models are fraught with frustration and cost that are pushing patients online. In addition to Medicare often not covering devices patients want, patients of private payer plans often have exorbitant copays that exceed the online price for the same equipment. .
This leads Lewarski to wonder how can providers recapture the business that is lost in the no man’s land between funded business and retails? The path isn’t clear now, he says, but says some corners of healthcare are venturing into it, such as physicians creating boutique clinics, or cash menus at urgent cares. He advises HMEs must now explore ways to capitalize “in the gaps that exist in the current health care models.”
CPAP Compliance Doesn’t Have to be a Hassle.
That’s why customers choose CareTend.
“ With CareTend, I can satisfy all CPAP/ BiPAP documentation and billing requirements, which helps minimize denials and audits.”
Brian Hawk, RRT
Founder and Owner
FreshAire CPAP & Supplies, LLC
Visit the Mediware
Booth #1923 at Medtrade
Request a FREE DEMO today! Mediware.com/Medtrade2017 • 1.866.459.2254
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