Page 35 - HME Business, November 2017

when it’s more convenient when the patient’s relaxed, and had time to think.”
Time to Take the Leap
Lewarski notes that in his lengthy professional experience in respiratory care he had the opportunity to work with industry veteran David Miller, the former CEO of the MED Group. Lewaski says that Miller had an expression that perfectly applies to providers who are hesitant to take the portable oxygen plunge:
“Running an HME company as a family-run business, or a small, mid-size company like mine was — we had 100 employees at our peak,” Lewarski recalls,” he said, ‘You spend more time working in your business than you spend working on your business.’”
In other words, providers need to continually plan strategically, moni- toring their business and market; assess how they are performing against that strategy; and reassess when that strategy doesn’t pan out. It’s a constant process, and it’s fraught with distractions, but providers must keep working on their businesses. Having been a provider, Lewarski knows this first-hand.
“When I went back to High Tech and was running a company, it probably wasn’t even a month or two, and all these grandiose ideas I had when I left MED Group that I planned to implement got buried under day-to-day stuff,” he recalls. “Two of my trucks were in an accident today. My top biller just went out on maternity leave. This person quit. My liquid truck just exploded in the yard.
“Ten things, and all the sudden you
are buried in your business, and that was before audits, and competitive bidding and all that,” he continues. “All of the sudden you are buried in your business and you stop working on your busi-
ness and thinking about it strategically.
It is hard to step away, but where you
see [providers] who are able to do that successfully, who step away from day-to- day operations, you see providers that are surviving and thriving in tough times.”
Stepping away, it’s clear that respi-
ratory providers need to transition to portable oxygen because that is where the patients are going, that is how providers can protect their margins, and
that is where the new revenue exists. If providers want to continue serving respi- ratory patients, they’re going to have to take that leap of faith just to catch up. n
Management Solutions | Technology | Products
hme-business.com | November 2017 | HMEBusiness 19