Page 17 - HME Business, February 2018

IF MARKETING IS THE SEED THAT HELPS YOU grow and keep customers, then data is the rich soil that helps grow and cultivate those markets.
With a light-speed increase in the sophisti- cation of technology, the ability to connect and
measure digitally, and the digital footprint left behind at the scene of a sale, data has never been so important for growing your business.
The practice of collecting and mining data to support a marketing strategy is typically called data-driven marketing. And although data mining may be commonplace in many businesses, there is plenty of room for improvement. According to CMO, a digital publication from Adobe:
• 78 percent of marketers say their data-driven marketing is either
embedded or strategic
• 64 percent of marketing executives strongly agree that data-driven
marketing is crucial to success
• 87 percent of marketers consider data their organization’s most
underutilized asset
DATA AND HME PROVIDERS
In part, caps, cuts and competitive bidding have pushed HME providers out of their comfort zone and into the wild west of consumer marketing. This game changer forces providers to compete with retail heavyweights, such as Walmart and Walgreens, in-store and online. A recent Forbes article reported that Walmart is in the process of building the world’s biggest private cloud, where it will process 2.5 petabytes of data every hour. “Over 200 streams
of internal and external data, including 40 petabytes of recent transactional data, can be modeled, manipulated and visualized,” the article states. To give you an idea of scale, one petabyte equals 1 million gigabytes.
But with that said, it’s about the journey. And the initial steps of intro- ducing even the most basic data collection into a business can produce very good outcomes.
“Patient and claims data is heavily underutilized today,” says Shaw Rietkerk, executive vice president and general manager at Brightree, when asked about HME providers’ business use of data. “Many providers are missing out on valuable information from their operations. Digging into their data can reveal greater visibility into their business to show which areas are performing well and which are not that should be targeted to enhance marketing strategies.
“Included in this data mining strategy is the ability to identify key referral
sources,” he continues. “Providers can determine this by looking at data, such as referral volume, how complete the referrals are from a documenta- tion perspective and the amount of the reimbursements. By analyzing such data, providers get a better understanding of their market, who to engage for their marketing strategies and what areas to track for future marketing opportunities.”
According to Wayne Bailey, director of client services of Bona de
Management Services, a look back at the classic four P’s of marketing (product, price, promotion and place) helps point to where providers stand today.
“Most small business owners look at promotion when they get into trouble,” he says. “But the main issue providers need to notice is price. The only room for growth today is maximizing margins, which requires advanced software tracking systems that tie every single item sold directly back to the inventory and making business decisions based on the hard data. I would say that most providers are missing stellar marketing opportunities by not taking advantage of these systems.”
As an example, Bailey pointed out that incontinence products have very low margins, which means all marketing efforts should be focused on Medicaid contracts, where there is the most potential for pro ts.
“You can only take advantage of this opportunity if you have advanced software systems that help you manage your warehouses and move a high quantity of product ef ciently,” he says. “Higher margin items like CPAP or CPAP resupply can be highly pro table, but only if you have the data available to tell you what you are actually stocking and selling. Otherwise, you’re just shooting in the dark, and wasting signi cant opportunities as a result.”
Lisa Anderson specializes in education and outreach for Universal Software Solutions Inc. She has managed large DME retail stores as well
as worked as a DME biller. She says her initial reaction to questions about using patient and claims data for marketing felt like “an ethical betrayal — like we would be dropping the last layer of protection for this vulnerable population if we start targeting them by combing through patient records.”
However, Anderson says she now realizes that data-driven marketing is not different from what is already happening in every other retail market.
“Maybe my initial reaction was the clinician in me reacting from a benevo- lent place, rather than a savvy retailer,” she explains. “Many of us are still learning that the market has changed, and our thinking has to as well.”
According to Anderson, she has come across estimates stating that over 30 percent of DME revenues will come from non-insurance sales by 2020.
“Providers are beginning to utilize patient and claim data more effectively, but many are still missing opportunities to provide additional products that can enhance the patient experience and maximize business with key referral
“The important thing is that DME providers must recognize that they must stay up to date with these methods of data collection, or they will fall behind and be trampled
by retailers who understand the
importance of data-driven decisions.
This is a paradigm shift. The models exist. The software
exists. Providers just need to jump on board.”
— Wayne Bailey, Bona de Management Services
“Patient and claims data is heavily underutilized today. Many providers are missing out on valuable
information from their operations.”
— Shaw Rietkerk, Brightree
“Maybe my initial reaction was
the clinician in me reacting from a benevolent place, rather than a savvy retailer,” she said. “Many of us are still learning that the market has changed,
and our thinking has to as well.”
— Lisa Anderson,
Universal Software Solutions Inc.
Management Solutions | Technology | Products
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