Page 19 - HME Business, Jan/Feb 2019

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By 2019, it should be abundantly clear to enterprising HME businesses that the Internet is where the customers are, and that they should have an e-commerce strategy in place to meet that market need.
when it comes to the HME industry. However, e-prescription has been finding its way into HME
and now that it’s here, the technology could offer several improvements for providers, particularly when it comes to claims documentation and patient data protection.
E-prescription electronically connects providers to their referral sources so that they can seamlessly and securely share information. This means that claims documentation doesn’t have to be a snipe hunt. Instead of angling for one piece of information or another, the information is entered and shared
via electronic forms. Given that providers represent roughly 30 percent of their referral partners’ docu- mentation load, any technology that can help relieve that burden will be more than welcome.
And providers that take advantage of these tech- nologies will stand out to referral sources that are looking to reduce the amount of time that they spend serving up the correct documentation. Anything that providers can do to make life easier for their referral partners becomes a strategic advantage.
E-Commerce
HME Business has been beating the drum on e-commerce for a while now, but there’s a reason for that: it represents a massive pool of retail activity that is looking for not only deals, but expert advice on good products — and that sits squarely in providers’ wheelhouse.
Most importantly, e-commerce is where the customers are. It is the reason that even some big-box retailers are having a tough time staying in busi-
ness. According to a June 2017 Forbes article, online sales grew faster in 2016 than they had over the past three years and account for 11.7 percent of overall
retail sales. More data: The Census Bureau’s tallied retail e-commerce sales in the United States for the
first quarter of 2016, and it grew 3.7 percent over the previous quarter to a total of $92.8 billion. Lastly, market data company Statista.com reported that health-related spending constituted 5.6 percent of total e-commerce. That amounts to $5.19 billion in one quarter.
Providers cannot ignore this in 2019. They must have some form of e-commerce strategy that lever-
ages their product and care expertise. That strategy could start with an online presence meant to drive traffic to the physical location. It could be a limited e-commerce presence designed to help patients purchase resupply items and other HME offerings online, but still in support of a physical location. Or, it could be a bona fide business that is dedicated to e-commerce and is focused on engaging with and transacting with online customers on a regional, national or international level.
And providers are in such a good position to stand out from online retailers. They can offer in-store product demonstrations and events; they can offer warranty programs that no online retailer could ever hope to compete with; they can even offer special service packages or things like free labor. Providers already have the competitive edge to cement repeat business; they simply need to wield it.
Bottom line: providers ignore e-commerce at their own peril. Yes, they might currently dominate their local market, but if they don’t take time in 2019 deter- mine their clients’ e-commerce wants and needs and develop plans to cater to them, they can expect to lose share of that market over time.
Online Competition
And the competition for that online business is fierce. To put the scale of online competition into stark terms, consider this: Amazon.com and retailers using Amazon are vying for as much share of the retail market for HME products as they can get. That’s right: Amazon
is your competition. So is every other large online retailer, such as Walmart, Target, Alibaba and CVS.
But it goes deeper than simple retail sales. For instance, last June, Amazon bought online pharmacy PillPack. Now, PillPack might be small as online busi- nesses go — it employs roughly 1,000 people —
but it gives Amazon a foothold in the $560 billion prescription drug industry. Moreover, it gives Amazon the ability to bill Medicare and other insurance for prescription items.
Offering funded HME items isn’t a short stretch, especially considering that Amazon has the ware- housing and distribution muscle that no provider can match. Now, we all know that a lot more goes
E-Prescription offers HMEs a way out of the
sea of audits they’ve been swimming in for years. Moreover, it gives them an opportunity to radically reduce the documentation load they put on their referrals.
E-Commerce is also where the competition is. Amazon has already been catering to retail HME needs. Now it has a prescription drug business, as well as warehousing and distribution. How will that shape HME in 2019?
Management Solutions | Technology | Products hme-business.com | January/February 2019 | HMEBusiness 19 Untitled-2 1 12/12/18 11:35 AM