Page 34 - HME Business, October 2019

ENHANCE YOUR ENGAGEMENT
Rob Boeye, executive vice president of HME for Brightree LLC
Of course, part of that effort to leverage patient relationships to make a difference with payers and partners must include the sorts of tools that help providers foster patient engagement. This helps automate repetitive
processes, such as sending out appointment reminders, requesting insurance updates, and communicating delivery and orders status.
The upsides are clear in terms of opera- tional cost savings, patient convenience, care outcomes, and payer relations. And, there are technology tools out there to do it, Boeye says (his company definitely makes those tools), but it’s not as simple as flipping a switch.
“How do we get patients to adapt and actually use them? How do we get them to scheduling? How do we get them to update their insurance cards? How do we get them to potentially show
us a video of the product that they currently have, so that a provider could diagnose and potentially even solve an issue as opposed to sending the truck on the road,” he says. “All of those things are available right now from companies on the applica- tions. Where I’m seeing the biggest struggles is with truly where does that provider convince that patient to actually utilize this app?”
That said, providers’ efforts to get patients to use patient engagement tools could be bene- fiting from an increased desire for self-service among U.S. consumers. Think about it: we currently use our cell phones to order tonight’s dinner and get updates on our prescriptions. Providers need to think about how they engage with patients in similar way, Boeye says.
“With a patient engagement app, that is really going to automate and simplify how they connect with their patients,” he explains. “I think they need to look to consolidate all patient interactions really into one secure platform. That’s going to empower care and free up resources and create opportuni- ties to accelerate cash flow.”
TELL A STORY
Wayne Slavitt, founder and CEO of Mobül: The Mobility Store
And then there’s in-person patient engagement. Many providers have made major transitions to retail sales, and for Slavitt, a retail-only provider, he says that providers need to think about how their staff and stores
help paint a picture in patients’ minds — they need to tell a story.
“I talk about ‘the story’ a lot,” he says “When we’re considering taking on a new vendor, for example, one of the first questions I ask is,
‘Where does your product fit in with our ability to tell our story?’ Because when a customer comes in, we tell them a story. You know, ‘We have this beautiful chair at this price, and we have these features on this one,’ and if we’re going to bring in another product that’s so similar to something we’re already selling, then that’s only going to confuse a customer.
“So we oftentimes have to ask the vendor, ‘Tell us how your product fits into what we’re trying
to sell. How is it going to affect the story? Is it going to make it better? Is it going to make it worse? Is it going to be confusing?’” he adds.
Slavitt’s entire store is set up to tell that
story. A sizable section of the store is made to resemble a home with different rooms. In each room a range of products is displayed so that they can show how they fit into customers’ lives. Then staff can lead customers through the store and the products and let the environment and the wares help them tell that story.
“We love walking through the store with customers,” he says. “We like showing them a range of products. The story has become such an important part of what we do.”
SHAKE THE TREES
Ron Resnick, president and owner of Blue Chip Medical Products
At the end of the day, job one for providers is to create new business, Resnick says. Providers must do the homework and find the new opportunities, whether it’s a nursing facility, health network, or whatever.
“The dealer has to get out of his office,” he says. “He has to get out of his retail store, and he’s got to go out and market. They can’t be too busy to sell.”
And Resnick adds that vendors are invested
in their providers’ success and will help facilitate that new business development if they can. His company specializes in helping facilitate educa- tional meetings between providers and potential funding or revenue sources.
“We go out and we hold their hand and we take them into places where we talked about calling on institutions, whether it’s long term care facilities, hospice,” he says. “And, maybe, in some of the areas, their reimbursement may not be great but, you don’t know until you go out there and you work it.
“We go out and we help educate the dealer and then educate the facility, because they may not have the knowledge or the expertise in a particular area like we do in our market,” he continues. “When we go into a facility, my job is to educate, not sell. The education sells itself. Then they say, ‘We want to work with that company providing it because they have the right know-how and the right products.” n
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BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!
In addition to payer relations and diversification, Legislative issues remain key priorities for providers.
While diversifying revenue and learning how to juggle multiple relations with multiple payers were a top priority for the board, there are some key legislative and regulatory issues when it comes
to the Medicare program that providers must continue to monitor:
Front-Burner Legislative Items
Cara Bachenheimer, head of the Government Affairs Practice, Brown & Fortunato
Plenty of time remains in the legislative session, and Bachenheimer sees three items as key priorities for the industry:
The first, H.R. 2771, which calls for reforms to competitive bidding in order to permanently provide
rural and non-bid area relief, as well as eliminate the oxygen budget neutrality requirement.
The second, protecting complex rehab, and there are a few items in this regard. H.R. 2408, would require Medicare to create a separate benefit category for complex rehab technology (CRT) wheelchairs. Also, House and Senate bills H.R. 2293 and S.1223 would permanently exclude manual complex rehabilitative technology (CRT) wheelchairs from the competitive bidding program and will delay Medicare from applying competitive bidding-derived reimbursement rates to accesso- ries for manual CRT wheelchair for 18 months.
The third, convincing HHS and CMS to walk- back their decision to include non-invasive ventilators in Round 2021 of competitive bidding. So far House and Senate sign-on letters have been circulated to help convince the agencies that there is Congressional will to see this change.
“That’s three topics that we have legislative initiatives in either the House, or Senate, or both. We probably have close to three months of legisla- tive activity,” she says. “Next year’s an election year so it’s going to be a tougher year. ... There definitely will be healthcare vehicles this year.”
And that means that while providers might need to juggle multiple payers and revenue strategies, they also must save some time for grassroots lobbying.
“We really need to do some more work, in
terms of getting more co-sponsors, getting more widespread support for these initiatives across the country,” Bachenheimer says. “That’s something that every single DME provider can do in their backyard. They need to contact their local, or D.C. office, or their member of Congress and ask them to get on board with these bills.” n