Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/45026
■ A novel approach to paying for oxygen has benefited Missouri providers, says Rose Schafhauser. See story page 1. Hospital and homecare RTs need to communicate. . . . . 23 Cost-cutting tips from a pro ........................ 23 Provider woos new referral sources with scrubs. . . . . . . 24 Steve Welch rides online wave. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Providers WWW.HMENEWS.COM / NOVEMBER 2011 / HME NEWS 23 BRIEFS CareCentrix gets infusion EAST HARTFORD, Conn. and PALO ALTO, Calif. – Summit Partners, a private equity firm, has completed its investment in Care- Centrix, it was announced in a Sept. 20 release. The investment will bolster Care- Centrix's continued growth and fund new product offerings. CareCentrix serves more than 30 million people nationally though 7,000 providers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Hill-Rom settles massive fraud claim KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Hill-Rom Company has agreed to pay $41.8 million to settle claims that it allegedly violated the False Claims Act and other federal regulations. The settlement does not include an admission of guilt. Hill-Rom was accused of submit- ting Medicare claims for support surfaces for patients who didn't need them, or who had died. The claims were submitted be- tween 1999 and 2007. Hill-Rom allegedly made a practice of automatically billing patients without checking to see if the pa- tient still used the equipment. Lincare signs new $450 million credit deal CLEARWATER, Fla. – Lincare in September signed a $450 million deal with Bank of America to replace an existing $390 mil- lion revolving line of credit. Funded under the new agreement: Lincare's outstanding $80 million balance and a $33.8 million standby letter of credit issued under the old agreement, which were set to expire in December. Griffin Home Health named to top 25 list CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Charlotte Busi- ness Journal named Griffin Home Health Care to its "Top 25 Largest Home-Health, Home-Care Agencies" list. Griffin Home Health Care snagged the No. 2 spot, after being ranked at No. 3 last year. InHome moves to new, bigger home READING, Pa. – InHome Oxygen & Medical Equipment moved from an 8,000-sqaure- foot row home in West Reading, Pa., to a 30,000-square-foot building here in Sep- tember. The new location allows the com- pany to consolidate its five warehouses under one roof and accommodate an in- crease in business. The new site also of- fers more showroom space. Short takes Apria Healthcare named Mike Zafirovski to its board of directors, it announced Oct. 3. Zafirovski has held executive positions at Nortel, Motorola and five General Elec- tric businesses…Homehealthmedical. com has added Pollenex spa benches to its product offerings. The online provider offers HME, bath safety and mobility prod- ucts nationwide. Providers take hard look at Providers, patriots Alpine Home Medical Equipment in September was recognized for its support of service member employees throughout the years. The Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, which supports mem- bers of the National Guard, gave Patriot Awards to Alpine employees Sabrina Lee and Jeff Dawson, and a certificate of appreciation to Jay Broadbent, president of the Salt Lake City-based provider. Employee Bryan Lopez, a member of the National Guard, made the nominations. RT survey reveals communication gap BY THERESA FLAHERTY, Managing Editor IRVING, Texas – When it comes to reducing hospital readmissions, communication between hospitals and homecare providers will play a key role. But a recent survey of respiratory therapists reveals they have a long way to go. "At this point, there isn't a lot of joint effort between hospital RTs and homecare RTs," said Greg Spratt, homecare chair for the American Associa- tion for Respiratory Care (AARC). Spratt recently surveyed respira- tory therapists to get a baseline of information for his "Hospital to Home" program, which seeks to educate hospital and home-based RTs on how to work together to reduce readmissions. It's got to start with communica- tion, he said. "In three out of four hospitals, the hospital RT does not currently com- municate with the home care RT before, during or after discharge," said Spratt. "However, 12% said there was some kind of joint effort to reduce readmissions, which was a bit of a posi- tive surprise." The biggest barrier to communication: lack of a defined pathway for cooperative management. "They're saying, Greg Spratt 'Maybe we'd like to talk, but nobody's sure how to make that happen,'" said Spratt. "There's nothing difficult about any of these things. It's just a matter of someone taking initiative." The survey also asked about awareness of changes in readmis- sion policies and factors that RTs believe contribute to patient read- missions. HME 'The medical industry is very attractive to a lot of buyers' BY ELIZABETH DEPREY, Associate Editor CHARLOTTE, N.C. – With 15 years and more than 500 deals under its belt, VR Business Sales, Mergers & Acquisitions has built a reputa- tion for selling businesses in the Carolinas. Among the company's recent sales were Penrod Medical Equipment in July and Lake Nor- man Medical in August. Owner Jay Offerdahl recently spoke with HME News about buying and selling in the HME arena. HME NEWS: Are HME businesses hard to sell? Offerdahl: No. I think the medical industry is very attractive to a lot of buyers because of the baby boomer M&A SEE PAGE 24 businesses BY THERESA FLAHERTY, Managing Editor YARMOUTH, Maine – It's the economy, stupid. It's also competitive bidding, reduced reimburse- ments and increased costs of doing business that have providers taking a hard look at their business- es. Some have had to lay off long-time employees. "Overhead, gas, insurance, wages, workman's comp—maybe the nationals can absorb it, but I can't," said Mark Ehlers, owner of Ehlers Health Supply in Stockton, Calif. "I just gave a pink slip to an employee doing some of my sales. She's been here close to 10 years, and we have to let her go next month." Other providers have cast a critical eye on low performers—from products to payers. "We are analyzing the equipment we can't afford to keep in play any more," said Steve Ackerman, owner of Spectrum Medical in Silver Springs, Md. BELTS SEE PAGE 24 Lieber's bucket list BY THERESA FLAHERTY, Managing Editor C UTTING COSTS isn't just about eliminating products or people, says Miriam Lieber, pres- ident of Lieber Consulting. It's also about tackling business operations. Two of the biggest problem areas: wasted time and uncollected receiv- ables. Fortunately, improving one can improve the other, she said. SET EMPLOYEE GOALS Work with employees to set goals so that they have a concrete idea of what is expected of them, said Lieber. Employees do a much bet- ter job when they have something to reach for. "For example, let's say you decide your AR is out of whack," said Lieber. "So, to set the goal, I would look at each bucket—30, 60, 90 and 120 days. Fig- ure a percent improvement, like getting a reduction in the 120 days to get it down to 20% or less. Once they achieve that goal, they can move beyond it to the next one." AUTOMATE DOCUMENTATION Your employees may not mind faxing documenta- tion requests, but it's a huge time suck, said Lieber. Instead, providers should consider e-faxing— point and click and it's sent. The potential payoff makes it well worth the expense, she said. "By virtue of adding efax alone, providers have stripped days of waiting for documentation from weeks to days or sometimes hours," she said. The sooner you get your documentation, the sooner you can bill, said Lieber. HME Miriam Lieber