Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/56191
8 News BY ELIZABETH DEPREY, Associate Editor YARMOUTH, Maine – HME providers often overlook one of their most effective tools in getting proper documentation, Andrea Stark told HME News TV recently: patients. "Providers are not utilizing their patients as advocates and a lot of times you will have to involve them," Stark said. "Ulti- mately, they are the ones with the most vested interest in their care." Stark recommends that pro- viders supply a patient going in for a physician's visit with a proactive letter reminding the physician what Medicare needs for documentation. "Jurisdiction D has a letter to be taken by a patient with diabetes to remind the doctor to chart certain elements in their notes to ensure WWW.HMENEWS.COM / MARCH 2012 / HME NEWS Patients as couriers: Solution to documentation dilemma? Medicare will continue to pay for them," said Stark. Stark also recommends that providers strategize about when to ask physicians for documen- tation. "Ask while they still need something from you," she said. Providers who ask for docu- mentation after both the phy- sician and patient have every- thing they need are putting themselves in a difficult posi- tion, she said. Other strategies Stark offered: Give the physicians a deadline and use checklists of needed items. "You're setting a goal for them to try and meet," she said. HME BIDDERS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 knees. There'll always be wild cards, but hopefully this will be suppressed and limited." The Round 1 re-bid pay- ment amounts came in at, on average, 32% below the current Medicare fee sched- ule across nine product cat- egories. The original Round 1 came in at, on average, 27% below the fee schedule. Even with more rational bidding in Round 2, provid- ers know they still have to prepare themselves for lower payment amounts. HME pro- viders like Bill Armstrong hope non-delivery business models will help them soft- en that blow to their bottom lines and help them maintain their service levels. "We believe HomeFill will give us an advantage," said Armstrong, owner of Ameri- can Oxygen Kompany in Centennial, Colo., a suburb of Denver. Additionally, providers like Matt Kneeland plan to make up for lower payments with non-Medicare businesses. "Our plan has been mas- Another great reason to switch. HQAA is the only accreditation provider with an Online Workroom to efficiently manage the process. View videos about all 3 great reasons to switch to HQAA – and download our FREE switch guide – at www.HQAA.org/switch. Become a Quality Champion. 866.909.4722 MEDTRADE BOOTH 227 sive diversification," said Kneeland, CEO of Care Med- ical, which has branches in four bid areas in California. "We have an (e-commerce) site now that, within a year, will completely replace any lost profit that they're going to hit us with in Round 2." The whole process of determining bids, and what they and their patients can do without, has been unpleasant for providers like Irene Magee. "We're trying to cut out waste and excess cost, but this gets us into having to take a serious look at ser- vices we can no longer pro- vide," said Magee, vice presi- dent and director at North- east Home Medical Equip- ment in Green Island, N.Y., outside of Albany. "There are a lot of services we provide that are on no one's radar. It's a painful strategy, because you want to do what's best for the patient." HME