Features
Little Things
In the HME business, the No. 1 issue typically is reimbursement — with good reason. Reimbursement directly impacts your bottom line. And, while my main focus as a consultant is on reimbursement — as should your focus be as an HME provider — I also like to step away occasionally from the “big” issue and focus on the smaller issues that make HME companies unique.
How many times have you heard the phrase “It's the little things that matter”? Whether related to service or operational protocol, the day-to-day tactics you employ to run your business successfully also impact your bottom line.
Be Our Guest
To make sure she takes care of the little things, Kelly Riley, director of ViaChristi at Home in Ponca City, Okla., and her staff follow the “seven standards of care,” which Riley adapted from a Walt Disney Co. customer-service concept. The seven standards are as follows:
- Make a positive first impression.
- Treat others as guests.
- Develop service recovery.
- Communicate effectively.
- Serve others from a team-centered approach.
- Project a positive attitude.
- Make excellence the goal of everything we do.
Put Our Service to the Test
You may recall the song from Disney's popular movie, Beauty and the Beast: “Be our guest, be our guest, put our service to the test.” Although Riley and her staff may not be whistling this particular tune as they go about their business, they wholeheartedly practice all seven doctrines for providing service and doing the best job possible, from offering coffee and snacks to walk-in customers to fixing mistakes immediately and completely.
“When someone calls to complain, whether a patient or a referral, we listen and let them vent,” Riley says. “We deliberately lower our voice and speak softly and compassionately, whether right or wrong.”
