Marketing Dos & Don'ts

When you're rethinking or expanding your company's marketing plans, keep the following can- and can't-do's in mind:

What Your DME Company CAN Do

• Market through bona fide part-time and full-time employees. The company must comply with as many IRS guidelines as possible so that the IRS will classify the marketing rep as an employee (W2), and not an independent contractor (1099).

  Among other requirements, the company must exercise supervision and control over the employee. The company may pay the employee bonuses and commissions.

• The company can advertise on television, on the radio, in the newspaper and in other media outlets.

• The company may call on physicians, hospital discharge planners, home health agencies and other referral sources in order to market the company's products and services.

• On condition that the company secures a list of senior citizens in such a way that HIPAA is not violated (e.g., the list comes from an entity that is not a health care provider), then the company can mail out promotional literature to the people on the list.

  The company can include a stamped, self-addressed postcard. In promotional literature, the company can ask the recipient to sign and mail the postcard back, which will give the company the right to call the recipient.

• The company can offer an item of nominal value (i.e., retail value of $10 or less, not to exceed $50 per 12 months for each beneficiary) to a prospective Medicare/Medicaid customer.

• The company may call a Medicare/Medicaid beneficiary about the company's products and services if the company has provided a Medicare/Medicaid-covered item to the beneficiary within the preceding 15 months.

• The company can participate in local health fairs. In so doing, it can set up a table and give away items with a retail value of not more than $10. The company can put on a short program during lunch at a senior citizens' center, at which time the company can distribute promotional literature. The company can place a kiosk in a mall that promotes its products and services.

• The company may allow an employee to work on the premises of a hospital for a certain number of hours each week. This person is commonly known as an “employee liaison.”