A Sense of Community

In today's unsettled conditions, many small providers are finding it increasingly difficult to play with the industry giants, and some have decided to quit the game altogether. But Washington, Iowa-based Community Medical Supply welcomes the big-name competition.

The full-service HME is the only business of its kind in the town of 7,000, but in May, the company opened a second branch 55 miles away in Iowa City — more than eight times Washington's size — where it is going head-to-head with several major players, including Apria and American HomePatient.

“I think there's plenty of room for my style of business,” says Pat Smith, president and owner of Community Medical Supply.

And Smith's style of business — to provide top-notch service to patients — is what has helped the company build a reputation outside of Washington, he says.

“We were getting more and more patients and physicians in the Iowa City market saying, ‘We'd use you if you were in Iowa City,’” he explains. “It's an interesting place. People don't like to drive a long way. They feel strongly about doing business locally.”

Service Standards

This sense of community values is reflected throughout the operation of Community Medical, which Smith purchased in 1997. Today the $1 million business has 11 employees, five of whom are registered nurses or respiratory therapists. And according to Smith, his small-town company is counting on one big factor as the foundation for his business: service.

In a day when many companies are scaling back on house calls, the provider maintains its difference with personal and elevated service. “We visit oxygen patients every week — with therapists, not truck drivers, delivering service to them. It's a different level of patient care,” says Smith, who has spent 25 years in the health care field as a respiratory therapist and hospital administrator.

“Because of changes in reimbursement and the fact that Medicare is continuing to pay less and less, most of the big companies have gone to servicing [oxygen] patients every few months or so,” Smith notes.

Weekly visits for oxygen patients include changing the cannula, tubing and humidifier, checking the saturation, disinfecting the concentrators, cleaning the filters and replacing used portable cylinders.

On initial setup, the therapist takes his time with customers to instruct them on how to use the equipment and make sure they are comfortable, he explains. “It's not a quick setup and ‘bye!’ It's a personal touch.”