What About Service?

Perhaps more than ever before, home medical equipment providers face issues that present direct challenges to their business success. Competitive bidding, inherent reasonableness, unprecedented paper work requirements and the Health Insurance Port ability and Accountability Act, to name a few, are forcing providers to reassess their businesses to determine how they can prosper in these uncertain times.

Yet, during all the evaluations and audits, how many providers have looked for ways to provide superb customer service in this heavily competitive environment?

Companies that choose to place customer service on a pedestal and make it a true priority will succeed, according to experts.

“There are absolutely wonderful and talented providers throughout the home care industry who are dedicated to providing superior care and products to patients at home.

It is interesting, because you can see the superior customer service oozing from every pore of the business,” says Jonathan Sadock of Wayne, Pa., a partner with Paragon Ventures, a health care business merger and acquisition advisory firm with locations in Philadelphia and Charleston, S.C.

“You see it in the way the warehouse is organized and in the attention to detail, both in terms of the order and the associated paperwork,” he continues. “You see superior customer service in the attitude and in the smiles on the faces of the employees throughout the organization, from the guy sweeping the floor to the person answering the phone. It quickly is evident when a company provides superior customer service.”

Gary Schwantz, director of educational services for The MED Group in Lubbock, Texas, says providers who regard customer service as a priority make an active choice to do so. “I've seen some companies that do a great job with it, but it's not so much technique as strategy,” Schwantz says. “It's just their heart … they just have a great heart for their patients and a great heart for what they do. They're convinced that they make a difference in people's lives, so customer service is alive and well.”

Yet, even if a company wants to go the extra mile and win over its customers with top-notch service and attention, certain barriers exist.

Barriers to Customer Service

In HME, knowing who your customer is can be confusing. Is it the patient? Is it the caregiver? Is it the referral source? Is it the payer? The answer is, they all are, and understanding their needs is the basis of all customer service programs.