ANSWERS TO YOUR INDUSTRY QUESTIONS How can you differentiate yourself from your competitors?

MOST HOME MEDICAL equipment providers think that differentiating yourself from your competitors means that you need to find products that others don't have. If you can get a proprietary product, this is a viable strategy. If you can't, then you need to look at the way in which you do business for a particular customer segment.

Most HME companies have carved out specific customer type and developed their intake, assessment, product distribution, monitoring and discharge services around the specific needs of those customers. The more you can tie your services to the customers' way of doing business and make it easy for them, the more you can create a competitive advantage.

In the market research we conduct with managed care payers, case managers, physicians and discharge planners, these decision-makers continually cite their preference of working with companies that make their lives easier and reduce the hassles typically associated with home care.

Take a fresh look at how you do business and find out from your customers how you can integrate your system and services with theirs.

-Answered by Alison Cherney, president of Cherney & Associates, 9719 Concord Pass, Brentwood, TN 37027; 615/776-3399; fax: 615/776-3492; e-mail: cherneyaj@aol.com; Web site: www.cherneyandassociates.com

Why has Medicare decided to discontinue funding for toll-free lines for participating providers, and where can I find additional information on long-distance services?

TOLL-FREE ELECTRONIC claims submissions were originally adopted as a start-up incentive to encourage physicians and suppliers to become Medicare-participating providers and to submit their Medicare claims electronically. In light of reduced funding, the Health Care Financing Administration has had to reduce costs and, at the same time, continue to provide high-quality beneficiary services and to pay claims timely and accurately. Therefore, it was necessary to eliminate toll-free lines for electronic claims to achieve spending targets while maintaining most of the financial benefits that providers realize through electronic billing.

Please contact your local Medicare contractor for additional information regarding alternate long-distance services. If you do not know your local Medicare contractor or its telephone number, please go to www.hcfa.gov/regions

-Answered by HCFA, 200 Independence Ave. S.W., Room 314G, Washington, DC 20201; 202/690-6726; fax: 202/690-6262; e-mail: question@hcfa.gov; Web site: www.hcfa.gov