When HME/DME providers started to experience the effects of cuts in Medicare reimbursements, the owners of Buckeye Home Medical Equipment knew they had to find a solution. Theirs involved expanding their retail sections. Like many other providers, the continued growth of the retail section is now an essential part of their DME business. Debbie Williams, the director of retail at Buckeye Home Medical Equipment, says that the change in the industry toward a focus on retail is reflected at tradeshows. “You never used to see a class on retail sales at Medtrade,” she says, “but now you do.”
Rewards of Retail
Buckeye Home Medical Equipment is an HME/ DME provider with five locations in the Upper Cumberland area of Middle Tennessee. It is headquartered in Jamestown and has been in business since 1985. The owners—Bailey Fred Allred III, Brenda Allred and Paula Allred Frazier—established the company as a referral source for doctors, but it has since evolved into a full-line provider. In the past five years the business has expanded to meet the needs of patients by offering retail sections at each of its five Tennessee locations, which include Cookeville, Crossville, Livingston and Huntsville. With all of the challenges that working with Medicare now presents, retail has become their main focus.
The companyexamines each of its retail sections monthly to make sure they are reaching their goals, providing their patients with what they need and continuing to grow.
Williams says that Buckeye was ahead of the game in recognizing the importance of retail and taking action to expand their cash sales sections early on. The owners and staff believe that the future of the DME business is in retail sales. Remaining true to their focus on the future, Buckeye saw an opportunity to provide a complete health and wellness product selection for all ages—from newborns to seniors. As the importance of retail continues to increase in the HME/DME industry, Buckeye is constantly looking for ways to improve their approach to retail sales and to better serve their patients, whether that involves expanded product selections or educating them on the latest technologies.
Since many patients are now, or will be paying more for their own home medical equipment due to the effects of Medicare’s Competitive Bidding Program, Williams places a great deal of emphasis on product research. She does much of this research online and by attending as many tradeshows as possible throughout the year. “We are constantly looking for new products. Since many Baby Boomers will be required to pay for their own healthcare in the future, we must stay aware of the best and latest products for their needs,” she says.
Ongoing Education
Another aspect of their business success is education. The Buckeye team aims for constant improvement by providing the latest products and best education for their patients on how to use them by training its staff thoroughly. The company stresses the importance of staff training by bringing in manufacturer representatives on products they feature on a monthly basis. They provide motivation for employees to sell the featured products by offering gift cards or other incentives. The owners also offer opportunities for the staff to attend any conference they request in order to learn more about the latest products and the industry as a whole. “Our employees take pride in their jobs,” Williams says, “and the owners try to make it a happy place to work.”
Having been thoroughly trained on how to use the products they sell, Buckeye employees can pass that knowledge and skills along to their patients. They can demonstrate setup and use of the product to the caregiver or user. This makes a huge difference in the quality of life and care of the patient, because often Medicare-reimbursable products are sent to the users without much instruction or support. “Employees have to be trained on selling. The easiest way is to sell the benefit … how is it going to help the patient? What is it going to do to help?” Williams says.
Referral source to retail has been a challenge for Buckeye. They still depend on referrals, but have worked to educate the patients on the benefits of the product or equipment. “Changing the mindset from insurance to cash has not been easy. However, Baby Boomers are getting it!” Including all the locations, Buckeye has about 80 employees. The addition of the retail section to every location not only improved business, but it also saved jobs during a time when many DME providers were struggling and forced to let go of many employees. “Establishing our retail sections allowed a number of employees to keep their jobs and even created new jobs during a real downturn in the HME/DME business,” Williams says.
She believes that sense of loyalty, and a commitment to excellent customer service, is what makes Buckeye different from other DME providers. In addition to the constant training the staff receives, their stores feature a comfortable, homey setting. “Anyone can organize a showroom, but we make it feel like home,” she says. “We treat our patients like family.”
The setting is important not only because it represents the company’s focus on treating patients like family, but it also demonstrates to customers how the products they offer can actually be used. Equipment is displayed in a way that allows patients to see how the products are implemented in the home environment, so that they can imagine how they will benefit from their use in their own homes. Many of Buckeye’s patients are returning home from the hospital, and products that are displayed in a setting that feels like home helps them realize that home medical equipment does not have to be cold, clinical and uninviting. The comforters and sheets on the hospital beds are like those they might have at home, and lift chairs are set up as if they are in a living room. The showroom features a real bathtub. Patients can see the potential of home medical equipment being used practically, and also visualize it in a realistic setting.
The inviting showroom also offers patients a wealth of solutions. Buckeye realizes the importance of offering a complete product selection so that customers do not just go home with their basic needs having been met, but with all of their various needs fulfilled. Often, Medicare-reimbursable products are not a complete solution. Presenting the best options for patients, with a trained staff that know their patients’ needs, leads to more-positive outcomes and increased business. Customers often end up purchasing more than they’d originally intended as they discover new aids for daily living or bathroom safety products.
Innovative Ideas
Buckeye has further expanded the retail aspect of its business to offer health and wellness boutiques that are separate from its DME business. For instance, their Cookeville location features a health boutique that offers items such as wigs, hats and gifts for cancer survivors and those currently battling cancer. “Our idea for the health boutique is part of always planning for the future and the effort to keep growing to fit the needs of our patients and the industry,” Williams says.
Keeping in line with their mission of looking to the future and meeting patient needs, they also offer an e-store for patients who prefer to shop online (www.whybuckeye.com). Shopping online can be convenient for patients who have special needs or do not always have easy access to transportation. Other customers just prefer being able to shop from home. The e-store offers the same products available in the store such as oxygen, pain relief products, anti-snore pillows and several other wellness products.
Buckeye also focuses on details and organization to help keep their business running smoothly. The company keeps track of inventory through a point of sales system that automatically takes items sold out of the inventory. They rotate their stock every two to three months and prominently display their featured products in the showrooms. Williams and her colleagues believe that the organization of their showrooms brings their retail to the forefront.
The company also offers convenience. The location of each store was chosen and designed with their patients in mind, to make sure they can easily find and access the facility. The Jamestown location is especially convenient and prominently located only a half block off of the town’s main square. Each location keeps their senior patients in mind by providing plenty of easy-access parking that is close to the building.
Knowing Needs
Buckeye Home Medical Equipment plans to continue growing their retail business. Planning for the future, and whatever changes the ever-evolving HME market may bring, is what they intend to keep doing. Instead of focusing on what they can’t change, the company has managed to find solutions during difficult times by thinking entrepreneurially and staying focused on the patient’s experience. Expanding retail, providing an extensive product selection and serving patients of all ages has increased their revenue and provided complete solutions for patients. For Buckeye, patients are like family, and their focus on providing exceptional customer service in a friendly and at-home environment has proven successful.
“It’s about offering options to all of our patients—no matter their age or situation,” Williams says. “It’s about knowing what they need in advance, and making sure they get it.”
The History of Buckeye
Buckeye is a family business owned by Bailey “Fred” Allred, Brenda Allred and Paula Allred Frazier. Paula’s husband Darrell W. Frazier also works at Buckeye as administrator. Paula worked for the former owner, and when he decided to sell, Paula, her brother and his wife purchased the business. Fred and Paula come from a medically minded family. Their father is a retired doctor and their brother is now practicing in his father’s former office. From their background and experience in medicine, the owners realized that their business needed to be able to meet any patient need—any time of day. “Just because it’s 5 o’clock on Friday afternoon, people still get hurt, come home from the hospital or a baby needs a nebulizer. This is why we are on call 24 hours, 7 days a week,” Williams says.
The five locations are all in rural areas in the Upper Cumberland region of Tennessee. Buckeye has had a retail section since 2002, but in 2008, the owners decided to expand every retail section in each of their locations because they believed that retail was the future of their business. Williams became the director of retail and has more than 25 years of retail experience. Williams and the owners started the evolution into a retail-focused business by organizing and standardizing each location. Every location carries the same items so that if a patient is visiting another location, they can find the same item no matter where they are. Previously, many of the decisions about what was carried were left up to the individual managers of the stores.
The first year after expanding their retail sections, they had a 32 percent increase in retail. Since then, they have experienced an increase every year. Continuing to focus on patient needs and retail is how they plan to grow in the future.
