I’m all for reining in waste at all levels of government, but where’s the common sense here? And this is before we ever get to the points of NCB sustainability.

Will hospital discharge planners need to coordinate with a half-dozen home care suppliers, three of which are out-of-state, to send one Medicare patient home? I can hear the 2011 conversation now:

“You’re saying that you can supply the hospital bed, but can no longer supply the oxygen?”

“That’s right. You see, we didn’t bid 30% below our cost; however, I’m sure the bid winner who’s three states away will be happy to take your call.”

All for $1.7 billion annually for ten years. Maybe Thomas Paine should be required reading to become a bureaucrat.

A feather in Medicare’s cap for rooting out more fraud. No matter how the publicity angle appears, this is good news for the HME industry.

You’re thinking, “Brian’s finally gone over the edge,” right? Maybe. (Of course, maybe you’d been thinking that for quite some time!)

For at least two reasons, I believe this is positive for legitimate HME providers.

#1 – You didn’t participate in this fraudulent activity, did you? So how can you be held responsible? Don’t fret over what you can’t control. We can’t control whether someone else decides to commit federal crimes.

#2 – Medicare did its job by uncovering these crimes using the current tools available to it. Rather than continuing to tighten the screws on law-abiding, beneficiary-serving HME providers, CMS went after the bad guys. And it worked.

If CMS continues this strategy, other bad guys may decide that bilking Medicare isn’t as profitable as they’d hoped. The result is that more of the Medicare budget will go toward the beneficiaries who deserve a certain level of care.

CMS looks good for its stewardship over our tax dollars. Real HME providers look good for continuing to lawfully provide the products, services and intangibles that you provide every day. Now, that story has potential for a mutual happy ending.

Nearly 180 kids and young adults rode on buses last week from Harrisburg, PA, to Lake Station, IN. Did they unite for a relaxing summer vacation getaway? Nope.

They quietly and graciously sacrificed a week of their summer to assist flood victims in a very economically challenged part of our United States. The Gary, IN, area had thrived during our country’s heavy industrial heyday, but has steadily declined over the past few decades as businesses closed and jobs moved out.

Rebuilding a community center and public parks isn’t easy work. However, it can be rewarding work, especially when you’re truly helping others. I’m sure this proved to be an eye-opening experience for many of these young people — an experience they’ll never forget — as they met and befriended local people their own age.

We’ll always have need among us. The key is in how we respond to that need. It’s refreshing how these young people united for a very positive response to their neighbors’ need. Last week, they made a difference.

Here’s a link if you’re interested in learning more about these ongoing projects.

Extra coffee flows around CAU today. Industrial strength coffee.

Our sharp IT supervisor noticed a potential issue with one of our servers yesterday. After our chief technical officer and other IT staff evaluated the condition of the server, they decided to back it up, take it out of service and restore it from scratch. That included the operating system and everything on top of it.

This one decision wiped out family dinners, evening plans and a night’s sleep. When the rest of us arrived this morning, they were all still here along with a freshly brewing pot of coffee! The best news was that the server had been restored and was back in service.

This allowed me to reflect on my own “all nighter” experiences. The 24/7 radio business afforded many opportunities for a team to help listeners through weather emergencies.

You go on adrenaline (and caffeine). You make sacrifices because it’s part of the job.

You’re dedicated, because you know you’re making a difference for people who rely on you. It’s why we’re here. For you.

Sleep well tonight, my respected colleagues!

Fast retail transactions only make sense if they’re accurate. Throughout this series of posts, we’ve selected an existing customer, identified the products to be purchased, automatically assessed sales tax, and split the customer’s payment methods.

Once the leftover amount is $0.00 (either due to handing change to the customer or splitting the entire payment among various transaction types), Web Edition HME software displays a Checkout button. The Checkout button will not display until Change Due equals $0.00.

Web Edition automatically opens a new browser tab displaying the retail receipt. Here’s an example of a standard receipt, although you can customize a receipt to your specifications.

Since the receipt displays in your Web browser as a PDF, you can print it anywhere you want, including a 3-inch receipt printer. If your customer ever needs another printed receipt, you can easily accommodate. The duplicate will clearly display “Reprint Receipt” to signify that it isn’t the original.

At the end of each retail shift or the close of your business day, you can easily generate a Daily Cash Sales report to balance each cash drawer at each location and reconcile your bank deposit. You can view a quick sample featuring a single transaction.

Retail is included with your Web Edition HME software so you can easily tap into that revenue stream. Contact me or watch our quick video to learn more about how our express retail flow can help your HME business.

Let’s continue our discussion of fast retail transactions. Now that we know who our customer is and we’ve identified the products to be purchased, we can proceed to the checkout.

Using our intuitive Web Edition HME software, click Add Order at the bottom of the page to display the Checkout page. Determine whether the customer wishes to pay by cash, check or credit/debit card.

If you select Cash, type the tendered amount. Web Edition automatically calculates change to be returned to the customer.

If you accept personal checks, select Check. The page dynamically changes to allow you to type the check number. Credit and debit cards work the same way.

Has a customer ever asked to split a payment? "I only have $20 in cash. May I write a check for the remainder?"

Fortunately, you can mix and match any combination of payment methods in Web Edition. All transaction details conveniently print onto your retail receipt and tally correctly in your daily cash sales report.

That’s where we’ll pick up next time: printing your retail receipt and your daily cash sales report. Meanwhile, watch our quick video displaying the retail flow.

Let’s continue our discussion of fast retail transactions. Now that we know who our customer is, we can identify the products that our customer plans to purchase.

You can select the line items for your retail transaction in two ways using our Web Edition HME software:

• you can click the Product smart lookup; or,
• you can use a USB bar code scanner to record the universal product code (UPC) or a custom bar code label, which you can print through Web Edition.

We recommend the scanner to maintain speed and accuracy in a high volume retail environment; otherwise, the Product smart lookup will suffice. You can decide which will be better for your business since you can use either method at any time.

Once you select a line item, you may override the product description, retail price and tax amounts. Web Edition automatically calculates sales tax for up to five tax authorities to account for any state and local combination for each line item.

Continue to add and change line items as needed. All products display in a list with running totals until you’re ready to check out.

That’s where we’ll leave it for now. We’ll cover the express retail sales check out process next time.

The whole idea of retail screams, "Fast!" And since many HME providers have recently focused more on retail potential, let’s see how efficient your retail operation can be.

To examine the process, however, we actually need to slow it down, so we’ll use a series of posts and keep them in brief, digestible fashion.

Let’s begin with the most important part of the transaction: the customer.

Using our Web Edition HME software as an example, a customer named "Cash, Sale" defaults when you open the Cash Register page. Even if it’s a one-time customer, you still need to account for the revenue generated and the cash balance in the drawer.

Chances are great, however, that you will want to know who your retail customer is. That’s why you should be able to quickly select an existing customer (by name — even first name — or by telephone number) and add a new customer’s basic demographics.

With that precious data at your fingertips, you can:

• always know who (and what demographic) is buying what products;
• have a history of each customer’s purchases at your fingertips; and,
• market to each of those segments (by Zip Code, product, product category, birthday, etc.) to promote additional retail sales.

Send them your newsletter, Email healthy tips, mail birthday cards with a limited time retail discount as your gift. Now, you’re building relationships with your customers.

We’ll continue with more on express retail sales next time.

He’s still with us, but barely recognizable as the former player or even the man who most occupied my seat on the row at first base. Ironically, those seats no longer exist after this past winter’s stadium upgrades.

Unfortunately, I don’t believe he’ll get to enjoy the view from our new seats behind the home dugout. I know he’d relish the awesome perspective between the pitcher and catcher.

Now, we just wait. And we remember.

I recall his cheering the home team, accurately calling pitches or hit-and-run plays, and sharing stories of games past. I feel fortunate to have spent this mostly one-on-one time with him over the years.

You see, he was caretaker for my mother-in-law until her passing. We thought he’d get to enjoy the ballpark even more thereafter, but it was as if his health held on just long enough to see her through. Ever since, it’s been one medical issue after another, robbing him of his former independence.

Our family now gets to experience the coordination between hospice and a caring HME provider like you. Thanks, by the way, for all that you do in this respect. Believe me, it’s appreciated.

Meanwhile, rather than in a hospital room, I want to remember him in that seat near the first base coach.

The speculation on whether PECOS-related edits will deny your claims as of July 6, 2010, is maddening. The most we can say for certain is that it’s a possibility, and could be enforced retroactively.

Scary, huh? Even more frightening is that I can’t think of any business analogy of one party being denied reimbursement for services rendered due to the direct (in)action of another party, whose reimbursement is totally unaffected. Am I missing something here?

Now, on top of that scenario, CMS may allow your reimbursement prescribed by a non-PECOS enrolled provider after July 6. And then, some time this autumn, they can say, “You know what, Mr. HME? We’re a bit short on funds, so we’re going to reverse those claims from July 6 forward.”

Besides unifying behind a strong lobbying force like the AMA, the best you can do is use the best tools available to you to prepare for the worst-case scenario. I believe that includes our Web Edition HME software. Here’s why:

• you add physicians and their accurate NPIs directly from the NPPES database;
• you’ll know immediately whether a physician is PECOS-enrolled; and,
• you’re as efficient as possible, because you never leave Web Edition to get the accurate information you need.

Each PECOS-enrolled physician is highlighted with a green background in the physicians’ smart lookup. Plus, when you select a prescribing physician for an order, you’ll automatically see a "PECOS Enrolled" message display with a green background.

We can’t force physicians to comply with PECOS any more than we can show CMS that dumping on home care actually raises health care costs. However, we could help you get the PECOS enrollment information you need faster. So we did.