Griffin equips docs with neb kits

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Griffin Home Health Care believes it has found a way to do two things that often don't come easily: save money and improve patient care. Beginning late last year, the provider set up loan closets with nebulizer kits in 10 physicians' offices, mainly pediatricians'. With the neb closets, Griffin doesn't have to spend the $50, on average, it costs to deliver the equipment, and patients receive treatment at the point of care. "We can deliver the equipment and do instruction, but we can't administer the drugs," said Brady White, general manager. "But a nurse in a physician's office or hospital can set them up on a nebulizer and give them a treatment right there.'" The neb kits, which Griffin loans to physicians' offices six at a time, contain a compressor and non-disposable and disposable nebulizers. They also contain instructions and other documents, including delivery tickets and HIPAA materials. When physicians' offices distribute the kits, they forward the appropriate paperwork to Griffin, which then files claims for reimbursement. Paperwork includes detailed orders and signatures that ensure nurses have set up the equipment and patients have been trained. To make the process as smooth as possible, Griffin trains the nurses on how to set up the equipment before setting up the neb closets. The last piece of the puzzle: a follow-up or "sunshine" call from Griffin to patients. Griffin's relationships with the physicians' offices that house its neb closets "work just like our relationships with other referral sources," White said. That means no kickbacks and an emphasis on patient choice, he said. "If there are kits from only one provider, and the patient doesn't want to work with that provider or that brand of equipment, they can take their order and go wherever they want," White said.