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Marketing: Play with your brand

Q. How do we set ourselves apart in a “sea of same?”
 by: 
Anna McDevitt
  - 
06/22/2012
  | 
Smart Talk

A. As providers, most of you carry the same brands of equipment. Most of you have business models that include a mix of insurance and cash sales. Most of you have some combination of clinical, sales, operational, inventory and billing departments.

Finance: Plan for sale well in advance

Q. How, and when, should I plan for selling my business?
 by: 
Tom Shay
  - 
06/22/2012
  | 
Smart Talk

A. One of the benefits of owning your own business is the option of how you are established for tax purposes. As examples, you can be a partnership, sole proprietorship, LLC, Sub S, or Sub C.

ICD-10: Don't wait for ICD-11

Q. Could we skip ICD-10 and go directly to ICD-11?
 by: 
Gregg Timmons
  - 
06/22/2012
  | 
Smart Talk

A. Passing over ICD-10 for ICD-11 will effectively result in keeping the current diagnostic coding system for at least the next seven to 10 years. ICD-11 has not been ratified by any government or world health organization. In fact, when ICD-10 was mandated by the U.S.

Employee compensation: Detail sales incentive plans

Q. Can we pay employees commissions only?
 by: 
Ana McGary
  - 
06/22/2012
  | 
Smart Talk

A. Sales employees have a direct and measurable impact on the company’s bottom line profit; thus, pay structures for sales employees are typically represented in the form of total target compensation rather than a fixed salary. 

Marketing: Establish your brand

Q. Is it important to have a brand?
by: 
Anna McDevitt
  - 
05/24/2012
  | 
Smart Talk

A. As the HME world continues to become more competitive, it’s important to realize what a powerful tool your brand can become. 

Finance: Project your cash flow

Q. Q. Is there a connection between making a profit and having cash?
 by: 
Tom Shay
  - 
05/24/2012
  | 
Smart Talk

A. For a business to have a comfortable amount of cash on hand, the business cannot be experiencing a tremendous growth or a comparable downturn in business.

ICD-10: Prepare to avoid disruption

Q. What training will my billing department need for ICD-10?
 by: 
Gregg Timmons
  - 
05/24/2012
  | 
Smart Talk

A. Since ICD-10 codes will have an expanded character set, the change from ICD-9 will be a disrupter. With a higher level of detail, diagnosis codes will become more clinical in nature, and while HCPCS codes will not change, diagnosis connections will.

Employee compensation: Make bonuses motivational

Q. Are bonus programs effective?
 by: 
Ana McGary
  - 
05/24/2012
  | 
Smart Talk

A. Bonus programs reflect a company’s definition of success, how that definition is measured, and the extent to which that measurement is met.

Marketing: Use uncertainty to open lines of communication

Q. How can providers use the competitive bidding discussion as part of their marketing plan?
 by: 
Anna McDevitt
  - 
04/23/2012
  | 
Smart Talk

A. National competitive bidding (NCB) is on everyone’s mind. It seems like whether you bid or not, these are the type of regulatory changes that will touch every provider.

Finance: Create budgets to predict outcome

Q. Visiting with the accountant, I don’t know what to expect as I look at the monthly financials. Isn’t there a way to eliminate the surprise?
 by: 
Tom Shay
  - 
04/23/2012
  | 
Smart Talk

A. In a word: budget. Every business should be working with 12 budgets which represent the next 12 months. The monthly budget is your prediction of what that month’s income statement is going to look like. Row by row, you are estimating what the numbers will be.

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