Conferences: Provider picks

Joan Cross Scheme, Scams and FlimFlams: Marketing Schemes and Business Arrangements to Avoid When: Oct. 9, 11 a.m - noon Speaker: Jeffrey S. Baird In today's competitive market with rising costs, increased administrative requirements and decreasing reimbursement, the “get rich quick” schemes could seem to be the perfect answer to a cash flow crisis. Unfortunately, the “too good to be true” philosophy needs to play here too. What may seem to be, on the surface, a perfect idea may in fact bring government investigators to our door. It is our responsibility as owners, managers and employees to make sure that any new venture won't ultimately end up costing us more in legal fees and fines than it is worth. This seminar will help us understand the difference between legitimate ventures and those that will likely be harmful to our business and our industry. Order Intake: The Key to Cash When: Oct. 9, 9:45 - 10:45 a.m. Speaker: Jeanie Lane Cash flow is increasingly more critical to the survival of our business. With the constantly shrinking profit margins it is crucial to keep our accounts receivable as low as possible with a rapid turn around time after initial billing. One of the best ways to do this is to get it right the first time. Proper order intake is the first step in preventing denials, rebilling and lost revenue. Jeanie Lane has been around our industry for a long time and, through her consulting work, has probably seen every obstacle that can prevent timely payments. I have been to many of Jeanie's seminars on billing techniques and never fail to come away with new information that I can use to expedite my bottom line - clean claims and prompt payment. Joan Cross is AA President, Florida Association of Medical Equipment Services. Kathy Nichols Benchmarking HME Operations When: Oct. 9, 8:30 a.m. Speaker: Jack Evans Cooley Medical has been attending Medtrade for 15 years. We bring employees from several departments each year to participate in a wide range of seminars. First on my agenda will be Benchmarking HME Operations. The information obtained regarding DSO, A/R aging, profitability, marketing, advertising and other operational issues will be a value to our company in the upcoming year. We will use industry data from other successful companies to gauge our company's growth and success. This information is useful in setting goals and QI indicators in areas we want to improve next year. This seminar will allow me to do a quick internal audit to compare CME with the industry standards. Kathy Nichols is vice president of operations at Cooley Medical Equipment, Inc.