Oxygen

Oxygen University

Oxygen experts sound off on how to help educate referral partners on oxygen options, and make them better lead generators to drive future business.

• By Joseph Duffy
• Jun 01, 2013

Oxygen therapy systems have rapidly evolved in a very short period of time. There are many features to understand, more products to choose from, and different funding options for getting devices into customers’ hands. But although this sizeable and continuous transfer of knowledge to oxygen referral partners is challenging, it is also a very good opportunity for HME providers to create more business.

Top referral partners vary by market but on average hospitals still generate the largest portion of new oxygen patients, followed by physicians’ offices and other health care facilities, says Joe Lewarski, BS, RRT, FAARC, vice president of Clinical Affairs for Invacare Corp.

“Many hospitals use case or care management models,” he says. “Case managers are generally nurses or social workers but occasionally can be a respiratory or other therapist. In the physician’s office it can be the physician, a staff nurse or often the office manager who coordinates the referral for home oxygen.”

On a scale of one to 10, Lewarski gives oxygen referral partners a score of four to five regarding how well they understand the wide variety of oxygen therapy options, technologies, and funding possibilities available today. For many prescribers and referral personnel, oxygen is often viewed generically and most people coordinating discharges or referring the oxygen to the HME have little knowledge of brands, models, features and benefits, he says. And it isn’t uncommon for a referral source to have never actually seen the devices that are ultimately dispensed to the patient.

Laurie Blakeslee, director of HME Operations for Advanced Home Care, is a little more generous, giving referral partners a score of six.

“Most referral sources have a good idea about therapy and technology options that are available; however, most referral sources seem to want to write a script for the newest, latest and greatest, without understanding the clinical implications of each type of product.”

Blakeslee points out that the referral sources typically want convenience for their patients, but the technology available is not clinically appropriate for all patients. This is a great opportunity for sales and clinical staff to play a role in the education of referral sources, she says.

“The message we should be communicating about oxygen therapy and technology is that there is something for everyone, but it is not the same for everyone,” Blakeslee says.

Educating Referral Sources

Keep in mind that your referral partners are being bombarded daily with marketing messages from competitors and other product companies vying for their time and attention. And we already know that today’s healthcare employee is without a modicum of free time, making even 15 minutes of face time a Herculean effort. Therefore, a variety of tactics is key when it comes to educating your oxygen referral partners.

Lewarski says a smart approach is a multi-prong strategy, including effective websites and marketing collateral. But by far, he says, face-to-face in-services that include demonstrations are the most effective. He also suggests using available, objective, published clinical and technical evidence.

“Most prescribers and referral sources want to ensure that the patients get an oxygen system that meets their clinical and lifestyle needs, so armed with information the referral sources can become a better partner,” he says.

Kelly Brussell, vice president of Operations for Homecare Concepts, and Ed Brown, sales account manager for Homecare Concepts, offer the following advice for educating referral partners:

• Bring traditional marketing literature to appointments that can be left behind for continued reference by the referral.
• Use demo units, which are great educational tools. A unit can be left at the practice for a period of time as a point of reference for patients and staff, and it lets them see it and touch it, and not just imagine it from a brochure.
• Do in-services at facilities, physician practices, and enduser support groups, and teach the benefits of some of the newer technology.

Additionally, there is a push from the patient community due to manufacturer advertising. Patients will very often see a TV advertisement and then contact their physician, or HomeCare Concepts directly, to find out more information or see if they are eligible to obtain this new technology.

Caleb Umstead, director of Customer Education for 1st Class Medical Inc., says the best way to help referral partners become better aware of oxygen technology, features, benefits and funding possibilities is face-to-face meetings; however, he also uses video conferencing software like GoToMeeting, mailing marketing literature, and holding educational events.

“Referral partners are so busy today it is almost impossible to get uninterrupted time for awareness of new products,” he says. “So we find that through frequency and persistence in short intervals using all the different mediums is the best way to educate about new technology. These can include face-to-face meetings, dropping off marketing literature, dropping off news about the products, and e-mailing a clinical study.”

David Baxter, president of Medical Necessities, says his company will provide “lunch and learns” when referral partners let them come in and demonstrate new products. He says that hospitals are much harder to get into now, so they often have to leave marketing literature addressed to the referral partners.

“Our sales and clinical staff do provide in-services when we add a new technology piece to our product line,” Blakeslee says. “The best strategies are needs-based assessments for the patient and referral sources. Understanding the physician and referral sources needs and pain points can be the best selling tool you have when you can show that you have solutions.”

Recruiting and educating referral partners are ongoing company processes that should be part of your business and marketing planning. Brainstorm with your team on the best ways to approach referral partners. Create a list of touch points that you use for all your partners: email marketing, literature, postcards, etc. Use this list every time you discover a new referral partner so that you consider every way possible to communicate to that person. Finally, make sure you have goals for how and when you are going to approach referral partners and stick to them.

Enlisting Manufacturers’ Help

Forming partnerships with oxygen product manufacturers is an excellent step toward reaching more referral partners. Manufacturers are the experts regarding their devices and technology and can offer literature and even personnel to make sure referral partners understand the latest product information.

John Lewis, southeast regional manager of equipment maker O2 Concepts, says that his company is available to help providers promote products to their referral partners. 02 Concepts does this on a request basis.

“As the manufacturer, we are the professionals and we know the ins and outs of our product,” Lewis says. “When you are talking to doctors, most of them say that they want a patient on a particular liter flow, but they don’t exactly know everything that the technology can provide to that patient. The technology is out there now so that patients can maintain an active lifestyle even though their condition is not as healthy as it had been in the past. So when you talk to these referral sources and physicians and talk about the portability of oxygen and what we can provide now, you start to see the interest and the excitement on the part of the physician and other referral sources because they simply didn’t know that this was something that is out there.”

Lewis also says that it’s important that referral partners understand unique product benefits that they can’t get from any other product. He says most doctors will ask for a product with a certain liter flow and as long as your product can meet those needs, you can then press other benefits and why your product fits the patient better than other products.

“As a clinician and an educator working for a manufacturer, I can assure you that we often work closely with our HME business partners to educate referral clinicians, often using a combination of in-services and CEU programs,” Lewarski says. “Some of the more innovative HME providers host education conferences offering CEUs to clinicians, which allows a wonderful opportunity to promote the best data, science and practices around home oxygen therapy.”

Where it’s been appropriate, Homecare Concepts has done joint educational sessions with manufacturers at referral locations, demonstrating various oxygen technologies. They do use manufacturer literature for additional information and to serve as a leave behind or reminder. They have also referred patients, their families and referrals to the varying manufacturer websites to view online tutorials about specific equipment.

In addition, Brussell points out that for referrals, groups such as The MED Group will offer webinars that Homecare Concepts can extend to its referral community to help educate them on the benefits of particular technologies.

Umstead says that his company uses manufacturerprovided materials. They also like to invite the manufacturer representatives to the 1st Class Medical office to educate the entire staff on the benefits of their products. He says they find this extremely beneficial so that everyone in the organization understands the benefits of each modality when promoting to referral sources. They also use manufacturers to help promote events, funding, and education.

Key Insights to Share with Partners

Prescribing physicians and other clinicians want home oxygen users to get technology that is clinically effective and appropriate to the patient’s activities and lifestyle and promotes compliance, says Lewarski. Good, objective information about the home oxygen technology that spells this out will be essential to effective referral education.

The key insights that Brussell and Brown tell their referral partners about technology, devices and other related information include:

It is best to determine the individual patient needs and match him or her with appropriate equipment.

The technology available today in systems like the homefill and portable concentrators let patients regain a level of
independence and freedom. It empowers them to control their oxygen needs.

For active patients, many of the oxygen generating portable equipment (OGPE) systems are equipped with conserving technology that will help to increase the duration per use for the portable tanks, as well as the battery-operated POCs.

It is important to understand insurance coverage criteria for their primary patient population. This will allow for an easy transfer of information from referral to supplier.

“Having a variety of technologies will make all the difference in a supplier’s ability to match the equipment to the individual patient needs,” Brussell says. “This will allow for greater patient independence and help the patients not only with activities of daily living but also to regain certain quality-of-life experiences, in travel, activities, the ability to attend family functions, etc. Utilizing newer technologies can help reduce electricity costs to beneficiaries, as well as help to eliminate the risk of falls due to lengthy tubing extending throughout the house. With the use of these systems, patients can achieve better outcomes and eliminate potential readmissions due to exacerbations of their disease state.”

For Blakeslee, key insights for new technology, devices and therapy that her company shares with referral partners include:

• We are invested in new technology to keep pace in the market, and provide the best clinical outcomes to the patient.
• Devices are not all the same and do not all provide the most clinically appropriate therapy for the patient.
• Scripting for some named POCs is not appropriate unless the referral source understands the equipment and the clinical implications of the therapy.

“Competitive bidding cuts in reimbursement, DME face to face, and written orders prior to dispensing will be challenging to all HME providers,” she says. “We must continue to share our concerns with physicians and referral sources so they understand the changes we will need to make to continue to be able to provide the equipment and therapies to patients.”

Baxter believes it is critical right now to be educating referral sources on competitive bidding and how that could possibly affect the development of new technology because of lower reimbursement. He also says to continually educate referral partners about the audit process and how that affects providers and the patient and how important it is to receive the correct documentation every time.

Lewarski says data can help demonstrate that providers can make a significant, positive difference in the treatment of oxygen referral partners’ patients. In a medical world, he says, focusing more on clinical efficacy and outcomes, and home oxygen programs that demonstrate clinically effective therapy, compliance, quality of life, and reduced readmission and unplanned visits are the new language of healthcare.

The key, says Brown, is looking to all the varying physician groups, such as cardiologists and internists, and discussing the benefits of oxygen therapy in the early stages of certain disease process. The goal is to become a resource for them.

“Providers need to be available when our referral partners need us,” Blakeslee says. “We need to make our company decisions based on the needs of the referral source. This includes modes of communication, using technology to transmit or communicate referrals and necessary documentation, including building and using templates in the referral source’s electronic medical records.”

Brown says that in-services can still be an effective source of education, particularly in facilities where there may be staff turnover.

“You want to be sure the referrals and healthcare providers know and understand what technologies are available to their patients and what the benefits are, and that they can get this technology from you,” he says.

Final Words

Referral partners are undoubtedly busy, so make sure your visits, literature, in-services and any other promotional tool you use are articulate, clear and to the point. Make sure your partners are convinced that you can meet the needs and solve the problems of their patients.

“We need to be better extensions of the physician and referral source practices; practice more needs-based selling; and help to relieve pain points for our physicians in order to provide win-win solutions,” Blakeslee says. “We need to continue to show value to our referral sources by providing education on equipment and technology, and patient outcome data, including re-hospitalization rates. We need to continue to work with the referral sources to help them meet their needs, while having honest, open communications, about what changes we need also need to make to thrive in our new reality.”

This article originally appeared in the Respiratory & Sleep Management June 2013 issue of HME Business.