- Online communities, which offer powerful opportunities for proactive learning and problem-solving. These communities, comprised of providers on the same solution, offer access to articles, learning resources, training videos, community forums, troubleshooting information and peer-to-peer discussions at no additional cost.
- Instructor-led training, which include opportunities for both self- and group study. Providers can consider one-on-one learning, group training classes or on-demand virtual classes with live instruction.
- Professional consulting services, which focus on helping organizations implement scalable, business-wide best practices to improve workflow and processes, increase revenue and manage costs. Here, a consultant works directly with an organization to review their business, optimize use of their technology and implement best practices tailored to specific goals.
The Power of Professional Services
Working with organizations of all types and sizes, consultants are able to leverage best practices witnessed across the industry and deliver a personal touch tailored to each business. While these services are often very fluid, popular programs focus on technology optimization, operational workflow analysis, billing and connections, intake, inventory, metrics, reporting and KPIs.
The high-touch nature of consulting services helps address a key challenge for most HMEs – a lack of time, which was true for PCG Medical, a Metairie, Louisiana-based urological supplier.
“Our software has all the bells and whistles and is frequently updated with new features,” said Micheline Stephens, P.T., sales manager, urology product specialist and business owner of PCG Medical. “But if all those bells and whistles aren’t captured by the people using the software, if the staff isn’t taking the time to learn what they need to know to make their lives easier, then you’re not going to fully capture the efficiencies.”
PCG enlisted the help of a professional consultant who had direct experience with both the technology solution and urology business. The consultant worked directly with PCG to streamline processes and identify areas for improvement across billing, intake, documentation, revenue cycle management and more. PCG is now running much more efficiently with significantly improved billing processes and revenue.
And in addition to saving thousands of dollars and dramatically increasing cash on hand by 31%, delivering more accurate and timely supplies allows Stephens and her staff to fulfill the company’s mission of ensuring the best outcomes.
“As a medical company, you have to be very careful that you’re sending out the right supplies,” said Stephens. “A knowledgeable consultant can look at the problem and quickly provide the best practice. Now we have a workflow and safety measures to minimize mistakes and create a better patient experience.”
Maintaining Consistency
Consistency is key for sustained success. The range of available resources and services mentioned above are helpful tools for ongoing employee training as well. In fact, we find our most successful customers incorporate instructor-led classes into their annual budgets to ensure teams are able to capture new functionality for the greatest impact.
To stay updated, we also recommend providers keep an eye out for webinars announcing new technology releases, which is a common industry practice. These webinars give users the opportunity to receive training on new features and absorb potential implications for their organization ahead of launch. Many organizations find it useful to appoint a “Power User” to stay on top of these new developments and communicate relevant updates to the team.
Some technology providers also employ dedicated Customer Success Managers, who are responsible for providing ongoing insights, recommendations and best practices to support each organization’s goals. Customer Success Managers will also keep clients updated on relevant releases and recommend how to best implement them.
Implementing a new technology is a major achievement, but one that requires ongoing attention to maintain. However, the investment made in understanding a solution and staying up-to-date on new opportunities will benefit HME owners, their employees and their business for years to come.