It has always amazed me how much of the DME industry comes down to education. The majority of jobs in DME involve providing at least some education as part of their job description, whether you are a clinician tasked with teaching patient/customers how to use equipment or take treatments or a delivery technician explaining the product to someone. Managers are expected to teach the industry and the nuances of a job description to new and existing employees. Billers often spend time teaching customers the intricacies of insurance reimbursement. Marketing reps teach referral sources coverage requirements for specific equipment categories.
It should not come as a surprise to any of us that many of the accreditation standards deal with some aspect of education. Staff, customer, and referral education is the responsibility of the DME and to succeed, DME’s need to educate clearly, efficiently, and completely.
Some of the standards that are about education include:
HR 5 - ANNUAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS: Lays out a required curriculum for ongoing staff education via a robust in-service program. Required topics include infection control and bloodborne pathogens training, safety issues, and HIPAA/Privacy Practice topics. There is no specific “number of hours” requirement, but the topics listed in HR 5 all need to be covered on an annual basis. Think of these as topics that everyone in the DME industry must comply with and understand.
HR 8 - PERSONNEL FILES: HR 8 has bullet point requirements for a number of important documents that need to be documented in a personnel file. One of the most important is “orientation” which of course is training staff on how to do their job. Educating staff on how to perform their job is one of the most basic and most important aspect of managing a DME business (or any type of business, for that matter).
PS 4 - CLIENT/CAREGIVER EDUCATION & TRAINING: I think of PS 4 as the “Granddaddy of Education Standards”. The standard spells out very clearly what education is required when instructing patient/customers. Proper use and care of the equipment is included in the list of required topics, along with education concerning the patient’s rights and responsibilities, HIPAA /Privacy Practice, how a customer can file a complaint, safety regarding the equipment and in the home, and the company’s hours of operation and contact information.
PS 6 - CLIENT MEDICAL RECORDS: PS 4 says that an organization is required to cover those topics and educate the patient and caregivers. PS 6 follows up on that requirement and requires that the education is well documented. PS 6 seeks an acknowledgement signed by the patient or caregiver stating that they have been educated and that they understand all that they’ve been taught.
PS 3 / CRS 2 – PLAN OF CARE / PLAN OF TREATMENT: These standards address the plan of care—a roadmap to how care is going to be done with a given patient regarding their equipment, supplies, or service. Plans of care are individualized documentation of how care is administered for each and every patient. They should include how the patient was instructed/educated, what caregivers received education, and how the education and training were received. CRS 2 covers CLINICAL plans of treatment, which are services associated with equipment provided. For instance, a patient receiving oxygen therapy equipment might also receive clinical respiratory therapy to help wean them from oxygen or to assess their ongoing oxygen needs on a regular basis. These care planning standards address how that education takes place and how it is received by the patient.
Other standards touch on education as well—even if it isn’t the primary focus of the requirement. Standards such as ORG 5, which covers compliance within an organization and QM 1, which covers quality improvement program requirements have provisions that include educating staff on compliance and quality improvement. ICS 8, which describes requirements for an effective Emergency Preparedness program, is about educating the staff (and patient) about what to do in an emergency situation. Many other standards mention educating staff or patient/customers about whatever the standard covers.
Educated customers improve outcomes in healthcare. Educated customers tend to be more compliant with therapy. Educated customers also tend to be more satisfied with services because they understand and thus appreciate what they are receiving from your organization. Educated staff not only understand their job better, they also tend to have more job and career satisfaction which leads to overall happier employees. Educated staff also can do their jobs more efficiently and effectively, which leads to better patient care and circles back to more satisfied customers.
There’s no downside to doing a good job educating your staff and patient/customers. Nelson Mandala once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world”. Embrace education in your company and watch the company grow and thrive.
