HQAA Blog

New Year’s Resolutions

Posted by Steve DeGenaro on Fri, Jan 12, 2024 @ 09:27 AM

When the ball dropped at the stroke of midnight January 1 this year, did you make any resolutions? Most people do—sometimes a new diet, an exercise program (January 1st is traditionally the busiest day in a gym!), a more responsible financial plan, or some version of “be a better person” by saying something nice to a new person every day or trying to bestow a compliment on a stranger.

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Topics: Employee Training, Billing, Showroom, Retail, Customer Service, Business Practices, Marketing, Equipment

Ending the Year in Style

Posted by Steve DeGenaro on Fri, Dec 15, 2023 @ 03:05 PM

I imagine it’s the same in other industries—December in DME can be a hectic, scatterbrained race to the finish. (“The finish” in this case being the end of the year). Financially speaking, it’s a time to try to maximize earnings and pad the bottom line, wrapping up billing cycles and completing tasks to prepare financially for the new year. Patient/customers that have met their deductible are anxious trying to consume healthcare before a new deductible cycle begins. December 31st is the end of a quarter, the end of a month, and the end of the year and there’s two major holidays –Christmas and New Year to work around. Staff wants to spend time with their families. And of course, company holiday parties abound.

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Topics: Employee Training, Personnel Files, Billing, HQAA Accreditation, Process Improvement, Materials Management, Showroom, Delivery, Warehouse, Customer Service, Disaster Preparedness, Emergencies, Business Practices, Infection Control, DMEPOS

Quality Improvement Indicators

Posted by Steve DeGenaro on Mon, Oct 09, 2023 @ 09:03 AM

DME owners and managers often cite quality improvement (QI) and/or performance improvement (PI) as one of the most difficult concepts to understand and one of the most difficult programs to implement within their businesses. And industry consultants and surveyors find the so-called QI Standards some of the most frequently cited standards for deficiencies and recommendations, and one of the areas in which they spend the most consultative time educating companies.

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Topics: Quality Improvement, HME Accreditation Requirements, Process Improvement, Customer Service, Business Practices

'Best If Used By...’ --A Look at Products with Expiration Dates & How They Are Surveyed

Posted by Steve DeGenaro on Tue, Apr 11, 2023 @ 03:17 PM

A woman in the grocery store who happened to be in line in front of me realized an item she was buying from the frozen food section was past its expiration date by about a month. She came to this realization perusing her items and just in time to bring it to the check-out clerk’s attention. The clerk admitted she didn’t realize frozen food even HAD an expiration date, and called a stock boy over to replace the item. The woman turned to me to apologize for the delay and said something about how the quality control in the store wasn’t what it used to be.

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Topics: Quality, Process Improvement, Retail, Delivery, Oxygen, Warehouse, Customer Service, Business Practices

I’m Thankful For...

Posted by Steve DeGenaro on Thu, Nov 10, 2022 @ 09:54 AM

In early November, each year, our minds turn to Thanksgiving. No surprise that Thanksgiving ranks as one of many American’s favorite holidays. It’s a time of positive reflection, a time to literally give thanks for all the blessings in our lives, and the gateway to the triumvirate of important holidays (Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year’s Day). And then there’s the food: a grand feast of turkey, ham, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, rolls, and pecan and pumpkin pie. For many people, it’s a glorious four-day weekend of eating, watching football games, visiting with family and friends, and reflection on the past year.

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Topics: Quality, Employee Training, Process Improvement, Showroom, Retail, Delivery, Competence, Work, Customer Service, Business Practices, Marketing, Infection Control, Equipment, DMEPOS

Independence Day

Posted by Steve DeGenaro on Tue, Jul 05, 2022 @ 08:40 AM

Just about every July 4th, I’m reminded of a holiday weekend in the late 1980’s, when I was just a pup. Well, not a “pup”, but a young respiratory therapist working in homecare and enjoying the Monday-Friday routine with no weekends, no holidays, and no night shifts. As an RT, to be in your late 20’s, and achieve a job with no shift work and no holidays was pretty amazing. I had mentors from the local hospitals that were my parent’s generation who were still working every other weekend and still working shifts and holidays. This particular July 4th fell on a Monday or a Friday (I don’t remember which), meaning there was a three-day weekend associated with it. Picnics, fireworks, getting together with friends, and a trip to the lake were all on the schedule. For the first time since college, I wasn’t going to be working a night shift or a holiday day over this important summer holiday!

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Topics: Quality Care, Oxygen, Work, Customer Service, Equipment

Contract Staff

Posted by Steve DeGenaro on Tue, Jun 14, 2022 @ 09:10 AM

You could write a book about “employee vs. contractor” pros, cons, legality, and operational efficiency. In fact, there are books written about that very subject. There are also lawyers who specialize in employment law who advise companies about how to structure their staffing around those two broad categories of staff. While accreditation organizations won’t delve into the legalities (that’s for the lawyers to do), accreditation standards DO in fact address both categories of staffing.

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Topics: Employee Training, Personnel Files, HQAA Accreditation, Clinical Practice Guidelines, Quality Care, Retail, Delivery, Clinical Respiratory Services, Competence, Customer Service, Business Practices, Surveys, Equipment

Mail Order

Posted by Steve DeGenaro on Wed, Apr 13, 2022 @ 10:48 AM

 

It's tempting to believe that those Amazon trucks that zip down your street every day are a completely new phenomenon. But if you believed that, you’d be wrong. Today, Amazon trucks descend on neighborhoods bringing appliances, clothes, books & music, and even groceries. A generation earlier, we ordered music from flyers in the newspaper—carefully selecting stamps with our favorite titles and sticking them on the order page, promising to buy four or five additional albums in return for a half dozen free ones up front. And the generation before that ordered small appliances and kitchenware from Jewel T men. And the generation before that could order up a mail order “kit house” from the Sears Roebuck Catalog. Truth be told, mail order is as old as the mail itself. Subsequent generations have refined the practice over the last century and a half; but the practice of mail order anything is not new!

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Topics: HME Accreditation Requirements, Delivery, Warehouse, Customer Service, Equipment

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE--IN THE DME INDUSTRY

Posted by Steve DeGenaro on Fri, Dec 10, 2021 @ 09:36 AM

Part of our family’s holiday season tradition is the annual watching of “IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE”. The movie is –in my opinion, anyway--a masterpiece of happiness and positivity. The primary lesson of the movie is that our deeds, both good and bad, have a profound effect on the lives of other people in our circle of friends and family. The main character, George Bailey, finds out in dream sequences reminiscent of Charles Dicken’s “A CHRISTMAS CAROL” that his life has had profound meaning because of his good work, kind deeds, and charitable attitude.

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Topics: Quality Care, Retail, Delivery, Work, Customer Service, Equipment

When a Surveyor Calls…

Posted by Steve DeGenaro on Fri, Sep 10, 2021 @ 10:38 AM

Since the early days of the Covid pandemic, surveyors have been avoiding “home visits”—those interactive ride alongs where the surveyor goes with a delivery person or clinician to visit a patient/customer in their home. This is for the safety of the staff members, the surveyor, and most important, the patient/customer. Although our process has changed a bit over the last few months, the surveyors are still not going out on home visits and are not likely to start that process up again any time soon.

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Topics: Delivery, Customer Service, Surveys, Equipment