HQAA Blog

Fire Safety in DME

Posted by Steve DeGenaro on Thu, Mar 28, 2019 @ 10:49 AM

I’ve known two DME owners whose businesses were destroyed by fire.   In one case, a consulting customer of mine owned a DME in a Upstate New York strip plaza.  Two doors down was a laundromat and fire broke out and actually traveled through the walls.  The structure remained standing, but their inventory and the entire interior of their storefront were destroyed by smoke and water, despite the best efforts of the fire department.  The second case was a business in the south, located in a rented warehouse in a rather remote location.  The fire was arson, and investigators eventually prosecuted the building’s owner for arson and insurance fraud.  In both cases, the businesses had adequate insurance, and the owners rebuilt.  However, in both cases, the owners bemoaned their losses, suffered terrible inconvenience, and recounted stories of the irreparable harm the fires did to their operations. 

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Topics: Warehouse, Safety Officer, Disaster Preparedness, Emergencies

DME Policy Manuals

Posted by Steve DeGenaro on Thu, Nov 08, 2018 @ 10:28 AM

Many in the home medical equipment industry equate policy manuals to their accreditation inspections. And of course, these bulky tomes are certainly a large part of the accreditation and survey experience for every DME. Policy manuals serve as the road map for how work gets done within an organization, a set of rules for the organization, and the document that defines the structure, function, and philosophy of the organization. Let’s look at what a policy manual should contain and how it impacts not only accreditation, but also the overall day-to-day operation of an organization.

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Topics: Employee Training, HIPAA, Security, Personnel Files, Quality Improvement, Billing, Renewing Accreditation, Quality Standards, HQAA Accreditation, HME Accreditation Requirements, Patient File Requirements, Compliance, Patient Privacy, Clinical Practice Guidelines, Materials Management, Avoiding Deficiencies, CMS, Complaint Process, Quality Care, Showroom, Retail, Delivery, Clinical Respiratory Services, Oxygen, Warehouse, Safety Officer, Competence, Customer Service, Disaster Preparedness, Emergencies, Business Practices, Marketing

Resolutions for the New Year - DME Style

Posted by Steve DeGenaro on Fri, Jan 05, 2018 @ 02:32 PM

Cheers to a new year and another chance to get it right” --Oprah Winfrey

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Topics: Quality, Employee Training, HIPAA, Personnel Files, Quality Improvement, Billing, Quality Standards, Patient File Requirements, Compliance, Patient Privacy, Process Improvement, Materials Management, Avoiding Deficiencies, Showroom, Retail, Delivery, Warehouse, Safety Officer

Heroes Among Us

Posted by Mary Nicholas on Tue, Oct 30, 2012 @ 04:48 PM

Almost everywhere we look today, we see superheroes.  With Halloween nipping at our heels, the stores are advertising how we can dress up like the Hulk, or Catwoman, or Captain America.  Heroes seems to have a pretty high profile right now in movies, books, video games and marketers tell us all the time that we can be just like them. 

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Topics: Security, Materials Management, Retail, Warehouse, Safety Officer