Home Health & Hospice Week

Suppliers praise increased competition, but some question group's independence. Home medical equipment suppliers could soon have a new organization to turn to when seeking accreditation - one that's especially attuned to their needs.

The VGM Group, a Waterloo, IA-based network of independent HME suppliers, is forming a new accrediting body called the Healthcare Quality Association on Accreditation. The initiative is VGM's answer to members' requests for a more affordable and less time-consuming accreditation process tailored specifically for HME suppliers. VGM committed $500,000 in startup funding to the nonprofit and expects it to be up and running next year.

The HQAA represents a "paradigm shift" for DME accreditation, says Executive Director Mary Nicholas. As VGM's research director, Nicholas previously studied the effects of mandatory accreditation on small HME suppliers, an estimated 60 percent of whom are not yet accredited.

HQAA will embrace high standards like other accrediting organizations, but it will differ in key ways, Nicholas tells Eli. For example, HQAA's accrediting process will be electronic rather than paper-based. It will also involve accreditation "coaches" who guide suppliers through the process and review materials before they're sent to surveyors.

"I'm here to complete the picture rather than compete in the picture," Nicholas says of HQAA's relationship to other accrediting bodies. HQAA has not yet announced its pricing structure.

The Medicare Modernization Act requires HME suppliers to become accredited to maintain their Medicare supplier numbers. Other organizations that currently accredit HME providers include the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations in Oakbrook Terrace, IL; Community Health Accreditation Program of New York; Accreditation Commission for Health Care in Raleigh, NC; and the Exemplary Provider Accreditation Program offered by the Ambler, PA-based The Compliance Team.

What it means for you: Having an accreditation program that takes the industry's unique needs into consideration would be helpful, suppliers say. More accreditation options would bring other advantages as well. "Competition allows for more competitively priced accreditation options for small guys," notes Eric Sokol of the Power Mobility Coalition. Too Close for Comfort? VGM is not the first HME company to consider establishing an industry-friendly accreditation body. Lincare Holdings Inc. also considered the idea at one point, HME consultant and former Lincare employee Vianna Zimbel of Glastonbury, CT, tells Eli.

Although HQAA is housed in a separate building in Waterloo, VGM provides all of HQAA's revenue and four of the six current board members. Nicholas plans to expand the board to up to 15 HME experts.

Zimbel sees possible drawbacks to an accrediting organization with such close ties to the industry it vets. "It's potentially self-validating," she observes. "Accreditation should be hard in order to separate the wheat from the chaff."

Zimbel also wonders whether HQAA has jumped into the game early enough to be [...]