Home Health & Hospice Week

The 'big three' accreditors aren't the only game in town for suppliers.

With mandatory accreditation looming, now is the time for durable medical equipment suppliers who aren't already accredited to get moving.

You probably already know you can turn for help to the so-called "big three" accrediting bodies: Accreditation Commission for Health Care in Raleigh, NC; Community Health Accreditation Program in New York; and Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations in Oakbrook Terrace, IL.

But there's also a fourth organization that currently accredits DME companies. The Compliance Team, an Ambler, PA-based consulting organization, has been offering its Exemplary Provider accreditation programs for DME, home care and specialty services since 1998. The company's president and founder is registered nurse Sandra Canally.

"She's in there slugging it out with the big boys of ACHC, CHAP and Joint Commission," observes Glastonbury, CT-based accreditation consultant Vianna Zimbel.

Canally previously worked for a DME supplier where she conducted training in regulatory compliance. She launched The Compliance Team in 1994 to help companies through accreditation, with particular emphasis on JCAHO's process.

"As I worked with the providers, it became clear to me that the system needed improvement," Canally says.

One of the problems Canally witnessed time and again involved providers falling off track between surveys, which JCAHO conducts every three years. Two years after the initial survey, companies would call Canally back to help them get into shape again.

"I would walk in the door, and things would be worse than they were to begin with," Canally laments. "They did not continue the practices that were set up for the initial accreditation survey. I thought, this is not guaranteeing a high level of quality to anybody."

Last year JCAHO revised its accreditation process to place more emphasis on continuous compliance efforts. It also established a periodic performance review that takes place 18 months into the three-year cycle and will become mandatory for every organization surveyed by JCAHO on or after July 1, 2005.

Program Focuses on Patient Follow-Up

Canally says her approach differs from the big three accreditors' in a few ways. For one thing, her process can move more quickly, with providers able to achieve accreditation within four months. The larger organizations' process typically takes from six months to a year.

And while ACHC, CHAP and JCAHO still operate on three-year accreditation cycles, The Compliance Team offers a two-year cycle that includes annual site visits and quarterly progress reports.

Further, Canally's program strongly emphasizes patient follow-up. DME suppliers accredited through her organization must call patients within 72 hours of initial setup. That helps determine whether the patient understands how to operate the equipment and identifies any service problems.

"Every patient deserves exemplary care," Canally says. "You'd be surprised how many providers call me and say, 'I understand you have this exemplary thing, but do you have something a little less? We only want to do the minimum.'"

The Exemplary Provider program currently accredits 122 locations across the country and has earned recognition from third-party payers including AETNA, Blue Cross/Blue Shield organizations in several states and Liberty Mutual. The typical provider the program accredits is small to medium-sized - from one-person operations to 25 to 30 employees.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and contractor Research Triangle Institute have interviewed The Compliance Team staff as part of the process of choosing which accrediting bodies will be recognized under mandatory accreditation. While noting that CMS will likely grandfather in all accredited DME companies, Canally is confident that The Compliance Team will make the recognition cut.

"I'm going to do whatever I need to do to achieve deeming status because this is my business," she says. "I'm an owner, not a suit."

Note: Information about the Exemplary Pro-vider program is at www.exemplaryprovider.com.