Home Health & Hospice Week

Check out a fresh approach to compliance.

With mandatory accreditation fast approaching, home medical equipment suppliers soon will have to demonstrate compliance with all applicable federal and state rules governing everything from privacy to reimbursement to workplace safety.

That might sound like an overwhelming task. But attorney Neil Caesar of The Health Law Center in Greenville, SC has devised a system designed to ease the burden of HME compliance while at the same time preventing a syndrome he's dubbed "rule overload."

The malady's symptoms include mounting stress, general unease and the perception that rules are omnipresent and get in the way of running your company, he says. The problem can so overwhelm providers that they decide simply to go about business as usual until a total breakdown occurs in the form of stomach ulcers--or payer scrutiny.

But such suffering is completely unnecessary, Caesar asserts.

"There are an awful lot of ways you can use a compliance program beyond dealing with the rules," he tells Eli. "When done correctly with an eye toward maximizing value, compliance can be a profit center, not a cost center."

Run Systems, Not Rules

To help HME suppliers contend with compliance, Caesar has crafted what he calls the R.O.P.E. System.

That stands for Rule Overload Prevention and Elimination.

The R.O.P.E. approach is based on a new way of thinking about compliance: Instead of trying to keep track of all the various rules you're subject to, incorporate rule-compliant behavior into your existing operational systems--billing, warehousing and maintenance, delivery and setup, medical records, contracting and marketing, etc.

"Smart providers make sure their operating systems comply with the rules, and then they run their systems," Caesar notes. "They don't run the rules."

Caesar uses the metaphor of a "R.O.P.E. ladder" enabling providers to climb out of the pit of rule overload. The rungs of the ladder are:

1. Determine how you intend things to run.
2. Teach the systems.
3. Install reporting, investigating and monitoring systems.
4. Solve the problems.
5. Conduct ongoing education.

"We don't pretend that the R.O.P.E. System is a quick or easy fix," says Caesar. "But the initial effort to utilize this new approach toward compliance provides substantial and ongoing dividends."

For one thing, stress levels are lowered because you're focused inward, monitoring systems that are designed to make money for you. In addition, by integrating the rules into your existing operating systems, you'll understand in greater detail just how your company runs.

All in all, the approach will help you improve employee satisfaction, profitability and the ability to respond to business opportunities, Caesar says.

Note: For more information, visit The Health Law Center's Web site at www.healthlawcenter.com.