HIRA 2015 Annual Conference

Independent reps and manufacturers who use outsourced selling gathered at the Health Industry Representatives Association Annual Conference this summer in Charlotte, N.C.

In keeping with the city’s pre-eminence in NASCAR racing, HIRA chose “Stay on Track” as the theme of the conference. But the theme applied to more than car-racing, says Executive Director Charlie Higgins, namely, “staying on track with our ever-changing industry.”

Opening speaker John Pritchard, publisher of the Journal of Healthcare Contracting as well as ACO Insights (MDSI publications), and The MAX (a provider of intelligence for the supply chain), provided an overview of GPOs, IDNs, regional purchasing coalitions and self-distributing IDNs. “The consensus seemed to be no one size fits all, and that each of them are continually working to establish a better place in the market,” says Higgins.

Linda Rouse O’Neill, vice president of government affairs for the Health Industry Distributors Association, reported on Capitol Hill developments, including bundled payments, the medical device tax, telehealth, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MEDPAC), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Medicaid expansion, hospital pay-for-performance, readmission penalties, physician fee schedules, post-acute care-cuts, and home care.

Joe Rini and Thomas Coy, partners at Rini & Coy Consulting, spoke about the role of the independent manufacturers representative in the future of healthcare. “The basic message was, you will not be successful tomorrow if you keep doing it the way you’ve always done,” says Higgins. Essentials include: learning to call on the C suite, providing buyers and clinicians with the value propositions of the products you represent, and being a stronger partner to the manufacturers you represent.

In his presentation on “Transforming Healthcare from the Inside,” Dave Edwards, vice president of supplier relations and business development for the Premier alliance, pointed out that legislative action, shrinking revenues, and new payment and delivery models are the new truths in healthcare. He provided insight into doing business with Premier and spoke about the things that Premier is doing to stay in front of the industry.

Paul Farnin, director supply chain, Hospital Sales and Services, Cardinal Health, shared the company’s perspective of the healthcare industry as well as the steps Cardinal Health is taking to stay abreast of the changes occurring in it.

Shea Blackston, independent brand and marketing strategist, helped HIRA members better understand social media and the values and benefits that the various outlets can provide in business today. “Shea provided excellent examples of day-to-day usage and of applications that all of our members can use to be more effective in all areas of our business,” says Higgins.

Charu Malik, senior director, strategic partnerships and research, Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), offered insight into the role that infection prevention and control is playing in today’s healthcare environment. APIC’s vision is “Health Care Without Infection,” and its mission is “Create A Safer World Through Prevention Of Infection. ” Malik pointed out that infection preventionists, as they choose to be called today, have an ever-growing role in product selection. Says Higgins, “The unspoken message was, if you don’t know infection control and prevention, it would serve you well to do so.”

Adam Glazer, partner at Chicago-based Schoenberg, Finkel, Newman and Rosenberg, and a legal counsel for HIRA, provided HIRA members an overview of succession planning. “According to Adam it’s never too early to start the process of succession planning,” says Higgins. “As a rep, whether you are a single-person operation or a larger multi-rep firm, you have worked very hard to develop a business that has ongoing value for you and those who follow. Due diligence, determining value/purchase, price/terms of payment, structuring the transaction, and the necessary documents and forms to ensure a successful succession, were some of the various details that Adam presented. All too often, succession planning in businesses across the country is left to chance.”

Rhett Suhre, director, health care credentialing, corporate development at Abbott, as well as chairman of the Coalition for Best Practices in HCIR Requirements, provided an update on vendor credentialing, including progress being made to establish a uniform set of standards and processes throughout the industry. Several large healthcare systems have now joined the coalition and are working with the supply side toward that end, says Higgins. “An encouraging piece of news is that the VA Health System appears to be moving forward to adopt a set of best practices much like those the coalition is supporting,” says Higgins. “Certainly the job is nowhere close to being complete, but there appears to be a much brighter light at the end of the tunnel.”

Christophe Morin, Ph.D., CEO, and chief PAIN officer at SalesBrain, a company devoted to understanding the human brain and its relationship to both sales and marketing, spoke about how sales and marketing messages are received and acted upon. He showed clips of TV commercials and demonstrated how they were able to achieve the results the companies were looking for. Morin is a faculty member at Fielding Graduate University, where he teaches a masters/PhD course called the Psychology of Neuromarketing. He has also written several books on the subject.

The final presenter was John Patterson, president of John Patterson Associates, CEO and founder of IZESON LLC, who offered a presentation on the value of understanding CPT codes and reimbursement information in order to more effectively sell medical products and devices.

The 2016 HIRA conference will be held next summer in Atlanta, Ga.