And your competition is already calling on these accounts
There’s opportunity in selling point-of-care testing to post-acute facilities. But as with any sale, it calls for initiative, persistence, and an understanding of the customer’s pain points.
Spending among skilled nursing facilities and home health agencies is expected to grow from 5.4% and 7% over the next eight years, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of the Actuary, points out Raquel Beckett, senior marketing manager, Point of Care and Non-Acute Channel, BD.
These groups have a reputation for being price/cost-focused, which in the past may have turned off traditional distributors from servicing them, she says. But that’s not the case anymore.
“As the overall provider system focuses on quality of care, these providers are turning to solutions that help them comply with regulations and avoid penalties – not just the cheapest alternative. [They are] much more sophisticated in their evaluation of services and products, and they are looking at the impact of their services and solutions across their systems.”
Beckett recommends that reps address the post-acute market by first understanding the pain points of providers and then recommending overarching solutions to help them systematically address them.
“For example, effectively containing seasonal infections, such as influenza, may be an area of interest,” she says. “But rather than provide one specific product solution, distribution reps must be prepared to discuss overall staff practices and patient handling in periods of high infection potential.”
As in the physician office, point-of-care testing in the post-acute-care environment enables staff to make rapid triage and treatment decisions when diagnosing a patient’s condition or monitoring a treatment response, she says. “By simplifying the testing process, healthcare providers can focus on what matters most – providing effective, quality patient care.”
SUBHEAD: POCT as a means of keeping costs down
Jonathan Overbey, corporate alliances and channel management, Sekisui Diagnostics, believes that neither post-acute providers nor distributor reps can afford to overlook point-of-care testing. Flu testing offers an excellent example.
“As we know, the flu is very hard on the elderly population and can have drastic effects on the health not only of the patient, but the nursing home,” he says. “Patients should be tested and if positive, possibly quarantined from the other patients in the home to prevent the spread to already immune-compromised people.
“Most flu testing is CLIA-waived, which means these facilities could do the testing with a simple CLIA license, and they can be run by almost any staff member with minimal training,” he adds. “The cost of running these tests is much lower than the cost of having to quarantine the nursing home facility due to undiagnosed flu.” Flu testing can be done for less than $15 per patient, he says.
But flu isn’t the only condition calling for point-of-care testing. Sexual health, iFOBT and other infectious diseases are others, he says.
“Testing should be done because of the higher cost of infection or the spread of infection,” says Overbey. “Treating accurately and quickly keeps other costs down [and improves] the general wellbeing of the nursing home patients. The cost of a hospital stay is much more than the cost of any testing. Besides, most people would pay for these testing services outside of their monthly fees.”
Distributor reps already call on post-acute accounts, selling gloves, gowns, table paper and other products and services, says Overbey. They need to include point-of-care testing to the list.
“All medical treatments and testing are moving closer to the patient,” he says. “[Point-of-care testing] is needed, and your competition is already calling on these accounts.”