No doubt PAMA will change payment rates. Still unanswered: When, and how? There’s a good chance that, starting in January, your physician customers will experience a change in reimbursement for point-of-care testing for Medicare patients. At press time, it wasn’t clear just how much that change would be, or even in which direction – up or down – it would go. The Centers … [Read more...]
Flu Hunter: The technology to detect flu in the physician’s office keeps getting better
Is it a cold? Or is it the flu? That’s the question primary care providers face as the 2017-2018 flu season gets underway. Many will use diagnostic tests to make the determination and prescribe an appropriate course of action. The flu and the common cold are both respiratory illnesses, but they are caused by different viruses, according to the Centers for Disease Control … [Read more...]
Think Outside the Box
Successful equipment sales calls for a broader look at the customer’s wants and needs. A medical equipment sale used to be just about selling a table or light, says Kurt Forsthoefel, director, medical marketing, Midmark. “But, in today’s marketplace, the sale is about helping the customer determine the right equipment and technology, as well as helping them identify the … [Read more...]
Sharps Injuries
Providers face new reporting requirements New reporting requirements from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration may make it easier to ascertain just how many sharps injuries and/or needlesticks are incurred every year by healthcare workers. The agency is betting that the requirements will “nudge” providers to take extra steps to safeguard their … [Read more...]
Facing the Threat
Infection prevention will take a committed effort from providers across the care continuum At any given time, about one in 25 inpatients has an infection related to hospital care, according to federal government figures. In nursing homes, an estimated 1 to 3 million serious healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) occur every year resulting in hospitalizations and associated … [Read more...]
Keep Calm … And Adapt
How to carry on in the midst of uncertainty Healthcare reform is a moving target. Congress and the president had hoped to make a clean break from the past this spring, but were unable to do so. “We’re going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future,” said Speaker of the House Paul Ryan in late March, following the Republican party’s decision to pull … [Read more...]
The Pursuit of Excellence
Excellence is all around, if we look for it. Certainly it is exemplified in the manner in which these professionals practice their craft of medical sales. Pride, service, education, attention to the little things (that aren’t so little to the customer) are some of the things that came to mind as we share stories about this year’s recipients of the Repertoire/HIDA Excellence in … [Read more...]
March 2017
Click Here to Read (pdf version) Medical Distribution Hall of Fame Mike Carver Tony Melaro Dick Moorman Past Inductees PUBLISHER’S LETTER Dedicated to Our Industry Growing Leaders BJC HealthCare’s talent development initiative emphasizes leadership skills, technical skills and project-based learning. Moods and Emotions The Next Vital … [Read more...]
MACRA Nuts and Bolts
Editor’s note: The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 – known as MACRA – will change the way physician practices work, as well as the way distributor reps sell products and services. Repertoire readers should be familiar with the law. But it’s long – almost 2,400 pages. Watch Repertoire for brief explanations of the law throughout the year. This month: A brief … [Read more...]
New Measurements for HEDIS
Infection exposure risk one of the new measures for 2017 The Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set – HEDIS – is a tool used by more than 90 percent of America's health plans to measure performance on important dimensions of care and service. Because so many plans collect HEDIS data, and because the measures are so specifically defined, HEDIS makes it possible to … [Read more...]