Do you and your sales team need help finding the right high-value referral sources, finding new ways to grow your Home Medical Equipment (HME) organization, and increasing your sales productivity numbers?
You aren’t alone. This is a common challenge that many HME organizations face.
However, a segment of the HME market is often overlooked – Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS).
By analyzing and tapping into the Medicare FFS data, you and your team can better understand referral patterns and identify high-volume HME prescribing physicians (as well as competitors).
In this article, we will delve into the following:
- What is Medicare FFS?
- Why Medicare FFS is important for your organization?
- How you can use Medicare FFS data to increase referrals?
Let’s dive in!
Why Medicare FFS is important to HME providers
For HME providers like yourself, the Medicare FFS market can be a significant revenue stream for your organization. However – before connecting with physicians focused on the Medicare FFS population – your team must understand what Medicare FFS is and the value that it can bring to your organization.
What is Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS)?
According to CRS, “Medicare FFS is a program that pays physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities based on statutorily established payment systems, most of which are updated annually through regulations.”
The Medicare FFS program covers various medical services, from hospital visits to medical equipment and supplies. In this payment model, healthcare providers are reimbursed for each service provided to patients 65 years and older.
So, now that we understand what Medicare FFS is – how does this apply to helping your team connect with the right referral sources?
Why is the Medicare FFS market important?
Did you know?
Every day, over 10,000 people in the U.S. turn 65 years and older, leading to a rapidly growing Medicare population.
As a result, your sales team must be equipped with the right tools and technology to keep up with the ever-growing demand for HME.
So, how can your team stay ahead of the game?
By having access to market data analytics for the areas you service – your team can create a strategy for reps to build meaningful connections and demonstrate the value your organization can bring.
Your reps can efficiently and effectively narrow their search for those high-value referral sources. Through decile order ranking and payer mix analysis — you can create targeted lists to identify the ideal physician profile, saving your reps time and resources.
By building meaningful connections and expanding your referral network, you can quickly grow your market share, provide quality care to patients, and stay ahead of your competition.
How HME providers can use Medicare FFS data to increase referrals
Now that we’ve established the importance of Medicare FFS data for HME providers, let’s dive into how they can use it to increase referrals.
By leveraging Medicare FFS data, HME providers can better understand how to identify top referring physicians and analyze physician fulfillment patterns.
Identify Top Referring Physicians
HME providers can create data-driven referral connections with access to complete Medicare Fee-For-Service data.
When utilizing a market data analytics platform that acts like a “fish finder,” your sales reps can identify the top referring physicians in their market and gain increased visibility into their market overall.
By better identifying the highest value referral sources and monitoring order rank, diagnosis rank, and payer mix, you can streamline the referral process and focus your efforts where they matter most.
Without understanding the market and leveraging data, your reps would spend most of their time reaching out to physicians who may not be a good target instead of focusing on and connecting with the right physicians.
To become a top referral destination in the HME market, your team must continue to build trust and relationships with the right physicians.
Analyze Physician Fulfillment Patterns
Now that your reps have found the top physicians in your market, the next step is digging deeper into the data.
With a market data analysis platform, sales reps can get super specific with which physician they want to target in their territory through advanced filtering capabilities by location, specialty, order rank, payer mix and more. Sales reps can see where the physicians are, who is fulfilling the top orders, and who the top players in your market are.
For example, by using specific filters such as “Arizona,” “mobility,” and “Medicare FFS 50%+,” HME providers can identify and focus on the physicians most likely to generate valuable referrals. With these filters, your reps can narrow their territory list to find the needle in a haystack.
Diving deeper into the data also lets you see which competitors are the top referring destinations.
Continuing the example above, your rep can identify a top physician who refers mobility equipment. While looking at the physician’s data, they notice that your top competitor is providing 90 percent of fulfillment for mobility.
With that information, your rep can look at the physician’s profile, payer mix, and volume to put together notes for when they connect with the physician to create a meaningful relationship and show the value of your organization over your competitors.
Becoming a top referral destination
HME providers can use Medicare FFS data to develop targeted marketing strategies, build relationships with referring physicians, and analyze physician fulfillment patterns.
You and your team can increase referrals and grow your organization by leveraging Medicare FFS data with high-value market data.
Want to learn more about leveraging a data analytics platform to become a top referral destination in your market?
