Winter Storm Follow-up

This weekend was our first winter storm of the season and it packed a punch, dumping well over a foot of snow across the region. We largely avoided extended power outages, which was a blessing for our home oxygen customers who rely on oxygen concentrators to breathe comfortably and safely at home. Our operations staff was very busy throughout the weekend tending to the needs of our patients in the community, getting them additional back-up equipment in advance of the storm and working to make sure everyone would be safe and not have to resort to emergency services or hospitalization. I am tremendously proud of the work we did over the weekend, and the way everyone pitched in this morning to make sure all vehicles were able to get back on the road to service our customers – it was a team effort (as always) and we did a lot to help those in need.

The storm also demonstrated something problematic; our total reimbursement for all that work was $0, it is “included” in our monthly reimbursement, whether or not there is an emergency or storm. I can accept that our payer partners don’t want to be “at risk” during weather emergencies, but as far as I know anyone who shows up at the emergency room is still required to pay (via their insurance) for services received, so every patient we keep at home represents thousands of dollars in savings for the healthcare system, savings that flow directly to the “bottom line” of the system because there is no concurrent cost they are required to pay us for the work we did. The value we capture here is not recognized by the federal healthcare system; I know because I have brought this very issue up countless times while in DC and been met with some variation of, “that’s interesting, good point,” meaning to me it had not been previously considered.

We continue to fight a heated battle with respect to our reimbursement for the various services we provide, and many of us feel we are not being treated with the same respect as other healthcare providers, nor do we feel there is an understanding of the role we play in the lives of our patients and the work we do to reduce overall cost within the healthcare system. We don’t want more, we simply want to be treated fairly and for there to be an understanding of the work we do with millions of Americans to keep them at home, where the cost of care is greatly reduced and where patients prefer to be cared for.

So, we did a LOT of hard work over the weekend; we did that because it is the right thing to do and because we have a responsibility to care for people at home. For that work, we received $0 in reimbursement, and incurred substantial costs. This happens every time there is a weather emergency or power disruption.

The message to Congress is clear here; stop cutting our reimbursement and stop criminalizing honest providers – the work we do provides tremendous value to American’s at home and we need fair reimbursements for the services we provide. If Medicare is having problem rooting out fraudulent providers, the problem lies with Medicare, not those of us who work hard and deal with every new piece of red tape they introduce to insure we are compliant and are operating a business of high integrity.

Huge thanks to our team members who braved the storm to provide service to patients this weekend, and thank you to our patients who understood our limitations during what proved to be a particularly difficult winter storm…we do everything we can without putting our staff in undue danger and were happy to get so much done during a very difficult period.