2008 Year in Review

2008 was another good year for Cape Medical Supply on a number of fronts;

We made major investments in technology to help drive success for years to come; starting with an enhanced phone system in January of 08, we continued to move ahead, nearly changing our billing software before deciding during the beta tests that we were better staying put, for now.  We also added paperless filing systems to better manage our back-end paperwork and serve our customers better.  These investments allow us to better focus our efforts on patient care and free us from many of the restraints which bind healthcare organizations down and distract them from their core mission of providing the highest quality care possible.  The payoff for these investments will come for years down the road, and it is a small part of our strategy to be at the leading edge of technology adoption so we can best prepare our company for the environment to come.

We were honored as the business of the year by the Planned Giving Council of Cape Cod for our long-standing committment to philanthropic work in the communities we serve; it was a great honor for us to receive the award and we were humbled by the attention and feedback we received.

The most notable change 2008 ushered in was a major infrastructure update for our headquarters, completely overhauling our retail area, patient meeting rooms, warehouse, and staff offices.  It was a very involved project and our staff did a wonderful job tolerating nearly four months of construction.  The result is a dramatically improved office setting with better capacity for servicing our customers and better ability to manage the flow of people, information, and inventory, from beginning to end.

We also focused in on the pending cuts from Medicare, 9.5% to numerous product categories and the 36 month cap on oxygen reimbursements, coming 01/01/09.  We continue to work to promote our interests in Washington DC and are fortunate to have Senators Kerry and Kennedy, along with Congressman Delahunt representing our needs; they have shown strong leadership on healthcare issues and also a solid grasp on what companies like ours do and the role we play in the healthcare continuum. 

We continue to fail to see the wisdom in Medicare's legislative initiatives, however we react by reassessing our internal structure, not shirking our responsibility to service our patients to the very best of our ability.  Compromising patient care is not a rational or sustainable response to these changes; we continue to educate our patients on the issue, and work with them to develop service plans which match our payment structures, but cut back our service or compromise what we stand for?  That option is not on the table.

So, 2008 was an exciting year, and I left out many details, but 2009 promises to be exciting as well and we are anxious to get underway and see what our hard work, committment to service, desire for growth, and competitive fire will yield in the year to come...it's always a journey in our industry and I will try to capture much of it right here for you to follow along with.

Thanks for reading - Gary