Service diversity the key to continued HIV business
Service diversity the key to continued HIV business
Expertise, familiarity with patient needs are critical
(Editor’s note: In the second part of this two-part series, Home Infusion Therapy Management speaks with home infusion agencies already providing care to AIDS patients. These experts tell you what it takes to get referrals from payer sources and physicians, despite the downturn of home infusion needs for those stricken with AIDS.)
Regardless of how well the current generation of oral medications work, there remain AIDS patients in need of home infusion services. Many of the agencies firmly embedded in the niche found that serving the patients came about as a natural expansion of services they already offered.
NMC Homecare, of Albuquerque, NM, began providing home infusion services to New Mexico AIDS patients through the infectious disease clinic at the University of New Mexico hospital. The hospital began sending referrals to NMC for oxygen or IV support. As the number of referrals grew, so did NMC’s expertise. Eventually, it received funding through the state to help start an HIV clinic in Santa Fe.
As patients have been weaned off infusion therapies and put on oral medications, NMC’s diversity allowed it to continue offering care to the patients.
"We’ll still do some of the nursing, such as oxygen and DME for them, but they’re getting the protease inhibitors directly from the manufacturer" says Jackie Woods, NMC general manager.
Diversification is proving similarly critical to Nations Healthcare in San Francisco.
As recently as this past June, nearly 80% of its work was AIDS related. That figure has since dropped to 50%. By providing what general manager Frank Keillor calls "value-added" services such as a social worker who specializes in working with AIDS patients, it’s keeping in touch with the niche, so if and when home infusion is needed, it will be there.
In Minneapolis, Apria Healthcare has provided home care services to AIDS patients for nearly a decade. Cheryl LaChance, PharmD, clinical pharmacist with Apria, says that its clinical staff accompanies sales staff on sales visits.
"They try to help better explain what we can do for that patient population," she says. Most sales visits are made to infectious disease physicians. "We address the needs of the patient population. It’s not so much a marketing tool as what we can do for them."
Meeting patient needs is simply the tip of the iceberg, though. Referral sources also look for other factors that show your agency’s proficiency.
"They mention everything that they’re supposed to mention: quality of care; consistency; being a patient advocate," says Marion Ratkewotch, executive director of Target Management Services, a management service organization in New York City. "The bottom line is they’re looking for an agency that is already accredited by JCAHO and someone they may be familiar with and have worked with already."
Experience and not just with the payer or referral source may be the difference between gaining referrals and getting passed over. NMC makes it a point to highlight its years of experience providing care to such patients.
"We certainly stress the fact that we have a vast amount of experience in that arena," says Woods. "We feel we can offer a little more than other agencies can because we’ve been doing it for so long."
Dealing with HIV and AIDS patients will likely require constant education for your staff. As the number of new therapies for this patient population increases, it’s important to be able to show that your agency and its staff are on top of the latest developments.
"We’ve all been attending additional conferences and continuing education courses to better our awareness of the HIV population," says Woods. "It’s more of a reinforcement and getting a new knowledge base of some of the new therapies that exist for the HIV population. With all the new antivirals coming out, maybe we don’t provide them because they’re oral, but we need to understand how they may affect the patient in the long run, which could affect their IV therapy."
In addition, NMC promotes the fact that it can provide "one-stop-shopping," an ability that makes life easier on physicians and payers.
"One of the biggest things is that we cover all areas of home care, that they can make one phone call instead of getting home care from one company, oxygen from one company, and DME from another," notes Jessica Neumann, RPh, director of pharmacy, NMC.
While expertise may close the deal, it’s your agency’s name that initially will attract payer sources.
"Clinical expertise is helpful," notes Neumann, "but our name is known in the state because we’re active in a lot of different areas."
Woods says one way to get your agency noticed is to sit on any boards of nonprofit groups that deal with AIDS.
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