Provider profile: All Star Medical is all right with retail

HERMITAGE, Tenn. - Provider Kevin Brown has been doing retail since 2009 and dropped insurance entirely in 2015—a decision he calls the “best move ever.”

“We don't have to worry about a random audit coming down the road,” said Brown, one of the owners of All Star Medical Supply, which has locations in Hermitage and Franklin, Tenn. “You can actually work on growing your business and we get paid upfront.”

Brown spoke with HME News recently about the importance of developing a “retail mindset.”

HME News:How important is it for customers to try out home medical equipment before they buy?

Kevin Brown:We've got a showroom full of products. We are able to show them and that's a big difference in why we sell them—they can try them out, they can sit in these chairs and on the mobility scooters. It's hard to sell from a piece of paper if you don't have it in stock.

HME:Did you have to retrain your employees to think outside the Medicare box?

Brown:We started out where we were winging it, putting that employee that did the insurance (on the sales floor). But, it's hard to transfer somebody that doesn't have that mentality. Once we went and got a retail mindset, that's when our business changed. We had to pay more for it, but it was like night and day.

HME:You no longer accept insurance, but does that background help you with customers?
Brown: If you ask us, we'll go over it with you but we'll also refer you (to another provider) if you think you can get it through insurance. I do some YouTube and Facebook videos going over things like letters of medical necessity and the guidelines to show you how to qualify for this piece of equipment. I think that helps us. It shows that we are educated.