Reporter's notebook: Provider 'checks in' with hotels
By Tracy Orzel
Updated Thu October 22, 2015
DORAL, Fla. - Show mobility provider Angel Pardo a hotel, and he will show you a potential referral source.
“We're constantly thinking outside the box, trying to get different revenue sources, different payer sources,” said Pardo, owner of DMR in Doral, Fla. “We don't want to put all our eggs in the traditional Medicare, Medicaid, and health insurance baskets.”
It started approximately a year and a half ago, when Pardo says hotels in Florida exhibited a renewed commitment to becoming compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Sensing an opportunity, Pardo launched a marketing campaign featuring pool lifts.
“We did direct mail pieces to all the concierges of all the hotels in Miami-Dade County,” he said.
As the hotels became more familiar with Pardo's offerings, they began sending guests with mobility needs his way.
“When they have clients who have broken wheelchairs, or if they're from Latin America and they're here to buy one, they refer the clients to us,” he said.
Working with hotels is not without its problems. Unlike hospital discharge planners, hotels don't have ongoing relationships with their clients, which adds an element of unpredictability.
“Hotels can go a long period of time without having a disabled member or guest who needs our services,” he said. “And then employees come and go, so we're constantly following up with them.”
Still, Pardo says it's worth it.
“We're a small company, but we get enough business that it's a good proposition for us,” he said. “And it's (cash).”
Comments