Respiratory

CENTER LINE, Mich. - Binson's Home Healthcare is full steam ahead. While some companies floundered when faced with 2005's respiratory medication cuts, Binson's nearly tripled the number of prescriptions leaving its pharmacy each month. “A couple years ago when we first starting hearing rumors of a cut, we just started being more proactive,” said Brian Chambers, the company's director of respiratory. In 2004 Binson's established a compliance department to work in tandem with its pharmacy. A compliance officer calls everyone on respiratory medications each month to see if they need to reorder. If the patient is being non-compliant, the officer recommends they check into changing their dosage. Since the department's conception, Binson's has doubled its regular unit dose patient load. “[The patients] build up a trust with the compliance department,” said Chambers. “They are building a relationship, where as other pharmacies are just filling prescriptions and you are in and out of there.” The compliance department also tracks hospitalizations so Binson's can check on the patients and get them set up with the products and medications they need when they are discharged. To generate sales in its other product lines, the company also started stuffing its prescription bags with vendor information highlighting the different products and services. “It has really been a nice little kicker,” said Chambers. “Many people are not aware of all the product lines that are out there. We also include helpful information on some products, like women's health and diabetes. A lot of people don't know that Medicare pays for two pairs of shoes a year.” Binson's has never been a reactive company when it comes to reimbursement changes. Instead of waiting for a 20% hit to their oxygen reimbursement, the company hired another sales person to generate more cash flow, Chambers said. “I just wish that this could be bringing money into the company because these are things we should have done years ago. At least we are doing it now,” he said.