Trustcare enlists consumers
By Tracy Orzel
Updated Mon February 3, 2020
GLENN ALLEN, Va. - Trustcare Home Medical Equipment has created a patient-based focus group to discuss consumer concerns and advocate for complex rehab at the local and state levels.
Armstrong got the idea to start the group from his financial advisor.
"They have an advisory board and I thought to myself, 'They listen to their clients; why don't we listen to ours?'" said Mark Armstrong, president. "I was looking to create a platform for people to express their interests and concerns, and let them drive the subjects.”
The group has six members, including a physicist, a retired IBM executive and a recent PhD graduate. Discussion topics include everything from funding (or lack thereof) for necessary equipment, like ramps and grab bars, to educating lawmakers about complex rehab.
To date, members have had meetings with Sen. Mark Robert Warner, D-Va., and Gov. Ralph Northam as part of their primary goal of getting Virginia to recognize complex rehab as a separate benefit category.
“We decided we need to advocate for recognition for CRT because if we're trying to define and gain access to payers, networks, etc., if they don't know what CRT is, it's a moot point,” said Armstrong.
The group is also trying to get in-step with NCART to better understand what has already been accomplished, what the current efforts are, and what future efforts will be, with an eye toward 2021.
“We think we're too late for 2020,” said Armstrong. “We've learned that the agendas get established early on, so you've got to be ahead of the curve.”
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