Tag: Strategic Office Support
In brief: RFK Jr. in as HHS Sec, Schafhauser in as Homecare Champ, Carter in as OxyGo CEO
February 14, 2025HME News Staff
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate has confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the next secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in a largely party-line vote of 52-48.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was the lone Republican to vote no.
Kennedy will replace Acting Secretary Dorothy Fink in overseeing the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and CMS.
While Kennedy made a name for himself during the election for his focus...
SOS expands in Philippines
February 13, 2025HME News Staff
CEBU, Philippines – Strategic Office Support, which offers remote office support for billing and other back-office functions, is expanding its office space to accommodate growth. The new space, in a high-security, technology-driven business hub here, has capacity for 400 employees per shift, a secure infrastructure and training rooms. SOS has also launched a new video to offer a behind-the-scenes look at its office. “This expansion reflects both the incredible demand for our services...
What’s ‘next chapter’ in HME data?
November 1, 2024Liz Beaulieu, Editor
PORTLAND, Maine – A dearth of data makes it difficult for the HME industry to fully leverage AI and other developing technologies, so it may have to shift its focus, according to a panel of vendors at the HME News Business Summit in October.
Because personal health information is protected and because HME companies are typically smaller in size – “No organization here has enough data to feed a large language model,” said Dr. Charlotte Lawson, CEO and co-founder of...
Metrics: Change the course of dissatisfaction
December 12, 2023Skye Banegas
Q. Are your five stakeholders satisfied?
A. We started this series of articles stating that you cannot manage what you don’t measure, and this includes patient satisfaction metrics. But satisfaction does not stop at the patient. In our industry, there are five stakeholders to satisfy: referral sources, patients, payers, employees and vendors.
The HME industry usually relies on lagging indicators of satisfaction. Lagging indicators tell us what has already happened. This...
Metrics: Specialize & simplify
November 8, 2023Skye Banegas
Q. How can I supercharge productivity without hiring any more employees?
A. In 1920, Henry Ford took an economic principle from the economist Adam Smith and created the assembly line. The assembly line emphasized specialization of labor. Ford proved out the theory that an employee’s highest productivity is achieved with mastery over a set specific task.
Today, we see the most efficient companies employing specialization of labor to streamline order processing from...
SOS evolves into ‘full-service model’
October 20, 2023Liz Beaulieu, Editor
HOUSTON – Strategic Office Support recently expanded its remote staffing services to include revenue cycle management, says Sarah Newby.
SOS in July hired Skye Banegas, who Newby calls an “RCM wizard,” to lead the new service. Banegas is supported by a full team of operations managers, recruiters, trainers and hand-selected team leads in Cebu, Philippines, where the company has much of its staff.
“We were already doing revenue cycle management as part of...
Metrics: Live by the numbers
October 10, 2023Skye Banegas
Q. What financial metrics guarantee business health?
A. Although there are hundreds of financial metrics to consider for business health, we will focus on five: revenue, accounts receivable, cash deposits, denials and profit.
Revenue is the total of all booked sales for a given period. To know your revenue, your fee schedules must be up to date. You can then trend your revenue and track growth.
We must acknowledge that there is a delay between the booked sale and the...
Metrics: Start with correct setup
September 13, 2023Skye Banegas
Q. How can you manage what you don't measure?
A. Metrics. A lot of times we're frozen by inability to even know where to start. But start you must, because you cannot fly blind. In this industry with tight margins, crippling staffing shortages, ever changing fees and payer requirements, you must know and track what is going on.
Thankfully, the EMRs we use have the data. We must harness this data, refine it, and translate it into actionable insights. Only then...
Market for back-office services growing
May 18, 2023John Andrews
Automation technology has made great strides within the HME industry, organizing and streamlining operational office functions that go beyond billing. That progress has changed the dynamic of a provider’s financial processes and business workflow.
“Basically, there are many areas in the HME provider’s business, including revenue cycle management, where advanced technology and automation – including artificial intelligence – can be used to improve process throughput,...