Home Health agencies have long sought to acquire CMS physician data to identify those physicians who refer post-acute Medicare patients to help grow their census. Such data allows them to identify the exact number of referrals per physician and use that information to deploy their sales forces accordingly.

Sales people are a key component in convincing the physician to refer patients to their agency and nothing is more effective than face to face human interaction. Social media and advertising help create awareness, but it is the sales person who will succeed or not in convincing the physician that referring to his/her agency is the best decision.

The sales team must have access to two vital tools:

1. A good mobile app for CRM:

A mobile app CRM is the best and easiest way to enter and keep track of all the visit notes and /documents. It also affords management a way to oversee sales activities of their reps from a centralized desktop solution.

2. CMS physician data:

CMS data alone can be cumbersome to read and extracting important information about the physician or the nearby competition as compiled by Medicare can be a daunting task.

To aggressively grow an agency’s revenues the agency must employ a tool that combines CMS data and CRM functionality in a single, unified solution. This solution will allow the sales team to quickly identify the most important contacts, add that information with a click of a button into the CRM and then manage the entire sales process.

Therefore, it is vital for an agency to have access to a CRM system that incorporates the CMS referral data.

With PDGM started in January 2020 agencies will need to increase the number of referrals they process as the payment model is changing to look more like the DRG hospital model where payment will be based on diagnostic codes rather than length of stay.

One final consideration of course is cost. With the tightening of reimbursements, it’s critical that agencies identify and invest in the best tools at the best prices. Smart agencies know they don’t always have to spend more to get better results. 

Take a look at the new products on the market. New solutions are usually introduced to fill functional gaps that exist with the current products. The new generation of CRM solutions for home health may surprise you with their advanced functionality and lost cost. 

About the author

Antoine (Tony) Onaissi is the president and CEO of Isoratec, a CRM combined with business intelligence for the post-acute care industry.  Utilizing more than 25 years of home care experience he created Isoratec to be the ideal solution for agencies serving the home care market.  Tony can be reached at tonaissi@isoratec.com