Dennis Clock, recipient of this year’s John Sasen Award, continues to advocate for the med/surg industry

Committed to the Cause

Dennis Clock, recipient of this year’s John Sasen Award, continues to advocate for the med/surg industry.

Dennis Clock got an early start in the med/surg industry, watching how his father and mother owned and oper-

ated an independent distribution business. One of his father’s key tenants was contributing to industry efforts in government policy, and the overall collaborative efforts among healthcare stakeholders.

Jane Dexter-Clock (stepmother), Audra Clock (wife), Dennis Clock, Mikayley Clock (daughter), Robert Clock (father).

“You put in the time because that’s the right thing to do, and you do it because it helps strengthen the industry that you’re in,” said Dennis Clock, president and owner of Clock Medical Supply. The Health Industry Distributors Association (HIDA) named Clock the recipient of the 2022 John F. Sasen Leadership Award. The Sasen Award recognizes individuals who demonstrate exceptional leadership, commitment, and service to the healthcare products distribution industry and HIDA.

Clock served two years on the HIDA Board of Directors, from 2012 to 2014. Previously, he chaired the Post-Acute Advisory Council. He is currently a member of HIDA’s policy-focused Advocacy Council, AMS Sales Training Users Group, and Independent Distributors Leadership Council.

Clock shared with Repertoire what it meant to receive the award, industry initiatives he’s proud of participating in, and what 2022 has been like as an independent distributor.

Repertoire: What did it mean for you to receive the John Sasen award?

Dennis Clock: It has been quite humbling, honestly. I believe my dad deserves the recognition. He was the leader of this company and brought me into HIDA. He actually stepped back from his role, and let me step in at a very young age, and it’s been 25 years since then.

Having grown up in a family business, and listening to my dad tell stories about HIDA and his involvement, I started working with HIDA in the late 90s. You put in the time because that’s the right thing to do, and you do it because it helps strengthen the industry that you’re in. You want to have a voice in government affairs, you want to have a voice in relationships between manufacturers and distributors, and then you want to understand policy.

So it’s always been important to promote HIDA and its efforts, because for a small company like ours, it’s important to have an outsized voice. HIDA allows us to punch above our weight class. Having the opportunity to talk with peers and with folks in the industry that I hadn’t met before is the real joy. was just the perfect example of servant leadership. That’s where I believe the award comes from, and what I strive to do. So that’s why I feel honored by receiving this particular award.

Repertoire: In your work at an industry level, what are some initiatives that you’re proud to have participated in?

Clock: I think of three things I would probably draw the most attention

When I first joined with HIDA, we had one government affairs person, who was also our representative on the Hill. Now we have a team, we do a fly in, and we advocate for things that our industry needs from the government. Since 70% of healthcare funding comes from the government in one form or another, it’s extremely important to do that.

It also means quite a bit to receive the award because I was very fortunate to get to know John through my activities on the board of HIDA, and spend some time with him here and there. He always went out of his way to make people feel valued, no matter what their role was in the organization that they represented. Generally, every conversation I had with him was an honest one-on-one, and he was only focused on you in the conversation, which is rare. Most people are distracted these days with their cell phones and their different things, but John was looking you right in the eye and hearing what you had to say, then he would remember it later on. John to. The first one is HIDA’s policy role and the growth of our government affairs team. When I first joined with HIDA, we had one government affairs person, who was also our representative on the Hill. Now we have a team, we do a fly in, and we advocate for things that our industry needs from the government. Since 70% of healthcare funding comes from the government in one form or another, it’s extremely important to do that.

The second would be our ability to deal directly with the bureaucracy of CMS on competitive bidding. My company also does Medicare Part B billing, so we’ve been very involved with Medicare, trying to get them to understand that what they created

as a competitive bidding program isn’t working and won’t work. That’s why the last bid failed miserably. The bid failed because it is not a true market bid that allows prices to fall and rise, CMS only will allow it to fall and unfortunately it’s having repercussions downstream.

The third thing was to get an independent distributor advisory council together. There were councils around the different segments that HIDA represents, such as an acute care council, physician care council, lab council, but there wasn’t anything focused specifically on independent distributors, and the small business focus of those distributors. We created that council, and it’s one of the big introductory councils that people can join. We have cross-market folks coming in, and we’re talking about topics that are common to small businesses – workman’s comp insurance, health insurance, how we do payroll, what systems we run, how we encourage employee retention, etc. It’s been a successful group.

Repertoire: As an independent distributor, what has this year been like?

Clock: I think like most small businesses, distributors are naturally between a rock and a hard place. You have the manufacturers that control the pricing. They have their own problems and issues. Raw materials have continued to increase, other costs continue to increase, and they’re having to pass those along to us.

We’re then attempting to pass the increases along to an industry that is mostly reimbursement controlled, and that reimbursement is not factored to inflation. So, in an inflationary environment, prescriptive fee-for-service billing does not

HIDA Chicago 2022 DC and RLC. reimbursement rate environment, we’ve got a difficult time on our hands. This is all happening five years before the boomers start turning 80. And 80 is the beginning of the prime age for people to start entering into long-term care.

If I can use my voice in any way, it’s to recognize that the distribution community is out here allowing patients to live where they want to live, because we’re the mechanism through which the products get to patients in the appropriate amount, manner, and time. And in coordination with our billing partners,

both in the DME, HME, and the plain distribution world and our customers, we get them there, and we get them paid for as best we can. That’s why it’s critical for us to strengthen the distribution system, at a time when we’re going to have the geriatric population of this country growing at an historic rate. We have to put government support behind the distributor community in healthcare to allow us to assist them in providing care to this burgeoning population.

We’re then attempting to pass the increases along to an industry that is mostly reimbursement controlled, and that reimbursement is not factored to inflation. So, in an inflationary environment, prescriptive fee-for-service billing does not work. They’re not getting reimbursed enough to cover the cost of doing those courses of business, and they’re relying on pandemic money or reserves effectively still to this day, trying to pay those bills.

work. They’re not getting reimbursed enough to cover the cost of doing those courses of business, and they’re relying on pandemic money or reserves effectively still to this day, trying to pay those bills. They’ve shrunk considerably in size because of staffing issues. And so in between those two forces where prices are rising, labor is a continuous issue, and on the other side we’re having to push through those price increases, our laborer difficulties, our problems, into a fixed

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