DMEPOS Business Development Strategies in the COVID-19 Environment By Ryan Ball, Director, VGM Market Data, a division of VGM & Associates
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OVID-19 continues driving change to our daily lives and will likely cause significant disruption to DMEPOS business operations in the coming months. While patients in need of products like ventilation, oxygen, and hospital beds in certain areas are likely to see significant volume increases due to the pandemic and eased billing restrictions, providers are finding difficulty formulating plans for when and how they will be able to resume sales activities with key referral sources in their markets. To be sure, this pandemic will change to how providers plan for and communicate with referral sources in their markets. With uncertainty surrounding the timing of the resumption of elective surgeries, sleep testing, and physician visits across the country, now is the time for providers to focus on training, planning, and market analysis to position themselves for future success and take advantage of pent-up demand to ensure a more rapid business recovery.
Focus on Data, Market Analysis, and Planning With many physician offices and facilities operating in a remote environment or currently limiting face-toface interaction, providers are left largely unable to perform traditional business development activities. Understanding sales personnel have additional time on their hands, many have challenged their business development teams to focus on planning and better understanding where new opportunity exists in their markets to set themselves up for future success. Quantify and Identify Market Opportunity Providers can harness the power of targeted claims data to focus on identifying geographic areas where they are underpenetrated or where relevant referral sources are likely to be underserved with an influx of additional patients needing in-home equipment. VGM Market Data’s new visualization platform can help HME’s create a plan by: •
VGM Playbook: Technology and the Patient Care Continuum
Valuing current or prospective markets by overall HME product volume
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