Fw: Re: [OANDP-L] Part 1-Responses to coding dilemma

Fw: Re: [OANDP-L] Part 1-Responses to coding dilemma

Michael P Madden

4/11/2002

Mr. Madden,

With all due respect, you are the one who is mistaken. Reps (good ones
at
least) provide service, many times over and above the service given at
any
facility. I am a former rep turned DME provider because I realized I
could provide the product, with equal or better expertice, with much
better
customer service and at a reasonable price (Medicare allowable or less,
depending on the product).

No, I don't have the expertice to do everything you do, but I probably
have
more expertice than most orthotists in the products I do handle. I have
the
medical background necessary (I'm an ATC, an allied health profession
recognized long before O&P), and I am smart enough not to handle the
products that don't fit within my scope of expertice.

In the meantime, I provide a quality product much faster than any O&P
facility in my area at the same price or less. No, I don't have a
facility,
but so what? Does that make you more qualified? That just increases
your
overhead! And FYI, I do have liability insurance.

Maybe if your profession would stop crying over the fact that you think
you
deserve the business and go out there and earn it, my job might not be so

easy! Yes, on paper, you are imminently more qualified than that rep who
is
taking business from you. Maybe you should stop and consider what
reasons
the doctor might choose a less qualified provider. And I guarantee you

that it is very rarely financial. None of my doctors make a penny off
the
business they send me. They could bill it themselves, but they don't.
Puzzling, huh? I wonder why they would send it to me? Maybe in their
eyes
I take better care of their customers. And who knows, maybe they are
right!

Also, don't feed me the sob story about the problem patients that end up
in
your office. When I was a rep, I would get called in to doctor's offices

and PT clinics to adjust or redo braces or re-educate the patient due to
an
unacceptable job by some (not all) O&P shops. There are good and bad
providers in both camps, and time will weed out the bad one on both
sides.
If the rep in your area is that bad, and he is STILL getting the
business,
what does that say about the doctor's impression of you?

Points to ponder.....

Sincerely,

J. Todd Griffin MS, ATC

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