3 minute read
From The iNRRTS Office
PRIORITY MANAGEMENT
Written by: CAREY BRITTON, ATP/SMS, CRTS®
We hear it every day: I don’t have time to do more, learn more, teach more, advocate more. I was recently listening to a presentation by Simon Margolis from 2015, who was explaining why our industry is where it is and how to make the industry better and brighter. I am concerned we have not made significant advancements in how the world sees Complex Rehab Technology and fear it may be worse as it is trending toward being considered a commodity. We have not seen more Rehabilitation Technology Suppliers join and support many of the current organizations (NRRTS, RESNA, NCART, etc.) working toward one voice — to show the value of CRT providers and not risk losing this critical industry. We need to ensure the world sees how what we do affects health care, independence and dignity of some of the most fragile people in our population.
Competition forces us to adapt, keep up or fail (Simon Margolis, 2015). We have seen mom and pop companies nearly all disappear, whether absorbed by national companies or forced to close due to competition. We are seeing Humana Insurance own their own supply company and Amazon providing mobility and pharmacy. We are watching consolidation continuing to occur, and if not done well, it will ultimately reduce the credibility and specialness of what we do.
Every day, we see seating clinics closed because hospital systems are evaluating the return on investment of the clinics’ square footage and changing to a more profitable discipline.
Our industry has had very little innovation in CRT products over the past decade. The only significant change has been utilizing technologies outside our industry and integrating them. Lack of funding and inflation has made innovation stagnate.
The industry is having difficulty recruiting and maintaining service support staff due to low labor reimbursement. Combine reimbursement with inflation, suppliers can no longer use their service department as a loss leader.
We need RTSs to remember our history, see what is happening, and have a vision of the future. Right now, each of us can lobby for change. It can be small in every interaction with end-users, clinicians and peers. When end-users complain they don’t have access, explain where they can voice their concerns. If clinicians are frustrated with provider knowledge/support or noncovered items; let them know where they can complain. More powerful, ask your referral sources to only consider the RRTS®/CRTS® invitations to their clinics to ensure higher-quality representatives and outcomes. Invite your complaining peers to join NRRTS, attend events and learn how to become the voice of positive change.
Margolis said in 2015, “In the area of fee-for-service seating and wheeled mobility service delivery, the future is very bleak unless we are able, through Federal legislation, to establish a stable and sustainable business environment. It is the only through this sustainability and stability that access to appropriate seating and wheeled mobility technology will be assured for Americans with significant physical and functional disabilities.”
If we do not make the time now to get involved and direct our combined voices toward showing our value and importance in this CRT process, the industry will change, but it will not likely be in the direction we would like.
Contact NRRTS and ask how you can get involved.
CONTACT THE AUTHOR
Carey may be reached at CAREY.BRITTON@NSM-SEATING.COM
