When recent college graduate Claire E. Turner answered a want ad 4 years ago for a marketing/communications position with the Pennsylvania Association of Medical Suppliers (PAMS), she never dreamed she would find herself executive director a few short months later. Now several years into the job, Turner has made a name for herself running one of the most active and organized HME state associations in the country. From finding innovative ways to communicate with key legislators to being the lifeline on the other end of the phone for an exasperated member fighting for her reimbursement check, Turner is constantly looking for new ways to serve her members and her industry.

In an industry staffed by 40- and 50-something career health care professionals, 20-something professional communicator Turner is a rarity and it is almost unheard of for her to have landed and thrived in a leadership position to boot. Fresh out of college with a communications/public relations degree, she began her career in the spring of 1997 when she took over responsibility for the PAMS newsletter. In December of that same year, the association’s executive director left to pursue other opportunities and the board gave Turner a big promotion. “I enjoyed it right off the bat,” Turner says. “When I first got into the industry, I thought it was about wheelchairs and walkers. Every day a question came in about a new piece of equipment or a different biller, though, and I learned how much more complicated the business really was. It was overwhelming at first, but I had so much support from my board that they made it really easy to learn. What could have been scary to a 22-year-old turned out to be exciting.”

Her members were equally excited about the attitude and professionalism she brought to the role. “She was like a sponge learning all she could about the industry,” says Kimberlie Rogers-Bowers, vice president of regulatory affairs and compliance for Apria Healthcare and a PAMS board member. “We really appreciate her energy and how adaptable she is. Our convention this year was one of the best I have ever attended. She managed to pull the whole thing off without one single hiccup.”

Focused on "The Nitty-Gritty"
As the nerve center for her state’s industry, Turner is part educator, part communicator, part lobbyist, part support system, and very much an advocate for state-focused issues. “It’s so important to have someone on the state level who’s answering the phone and dealing with the nitty-gritty,” Turner says. “We have the national organization and the trade press to deal with national issues, but only we can provide localized and targeted Pennsylvania information that national outlets don’t have access to. I’m often a last resort for a Pennsylvania provider on the other end of a phone crying and asking for help. My job isn’t knowing everything, but knowing who to call.”

Turner’s first line of offense for PAMS members is building a strong relationship with the Durable Medical Equipment Regional Carrier (DMERC) director for Region A to help members experiencing difficulty with getting Medicare to pay claims. Together with other state associations in her region, they formed the Region A Council to address issues as a group. Instead of waiting for problems to develop, they are proactive with their region’s Medicare management as advocates for their members. Turner relies heavily on members contacting her when they are experiencing difficulties. “If I have six calls from members noticing their Medicare payments are down, I know that something is going on and I need to call my contacts to find out what. If 10 people call, we have a big problem,” she says.

Also high on Turner’s priority list is building strong relationships with Pennsylvania legislators. “We have a constant need to educate legislators about what’s important to our industry,” Turner says. “Some states downplay the importance of the lobbying front, but for me it’s one of the most important things I do. It could be a full-time job to work on legislators every day.”

Education Is Step One
Lobbying legislators means working with their aides, often a starter role for staffers who go on to other areas of government service. That can be challenging, Turner says. “Every time we called, we would have to start from square one explaining what our association does and what our industry does. If the staffers are new, they don’t even know what an oxygen policy is, let alone why their proposal will not work for our members. If they do not understand, the legislator they are working for doesn’t understand either.”

Turner’s solution? PAMS employs a part-time lobbyist to assist in building these relationships. In addition, they also send a newsletter aimed specifically toward legislators’ needs every quarter. It gives targeted news briefs and bullet-point lists of industry news that affects them. It also educates them about what PAMS and its members are working on. “We want to keep them up-to-date on what we’re working on,” Turner says. “We also want to write and tell them about the good things we have done instead of always being the ones coming to them to ask for something. We like to tell them about new initiatives, like our Burke Bear campaign.”

Teddy Bear Power
The Burke Bear campaign has given PAMS a human face and an easy conversation starter, Turner says. For this charitable campaign benefiting the Pennsylvania Cystic Fibrosis Inc, PAMS set a goal to sell 2001 of the Boyd’s brand collectible teddy bears named after Burke Derr, a cystic fibrosis patient served during his lifetime by Bob Lauver of CP02, president of PAMS. “We’re always looking for opportunities like this,” she says. “Everybody loves a teddy bear. It’s a touchy-feely way for our members to clue in legislators, business prospects, and the general public about the role home health care providers play in their patients’ lives.” At press time, PAMS had sold more than 2,000 bears.

On a day-to-day basis, Turner’s programs provide a lot of value for her 180 member companies. Every year, more than 70 news alert bulletins are sent to each of her members by fax or accessed through PAMS’ password-protected Web site.

Turner also runs regular educational programs in both Philadelphia and Pittsburgh on topics such as billing, rehabilitation, customer service, drivers/technicians, and sales. This year the association also is developing a training program for respiratory home care.

Finally, Turner helps organize the annual convention, which brings members together to network and build their skills, and she serves as the staff representative on PAMS’ six committees.

For the future, Turner has a full agenda of lobbying legislators, growing her membership, and deepening her most critical relationships. “We all have our own businesses to run,” says PAMS board member Rogers-Bowers. “We don’t have time to do this ourselves. It is a vital part of our industry to have that key denominator to address the problems affecting everyone in the state. PAMS is our voice.

JoAnna K. Trapp is a contributing writer for Dealer/Provider.