As the story of the houston-area power mobility scams came to light last month and Medicare administrators responded with the “Operation Wheeler Dealer” crackdown, I could not help thinking of the old story about the ostrich being such a dumb bird that, when it sees danger, it sticks its head in the sand to hide, as if what it didn’t choose to see couldn’t hurt it.

Now having met a few ostriches over the years, both feathered and not, I know the story is not true. Real ostriches do not stick their heads in the sand. Instead, they run. And in some ways, that is what many did this year when they saw the statistics for power mobility use grow far ahead of the numbers of Medicare beneficiaries and heard rumors of fraudulent activity in the sector.

Rather than looking closer, it was easier to run the other way and throw blame. “Aggressive advertising is at fault.” “It is caused by the rise of big scooter retail chains.” “There are always rumors of fraud in HME, but it’s not my job to investigate them.”

One of the companies often blamed during this time was The Scooter Store, both because of its size—it has more than 58 locations in 39 states—and because of its proximity to Houston. It is headquartered only 150 miles away in New Braunsfels. So I asked Doug Harrison, its founder and president, about whether the company would do anything different in the future. The answer surprised me. He said yes!

Now, don’t misunderstand. Harrison is not changing how he sells scooters and points out that during the time many thought his company was behind part of the dramatic rise in power mobility claims coming from Houston, his sales in the region were actually down significantly.

Where Harrison said he would change was in becoming more aggressive in looking for fraudulent activity and reporting it.

“A lot of us heard about the stuff going on in Houston for more than a year,” he said. “I feel bad to say that we didn’t really get after it hard until February or March, but you always hear bad news. Everybody always wants to spread rumors about the industry. We are going to take that kind of stuff a lot more seriously now. We are going to actively go out looking for that. And instead of following the industry wherever it goes, we will start taking a position where we are going to lead it where it needs to go.”

It is a move our “Our Turn” columnists Cara C. Bachenheimer, JD, and David T. Williams might welcome judging by their column this month. Starting on page 120, they argue that this is the time for the HME industry to become more serious about weeding out fraud. When fraudulent activity occurs, it hurts every legitimate company trying to make a living in the home health care market by damaging their reputation in the eyes of the public, and in the eyes of legislators.

Will the Houston scams impact Congress as it considers important changes to Medicare this month, including competitive bidding? Only time will tell. But it makes it all the more vital that this industry get out there with its own message about the importance of the products and services it provides.

We encourage all of our readers to not run from this scandal and take this opportunity to further the home health care message. To learn how, come and visit us and your state and national associations at Grassroots Central at Medtrade in Atlanta, October 9-11.

Lena Lindahl
llindahl@medpubs.com