Mobility Man Talks Shop
The Wheelchair Shop Inc has provided Houston and the surrounding environs with wheelchairs, beds, and other rehab-related equipment for 14 years. Larry Rice, brother of company founder Paul Rice, joined the company more than a decade ago, and today serves as general manager of the 12-person company. Dealer/Provider spoke with Rice about reimbursement, continuing fallout from the “wheeler dealer” scandal, and the rewards of providing mobility equipment.

Dealer: Two years ago, you dealt with Medicaid and private insurers, but not Medicare. Has that policy changed?

Larry Rice: No. We have traditionally stayed away from Medicare because of their, for lack of a better term, flakiness. They tend to change on a dime and there does not seem to be a rhyme or a reason. We do watch Medicare and what they do.

Dealer: How have the “wheeler dealer” fraud cases affected your business?

Rice: When it hit the news, the scandal definitely affected the way referral sources looked at us. It causes people to look at us as if we are all crooks. I have been in business for quite some time, and most of these people involved in wheeler dealer had been in business anywhere from 3 to 9 months. We were here to stay.

I stood up and faced [the referral sources] without being angry or upset and just explained to them who we were and what we were all about. And I think that’s how you have to do it. You have to do it with dignity.

Dealer: Do you have a reimbursement “horror story”? If so, what did you learn from it?

Rice: Years and years ago, a client came in and we recorded all the information. We found out he had Medicaid, so we pursued it through Medicaid, and Medicaid authorized it. After delivery, the client told us, “Oh, by the way, I have Medicare also.” We never knew about this. It took us 2 years to get paid for a $15,000 chair.

We did learn a few things and we learned the weakness in the system. When we verify things [now] and the information is not always there—we spend a little more time talking to the client—and the oh-by-the-ways come up. We learned to take more time in the intake process to help clients understand that if there is other funding involved, we need to know about it. If we find out later in the process, the whole process stops.

Dealer: What is your philosophy concerning showroom design?

Rice: [My brother and sister-in-law] Paul and Nancy came up with a nice concept. When you come in here to participate in an evaluation with a therapist and family, we wanted a showroom that was more welcoming. We developed a homey style. In our showroom, you do not go into this clinical setting where people talk about you instead of to you.

Always remember that we deal with highly personalized equipment. The client is going to be using it; the family is going to have to deal with it—so we want them involved, asking questions, and participating. If you ever saw our shop, you would think that you had walked into a living room.

Dealer: Have you been tempted to offer nonmobility equipment?

Rice: We do some beds and some other small aids-to-daily-living items, toilet chairs, and some bathroom and safety equipment. But that is usually because it is more accommodating for clients to get it at one place—so we do it on a case-by-case basis. We understand mobility equipment, that is what we are good at, and we want to stay with our area of expertise. Our customers have come to rely on that level of service and expertise.

Dealer: What has been your most challenging wheelchair modification?

Rice: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) clients have been challenging because we know where that disease is going to go, so we have to think forward—and unfortunately forward is often death with that disease. Our challenges are basically to get the equipment that meets the client’s needs and to meet the financial constraints of the funding entity. We had a young man who had spinal-muscular atrophy, and we had a great compliment from one of our competitors at a muscular dystrophy association camp [regarding his chair]. We had to put him in a system with a light-touch joystick and lateral tilt, so he could tilt side to side and reposition himself. That took a lot of stress and strain off his mom and his attendants. Our competitor who was at the camp said, “I’ve been coming to this camp for 5 years and this is the first time he has ever made it through the whole camp without going home sick—and it is because of this chair.”

Dealer: What is the most common mistake that mobility-focused HME providers make?

Rice: Most of my competitors here are fairly knowledgeable people, but I would say they do not keep up with what is going on in reimbursement and billing (in the state arena). They often leave this to a billing department that does the same thing day in and day out instead of going to seminars and finding out if something has changed.

As far as seating, the mistake is not keeping up with current technology, not keeping their people educated, and not learning about new things on the horizon. Another mistake is not bringing in manufacturers to show the latest and greatest things, and not reading the industry publications.

Dealer: What is the most rewarding aspect of your business?

Rice: When clients go out and live healthy and happy lives because of the equipment we have provided. Clients can say “thank you” all day long, but to see that kid or that adult, and the difference our equipment makes in their lives—that’s the biggest reward I get out of the business—and I would hate for that to go away. I am actually kind of concerned that it might go away right now. You need to look at the whole market and environment right now. Everybody wants to cut. Pretty soon it will be hard to get reimbursed reasonably for this equipment. And that is going to drive out highly trained and caring professionals that are qualified to deliver this equipment. Ultimately, that will significantly jeopardize the health and comfort of the end user.

C.A. Wolski is associate editor of Dealer/ Provider.