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Over Coffee
I learned about an upcoming change in gift-giving laws while having coffee with Sherri Pascua at the Java Cow in Sun City Center the other day.
Although the change is aimed at leveling the playing field between small mom-and-pop businesses and companies with huge marketing budgets, Sherri says she fears people she has dealt with for years won’t know about the change and that they will feel she – and others who do similar jobs –are slighting them.
Sherri, a Registered Nurse who has worked in this area for many years and is now with Senior Home Care Inc., said her current job entails going into medical offices and assisted living facilities and explaining what services are available that can help keep patients in their own homes instead of having to go to nursing homes. Her company and others like it, offer various therapies, medical social workers and in-home health aides to people who need them. Senior Home Care Inc. even has mental health services covering anxiety, depression, alcohol and drug issues and other disorders that can often require people get assistance to live at home.
“People doing jobs like mine have always given small tokens of appreciation to doctors and others who let us come in and make presentations about what we have available,” Sherri said. “We know how terribly busy they are. Once, when I gave a presentation to someone at an assisted living facility, I was told that I was the sixth person who had made a (sales) presentation to her just that day alone.”
According to the Governor’s Web site, Bill No. 7083 passed both Houses in late May. It dealt with a plethora of medical issues and is called the Health Care Fraud & Abuse Act. Some things will definitely change under this act. Besides the issue Sherri brought to my attention, upon investigation, I found there will be changes in the actions of pharmaceutical company representatives; health care insurance claim payments; some changes in the way Medicaid and child health programs are run; and the beginnings of a way toward affordable health care coverage for those with no insurance.
The new statute will take effect July 1 and is aimed at preventing abuses that were occurring regularly.
While people in the industry reported to me that fines as high as $5,000 will be levied at anyone caught breaking the law, I could not get confirmation of that from reading the statute, and as of press time, had not yet received an answer to questions sent to the Governor’s press office.
Sherri, however, says she knows why the changes in the way “sales reps” in the medical industry are being made.
“We know a lot of people were crossing the line,” Sherri said. “There are marketing people who take them (doctors and other medical personnel with the ability to recommend one service over another) on weekend trips, golfing, and give them all sorts of expensive gifts. This business has always been about relationships.”
But companies like the one where Sherri works give gifts like pens and doughnuts and candy. “Under this new law, can we even do give-aways at chamber luncheons anymore? We still don’t know,” she said. “I worry that now that we can’t give them anything, we won’t get as much face-time with busy doctors.”
To tell you the truth, that statement worries me.
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| SHERRI PASCUA |
While I want to see honest, local business people like Sherri, who has developed relationships in this area for 15 years, and her company- that operates in 23 locations in Florida and 17 in Louisiana- get equal time with doctors that medical giants get, I want to know who is taking these dinner cruises and flights to the Bahamas they’re offering. And why these things would (or should, anyway) influence a decision as to which in-home service (or drug or any other thing) is best for a patient?
There are more than 150 home health agencies registered in Hillsborough County alone; the obvious reason being that there are so many residents in the elder, retired population living here. I did not attempt to get the figures for all of Florida, or across the United States, but let’s face it- with baby boomers aging, lots more health care dollars are going to be spent in the future.
Now, if six people in one day pitched their services to one doctor, it’s a wonder he (or she) had time to see any patients at all. Expensive sales pitches shouldn’t be a perk for any industry, especially one that is responsible for making life and death decisions.
I sincerely hope the relationships that have been made with local people over the years will continue and that the sudden lack of doughnuts or waiting-room candies or even thousand-dollar trips won’t account for any difference in recommendations for patient care.
But then, as a reporter, I am an analytical realist. And I realize that I’m usually prone to taking the advice of a person I know well over the advice of strangers. That means that relationships are important to me as well, unless, of course- I can sense during a conversation that someone who claims to be giving me friendly advice is really trying to “buy” me.
*Perhaps you have something you’d like to share. Or maybe you’d rather tell the community about your favorite charity or cause: or sound off about something you think needs change. That’s what “Over Coffee” is about. It really doesn’t matter whether we actually drink any coffee or not (although I probably will). It’s what you have to say that’s important. E-mail me any time and suggest a meeting place. No matter what’s going on, I’m usually available to share just one more cup. Or maybe you’d like to tune into the new radio show I’m hosting, “The Uncensored Reporter.” It’s available across the country on both AM and FM radio but so far I haven’t found out the call numbers for our area so I just direct everyone to www.themicroeffect.com on their computers Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3-to-4 p.m. It’s a call-in show so maybe you’ve got some ideas or comments you’d like to share on the air. Just click on “Listen Live” and give it a whirl.
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