Comprehending Consultants: An Inside Look At One Company

  Kathleen Schaum, MS is the founder and president of Kathleen D. Schaum & Associates, Inc. She established this small corporation in 1997 when she came to the realization that her extensive healthcare related management positions, medical sales, and sales management experiences gave her a gift far greater than both of her college degrees—the knowledge of and experience in the Medicare reimbursement system in numerous sites of care.

  Kathleen was shocked to know that the best wound care providers were being asked to manage wound care programs and they were not given any coding, payment system, or coverage policy training. Even more surprising was many manufacturers’ lack of attention to conducting a reimbursement assessment and to developing a reimbursement strategy for new wound care products; many were totally focused on FDA clearance rather than on simultaneously planning for coding, payment, and coverage. Kathleen knew she could make a difference by assisting wound care providers in establishing wound care programs that were financially stable and compliant with payment system regulations. She also knew that she could assist manufacturers to understand and navigate through the coding, payment system, and coverage policy maze.

  Kathleen’s reimbursement knowledge and her ability to train professionals about this complex subject are her major consultation assets. What is most amazing is that her thirst for reimbursement knowledge seems never-ending. If there is a reimbursement seminar, webinar, or audio conference offered on a new coding, payment system, or coverage issue, Kathleen is usually found in the audience. Due to ever-changing codes, payment systems, and coverage policies, she reads approximately 1000 pages of reimbursement information per week. Kathleen likens what drives her to keep striving to update her wound care reimbursement knowledge, to the challenge of assembling a 5000 piece puzzle.

   “I have to keep learning how all the ever-changing pieces fit together in order to be of value to the wound industry.”

  When the wound industry contacts Kathleen, they are not only getting an excellent trainer and problem solver, but a true professional with an unbelievable work ethic and incredible knowledge of the world of wound care reimbursement. During her first 12 years of consulting, Kathleen has assisted numerous wound care providers and hospitals who either:

    1) want to start a state-of-the-art wound care program or

    2) wish to improve their existing wound care business.

  Kathleen is skilled in empowering providers to manage their own wound care programs, if they do not wish to outsource the work to a full-service wound management company. Kathleen’s goal is to prepare wound care managers and providers to obtain excellent business outcomes, just like they strive to obtain excellent clinical outcomes for their patients with chronic wounds. Kathleen has also assisted 20+ wound care manufacturers to obtain CPT® and HCPCS codes, which are relevant to their new procedures and products. In fact, she has prepared 250+ applications that have resulted in HCPCS code verifications for new wound care products and 6 applications for the newly created collagen dressing HCPCS codes. Kathleen has also trained many wound care manufacturers’ executives and sales representatives on how their products and procedures are/are not reimbursed throughout the continuum of care.

When Is the Best Time to Request Consulting Services?

   “The best time to request my wound care business strategy consultation is when the idea for a new wound care program is ‘drafted on a napkin’,” she said. She says it is easier and less expensive to incorporate a reimbursement strategy in the early stages of all wound care programs than it is to repair mistakes later on. However, in practice, the wound care industry has tended to request Kathleen’s reimbursement consultation when their wound care programs are in financial trouble. Kathleen has provided one very important tip for wound care providers and wound care manufacturers:

    • Tip for Wound Care Providers: Take a proactive role in the creation and revision of medical policies that pertain to wound care.

    • Tip for Wound Care Manufacturers: Treat reimbursement work with the same sense of urgency as you treat FDA work. Remember, after you have FDA clearance, the payers will ask: Now that you have FDA clearance, why should we cover and pay for your product/procedure/service?

  In addition to consultations and teleconsultations, Kathleen generously shares her wound care reimbursement knowledge by

    1) speaking at national and regional wound care programs [100+ presentations],

    2) writing articles in 2 major wound care journals, including Today’s Wound Clinic and [100+ publications],

    3) participating on committees for a variety of wound care organizations, and

    4) by co-teaching the new one-day seminar, Wound Care Business, which is devoted to coding, coverage, and payment solutions for hospital-based outpatient wound care departments, was offered in 6 cities throughout the U.S. in 2009. For more info visit: (www.woundclinicbusiness.com).

In Summary

  Kathleen enjoys assisting the wound care providers to improve their business. She says that mastering the coding, payment systems, and coverage policies surrounding wound management would be quite boring if it weren’t for the professionals that she assists.

f you would like to contact Kathleen, she can be reached at (561) 964-2470 or via email:kathleendschaum@bellsouth.net. Kathleen will carefully listen to your needs. If she is qualified to consult on the work needed, she will be glad to discuss the deliverables. If she feels you need a different type of consultant, she will do her best to recommend one or more consultants who can perform the needed work.