Put vendors to work for you

Vendors call you constantly. They want to come in and talk about their newest product lines. They want your business. But there's no time in your busy schedule to listen to a marketing pitch. One case management executive found a way to make vendors earn her business while keeping her case managers informed about the latest medical advances.

"I know vendors have to make a living, but listening to a marketing pitch is basically just unbillable time for us," says Lou Anne Rossdeutscher, RN, BS, CCM, director of early intervention disability management for Ellis and Associates in Chicago. "I tell vendors, you have 15 minutes to do some marketing, but you have to teach us something, too."

Rossdeutscher says vendors have medical consultants that are qualified to update case managers on new treatments. "We now have marketers who come in with wound care experts and teach us the latest in wound care technology. Another time an infusion company brought in the newest pumps and demonstrated their use," she says. "On another occasion, a durable medical equipment company brought in the newest nebulizers and inhalers and demonstrated their use."

In addition, many vendors are qualified continuing education providers. "We do have vendors come in about every two months to do continuing education inservices. But those are a two-edged sword because they take at least an hour, and time is at a premium," Rossdeutscher says.