He and Donna were made to be parents.  To be a kid in their home would be a dream come true.  And today, that dream is coming true.  After what seems like an eternity for them, they are on their way to bring their adopted baby home.  Their story is incredible and you can read all about it (as well as get the full flavor of Cotton’s perspective and craziness) on Cotton’s blog.  Or you can just celebrate with Lynn and I and the entire Rock-Pond team as someone who is so dear to us is closing a chapter with much uncertainty and pain and starting a new journey in their life.  May the hope and belief that got you here, also get you there, wherever that might be.

Cotton and Donna – we are celebrating with you today.

At Rock-Pond we enjoy what we do.  On the weekends you’ll find us out having fun and giving back to the communities we live in.  Like this weekend when Pete Tanguay organized 10 “runner escorts” for the Women Run Arkansas 5k, a race in it’s 15th year helping women from all over the state accomplish a goal many thought was unattainable.  Running with 2,000 ladies isn’t a bad way to start your weekend and is a great opportunity to get out the red Star Trek dress and Paris marathon head rag.

]]> http://rock-pond.com/running-with-2000-women-giving-back/feed/ 0 http://rock-pond.com/running-with-elvis/ http://rock-pond.com/running-with-elvis/#comments Fri, 09 Mar 2012 17:20:42 +0000 Pete Tanguay http://rock-pond.com/?p=4270 From time to time our work lives cross into our personal lives and it’s fun when this happens.  Life is too short to keep everything separate.

I ran the Little Rock marathon this past weekend and although you might think that is Elvis, it isn’t.  This is Jeff Brillhart, the Vice President of Finance for HomeChoice Partners, a Rock-Pond customer.  I’m sorry to report that he lost his lead for good shortly after this picture was taken.  But for these few seconds all I have to say is “Way to go Jeff”.

The other connection my “work life” had to this event was I had the opportunity to raise money and awareness for Neurofibromatosis during the race.  I run as a part of the NF Endurance Team and as the team captain for Little Rock, I raised over $5,000 and our NF Team raised over $20,000, enough to fund a new research grant.  If you take a minute to read my race report you’ll see how meaningful this is to me.  I mention it here because most of my financial support came from friends I’ve made working in the home infusion and specialty pharmacy industries over the past 20 years.

The 2012 Little Rock marathon was a great combination of personal and professional friends coming together to achieve something worthwhile.  It doesn’t get much better than that!!

Pete Tanguay

1. Who is coming that we don’t need in the meeting to accomplish the goal?
2. Could we cover the same material in half the time?
3. Can we do this over the phone?
4. Do we even need this meeting at all?
5. …

You get the idea.

 Get a FREE PASS to the Exhibit Floor if you are a HomeCare Monday Subscriber.  Good news is, HomeCare Monday is also Free!!!

HomeCare Monday subscribers can get a FREE pass to Medtrade Exposition Oct. 25-27 if they register for the conference before midnight Oct. 23. The pass to the expo floor is now $50, and this offer will make it free. Go to Medtrade registration and use the code HCMAG. After midnight Oct. 23, all Medtrade admissions increase to onsite rates. Admission to the expo floor jumps to $100, and the conference pass, which is now $199, jumps to $300.

Medtrade is a fantastic place to spend time with the technology leaders of the Home Medical Equipment industry one time a year.  Homecare Monday is a great weekly email to keep up with the Home Health Care industry throughout the year!

We recommend them both.

Like so many other new ideas, there is more there than meets the eye and execution / implementation aren’t quite as easy as you would think.  “An ACO is like a unicorn; everyone thinks they know what one is, but no one has ever seen one,” says Gene Lindsey, president and chief executive of Atrius Health. “A few months ago, I announced to our organization, ‘We are an ACO.’ ”

As I start learning about ACO’s to understand their impact on the home health care industry and the data initiatives and opportunities we are working on, there are a few things for certain:

1. A lot of money will be spent creating ACO’s long before the cost saving benefits are realized.
2. Information Technology (IT) will play a central role in the formation, execution and justification for an ACO.
3. Consultants and attorneys will make a lot of money.
4. Home health care, with their limited IT budgets and data connectivity (as compared to large health systems) are behind the curve, and possibly more at risk, when it comes to ACO’s.
5. Where there is change, there is opportunity.

As with other “new ideas” and acronyms, like HIPAA and cloud computing, it pays to take the time up front to understand what is being “sold” and what is required.  Take some time to learn how ACO’s impact the home infusion and specialty pharmacy providers in your market area and carefully get involved.  Find the opportunity that waits for you, and proceed with caution and with the facts.

Dropbox

Imagine preparing for your weekly management meeting and needing to go through a few reports to understand what is going on, make some decisions and communicate information to people who need it.  Instead of everyone printing out reports and heading to the meeting, one person simply runs the reports and drops them in a shared drop box.  Everyone (including the people offsite who are calling in to the meeting) simply grabs their iPad and sits down.  Everything you need is right there at the touch (or slide) of your fingertips.  Need to send a report to someone offsite during the meeting?  Simply tap the email icon and off it goes to them. 

Need to do some offsite work or have access to reports on the airplane as you travel?  No problem.  Simply print the report to your dropbox and head out the door.  Access the report from your phone or iPad while you are away from your computer.  Take the Power of 2 with you wherever you go!

Rock-Pond is focused on providing you with “the information you need from the DATA you’ve got.”  With products like Dropbox, you get “the information you need WHERE you need it.” 

Dropbox is available free at http://www.dropbox.com for Windows, Mac, Linux and mobile devices.

Check back for more updates – they are sure to come!

Other PECOS Articles:

PECOS Database Audit Service a HUGE Success
Rock-Pond Launches FREE NPI / PECOS Search Feature
PECOS Database Audit Enhanced to Include NPI Audit

And MORE!

When transferring files to a remote computer via FTP, you will need a hostname or IP address, username, and password. In the following example, the FTP connection information is:

IP Address: 172.16.2.215
Username: ftptest
Password: ****

Anywhere in the Windows Explorer, simply type into the address bar the FTP address you are connecting to as shown below. Of course, replace what’s shown below with your username and FTP hostname or IP address:

Once connected, you will be prompted to login with your password. This will also be case sensitive. Enter your password and press OK. Once you have logged in, you’ll be able to drag files in and out of the FTP server just like you can with any other Windows folder as shown below:

By default, FTP is not encrypted, thus it makes it less than ideal if transferring information that is highly sensitive. Other transfer options exist for this type of data, such as Secure FTP.

The National Home Infusion Association (NHIA) has been collecting data from their members for almost a year now and the deadline is drawing near.  November 15, is the deadline for getting this survey completed and returned to NHIA.

As of November 4, they have received just over 200 surveys from 26% of their member sites.  If you want your company’s data to be included in the survey you have ten days to compile the data, download the Rock-Pond Data Collector, and submit your survey.   The survey should not take too much of your time, especially considering the impact the survey could have on current legislation regarding the home infusion industry. Upon completion of the survey, you will receive a complimentary copy of the nation-wide data to compare to your own response.

For more information and to take the survey go the NHIA website.

Rock-Pond Solutions has supported this initiative by developing a FREE Data Collector for home infusion providers. Rock-Pond is a member of the NHIA Data Initiative Committee and believes our collective efforts will make a difference.