FODAC clients like Joyce Pina Brown benefit from FODAC’s services as they look to engage more fully with their communities and live more independent lives.
By Lisbeth Dison, Stone Mountain | Friends of Disabled Adults and Children (FODAC) is a non-profit organization providing over $10 million annually in durable medical equipment (DME) and supplies to people with injuries and disabilities. It recently announced that Healthcare Quality Association on Accreditation (HQAA) has fully accredited the organization as a durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies (DMEPOS) provider. DMEPOS accreditation is required when working as a vendor with Medicare/Medicaid and many insurance carriers and their clients. The organization is headquartered in Stone Mountain at 4900 Lewis Road.
Chris Brand, CEO and president of FODAC says: “The DMEPOS accreditation will help us continue to provide the best services but also open up more partnerships in healthcare. We are seeing more growth in hospital partnerships, and a new contract with Georgia’s Department of Aging Services has enabled us to begin delivering DME to Area Agencies on Aging across the state. We are grateful to Healthcare Quality Association on Accreditation (HQAA) for helping us achieve this accreditation, and look forward to working with them to maintain our high standards in client care.”
The 2003 Medicare Modernization Act required that all DMEPOS suppliers must comply with established quality standards in order to receive Medicare Part B payments and to retain a supplier billing number. These standards are strict. Applying for accreditation is a rigorous and labor-intensive process. Some of the areas scrutinized during the accreditation process include:
- Organization and administration
- Program and service operations
- Financial stability
- Human resources
- Infection/safety control
- Quality monitoring and performance
- Billing and collections
- Delivery and set-up
- Complex rehabilitation
- Clinical respirators
- Mail order
- Custom orthotics
- Medications
At the end of a 24 month training and quality improvement process, the HQAA surveyor inspected FODAC’s entire facility, client charts and financial documents. Extensive interviews were conducted with staff and volunteers, as well as with clients and representatives from contracted entities and partners.
Brand adds: “The DMEPOS accreditation reflects our dedication to those we serve. High standards help us facilitate a higher level of performance and patient care, and bring us an honor of which we are very proud.”
Among its equipment services:
- FODAC accepts phone or walk-in requests for equipment. Medically necessary requests receive top priority followed by medically helpful requests.
- FODAC can only provide equipment as it is donated to us.
- FODAC does not perform repairs on a walk-in basis. Many people who arrive to get a repair without calling first are asked to make an appointment and come back on another date. Those who schedule repairs should bring their confirmation number with them.
- FODAC requires a mandatory contribution fee of $25for each repair plus the cost for any parts that must be purchased. This is to be paid IN ADVANCE of the repair. (The average home health care company charges $60 per hour for labor).
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