Main Line Medical delivers in the face of superstorm
UPPER DARBY — When the staff at Main Line Medical Services on 69th Street learned of the coming of Hurricane Sandy, they shifted into familiar emergency preparedness gear.
Between the Upper Darby and Blackwood, N. J., locations, the workers filled 2,000 oxygen tanks and delivered them ahead of Hurricane Sandy so that clients who medically need it would have it.
“We transfil oxygen for 50 nursing homes, so with the possibility of power outages, we gathered extra oxygen cylinders in advance,” said Ben Bernhardt, Main Line Medical Services president. “It took a lot of planning. Our operations team did a great job in making sure our customers were taken care of.”
Mike Roderiguez, operations manager, said the coordinated effort was executed well.
“We were able to get ahead of the storm,” he said, adding that 30 years of experience, including operating through some worse snowstorms, provided them with the expertise necessary to weather the storm. “We were successful to the point that our competitors were calling us.”
The business, now located at 303 S. 69th St., began in the upper floor of an Ardmore home in 1983 with Ben Bernhardt and a friend. After moving it to a Lancaster Avenue location in Bryn Mawr and buying his friend’s portion of the business, Bernhardt moved it to Delaware County in 1996.
“The preparedness part is always at play for us,” said Terry Mele, Main Line’s clinical rehab and home care consultant. “It’s something that is understood.”
Bernhardt agreed, “That’s part of the company culture.”
Another part is the emphasis on fulfilling customers’ needs.
“You have to build a reputation and that reputation is built on service,” Bernhardt said, adding that the business must constantly change while maintaining that focus on service.
He said the medical services industry faces several challenges from insurance companies to the government and he added that the Medicare Modernization Act of 2006 with its competitive bidding stance could be very problematic.
“It’s an exclusionary process that’s going to create monopolies,” he said. “It’s going to put a lot of small businesses out of business. It’s a tumultuous thing.”
Bernhardt explained that companies will have to bid in order to win a contract to provide medical services for Medicare patients. Many, he said, must drastically reduce their prices.
In addition, Mele said the process will be more difficult on the patient, who will have to interact with several companies for their needs, instead of getting them all met by one.
“It’ll be a shock to people,” he said. “There will be multiple calls to get the equipment and then, there will be multiple calls to service that equipment.”
Bernhardt added that home care, especially for end- of- life patients, is least expensive, compared to the estimated $ 30,000- a- month for a person to be in a nursing home.
Anticipating such a move, Bernhardt reduced the portion of his Medicare business to be 20 percent and has intensified direct relations with nursing homes and other providers.
In the meantime, Main Line’s 60 employees continue to be ready for anything, be it procedural changes or weather events.
“Every situation is unique in and of itself,” Mele said. “It’s the pliability of the ownership to give us the tools that we need to operate under duress.”