Real-time Remote™ Virtual Survey Process

by Jack Haire, Director of DMEPOS/Pharmacy Division

When the pandemic occurred, The Compliance Team (TCT), led by founder and CEO Sandy Canally, did what we have always done above all else –– innovated in order to serve providers and ensure quality of patient care.

To meet the needs of our customers, and to ensure continued compliance with accreditation quality standards, the Real-time Remote™ (RtR) virtual process was conceived and implemented in short order. Company-wide, TCT has been successfully doing RtR visits for almost a year.

For both new and renewing DMEPOS customers, the RtR accreditation virtual visit has been a vital solution to ensuring CMS DMEPOS Supplier accreditation requirements are met. The Compliance Team has successfully implemented RtR virtual visits for hundreds of providers, and we continue to evolve and improve the process. For instance, our recent upgrades to the client portal allow for easier submissions of your documentation.

TCT is committed to making sure that our clients receive the RtR visit in a timely manner, and in a way that minimizes disruption of daily activities, while ensuring that your staff and patients remain safe and healthy.

The RtR process involves many of the same protocols used under pre-COVID-19 conditions for new clients, such as checklists, webinars, and one-on-one preparation calls. For renewing clients, the process follows our protocols as if an in-person visit is being conducted. We encourage renewing clients to review the many renewal tools available on the TCT website, such as renewal specific checklists and recorded webinars.

The virtual process differs from an in-person visit in that we are using specialized virtual software and phone applications to review your records, policies, processes and physical environment from afar. However, other than not being physically present in the business, the elements of the visit performed to verify and validate compliance with quality standards remains the same.

Prior to the virtual portion of the visit, clients will receive an email that lists key documents to upload to the client portal.  We ask that these documents be uploaded within 10 business days of the email. The client portal is accessed using the TCT issued username and password from our website. If you have forgotten or lost your username or password, please contact Roy Dunning at Rdunning@TheComplianceTeam.org.

Our Accreditation Advisors are happy to assist with any questions on how or what to upload. Please remember that patient health information and/or confidential employee information is not to be uploaded to the portal.

As uploaded documents are received, your account is moved to our National Scheduler, and an Accreditation Advisor is assigned. The Advisor will add you to their calendar, bearing in mind that visits are added to calendars in the order received.

For renewal clients, understand that we are obligated to conduct a renewal visit prior to your accreditation expiration date, regardless of whether requested documents are uploaded. To be prepared and to ensure a successful visit, be sure to submit your documents in the outlined time frame.

The Accreditation Advisor assigned to conduct the visit will contact your business 24-48 hours in advance of the actual RtR visit to discuss the application to be used for the remote review and establish a start time for the visit.

Please contact our home office to make us aware of any specific Covid-19 hardships that affect staff availability or shortages, significant changes to store hours, etc. We will make note of these issues and do our best to work within your needs.

We appreciate all of the efforts being made to meet RtR requests, while balancing the many different business needs and challenges.

If you have any questions about the Real-time Remote virtual survey process please contact Jack Haire, Director of DMEPOS/Rx, Jhaire@TheComplianceTeam.org