It’s hard to believe we’re already halfway through the year. We’re beginning to see real momentum as many of the pilots we started in 2024 take shape and expand across the company.

As we continue to grow and evolve, change is both necessary and inevitable. It challenges our routines, pushes us beyond our comfort zones, and occasionally leads to small missteps. And that’s okay.

What matters most is how we respond by learning, adapting, and staying focused on what truly counts- delivering an exceptional experience for our clients. Every step forward, even the imperfect ones, is progress. Every challenge is an opportunity to improve, and I’m proud of how this team continues to rise to the occasion.

Your hard work and commitment are making a real impact. We’ve achieved our lowest transaction cycle time in over three years, and overall client satisfaction continues to improve.

Please keep reading below for updates on the initiatives that are driving these results and helping us serve our clients even better.

As mentioned in my May update, we launched the Centralized Client Services (CCS) team last September in Northern California. The goal was to address a top client concern: difficulty reaching us by phone. The results have been outstanding:

📉 Abandoned call rate is down to 5%

✅ 60% of calls resolved without branch involvement

⏱️ Answer times under 30 seconds (80% faster)

🔉 Voicemails down 72% in pilot branches

⭐ Higher client satisfaction and Google ratings

Thanks to this success, we’re accelerating our rollout. CCS will support all U.S. branches by the end of July, with the team growing to 95 members. We've opened up 30 remote CCS positions and offered them first to the current Customer Service Specialist (CSS) team who met the requirements of the role.

Thank you for your continued commitment. This is a big step forward for NSM, and a win for both our clients and our teams.

I’m excited to share an important advancement in how we’re improving your experience and delivering on our commitment to excellence. We have implemented a new Pre-Purchase Quality Assurance (PPQA) process powered by enhanced technology that significantly reduces transaction cycle times and gets essential equipment into your hands faster.

This streamlined process ensures that all necessary steps are completed before a purchase is made, avoiding delays and surprises. Here’s how it works:

- Eligibility & Benefit Verification: We now re-verify insurance coverage and benefits across all payers at the outset to eliminate bottlenecks later in the process.

- Document Validation: Our system confirms that all required documents are accurate and up to date.

- Authorization Review: We ensure any authorizations or denials have been correctly recorded to prevent administrative delays.

- Payment Clarity: We proactively identify any out-of-pocket costs and coordinate with clients to collect payments or confirm payment arrangements upfront, per payer requirements.

- Purchase Readiness Notification: Clients are promptly contacted when equipment is ready to be ordered from the manufacturer.

- Financial Confirmation: All client responsibilities are reconfirmed and collected in line with NSM’s Credit Policy.

We’ve also enhanced our Mobility Advisor platform, where a brief but essential pre-purchase checklist ensures:

- Insurance coverage will remain valid until delivery

- The client’s address and care setting remain unchanged

- No recent moves to facilities or transitions to hospice care would affect eligibility

To further simplify this step, we are using automated texts that allow clients to confirm this information quickly and easily. If any changes are identified, we take swift action to update records and confirm eligibility- coordinating with clinicians and ATPs/RTSs when needed. Currently, we are seeing that 34% of clients are completing this action via text, and we continue to refine the texts to improve completion rates.

Finally, once all validations are complete, our team records the completion of the PPQA process in our system to move swiftly to the purchasing phase.

This new approach ensures faster, more reliable equipment delivery while enhancing transparency and trust. 

Earlier this year, a research study with CRT clients revealed that 47% were unaware NSM offers Home Access products, and 62% felt we should introduce these offerings during their first interaction with us.

In response, we launched a pilot across three branches in mid-May, adding an opt-in checkbox at registration for CRT clients with new workorders to request more information about our home accessibility and medical supplies.

Just two weeks in, we’re seeing promising results—opt-in rates grew by 44% from Week 1 to Week 2.

Chicago (016) and Columbus (087) are leading the way with the highest opt-ins to date. Both branches participated in last year’s CRT Quiz pilot and show strong alignment with Access, driven by the excellent leadership of Michelle Bristow and Carl Mulberry.

More updates to come as the pilot progresses. Thanks to everyone involved in making this a success so far!

We’re excited to welcome the team from Kennebec Pharmacy (CRT division) in Augusta, Maine, to NSM. With this acquisition, NSM is opening a new location in Augusta and is now the largest CRT provider in the state of Maine.

As part of our ongoing commitment to safety, NSM’s Quarterly Safety Committee recently met and identified key focus areas to strengthen our safety culture across the organization:

- 100% Azuga Compliance

- Ongoing Driver Safety Monitoring

- Injury Prevention Initiatives

Please continue to emphasize safety in your daily work to help protect our team, clients, and communities.

Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs) & Compliance/Safety Self-Surveys

All EOPs were due May 30, and Compliance/Safety Self-Surveys were due April 30. If either remains incomplete for a Branch, a “Stand-Down” will be scheduled in June to address the issue.

Technician 10-Hour Training – Due August 1

There are only two months left to complete the required annual 10-hour Technician training. Please stay on track to meet the August 1 deadline.

Thank you for your continued commitment to safety.

May has been a good month for us so far with an overall 4.6 average Google Review star rating for the company, 146 total Google Reviews and 87% 5-star reviews. 

Click here to download and view the current leaderboard. Currently, 55% of NSM branches have reached the goal of a 4.0 - 5.0 score, while 15% are on the cusp between a 3.5 and 3.9, and 30% of NSM branches are sitting between a 1.0 and 3.4 Google Review rating. 

With this in mind, please remember the importance of the power of a positive Google Review rating and continue to just ask happy clients for more reviews. The more positive scores, the higher your overall star rating will climb.

May Google Review Rating by Division

- Access Standalone: 5.0 (6 reviews in May so far)

- Canada: 4.85 (27 reviews in May so far)

- North Division: 4.26 (31 reviews in May so far)

- South Division: 4.79 (57 reviews in May so far) 

- West Division: 4.20 (25 reviews in May so far)